STOP Teacher Observations! Part I
Or at least consider an option.
Don’t get all excited. Not right at this moment, but very soon! But if you are going to remove a part of education that has been around for decades, you had better be ready to replace it with something better. And there is something better!
“What part of the classroom teacher observation does work?” Or better yet, “What is the Goal, Aim or Objective of the observation?" I do not know, and I am not sure administrators really know either (since it is doing more to deflate teacher morale, rather than raise proficiency or increase student achievement). While I’m sure this is not their objective, they continue with them every day. If there is a goal, have we reached it yet? How do know if we get to that point? Is there a number? Can we use the “ratings” teachers earn to let us know if the goal has been reached? Shouldn’t that be the goal?
The purpose of a goal is to help us know when we are successful, when we have attained a certain level of proficiency or achievement. In most goal setting circles, if you have reached a goal three times, you raise the goal. For example, if your school uses E, S, D, and U (Excellent, Satisfactory, Developing and Unsatisfactory) and a teacher earns 3 (or 4, or 5…) “E” ratings, do observations end at that point? Many teachers who achieve E or S, continue to be observed for years, garnering D’s and even U’s at some point. What does this mean? How did they go from an Excellent educator to an Unsatisfactory one in a matter of months? Complaints from parents? Plummeting student grades? No, they are now Unsatisfactory based on one 1/2 hour observation. Is this a fair system? Or is there a better way?
While the observation process continues to steamroll many good teachers, no one knows how to stop them, until now. There is a better way (if administrators are willing to listen). Currently, administrators are not seeing a positive Return on Investment (ROI), but they are mandated to continue doing them anyway. If you are seeing a positive ROI along with increased teacher competency and proficiency along with upward trending of student achievement as a result of your teacher observations, please tell us how you are doing this! Teachers want to know so as to improve even more (and teachers leaving post-obs crying is not doing the trick!)
The planners of the original teacher observation likely had good intentions, but there is just no empirical or clinical evidence to show that teacher observations are working. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” We need to “Stop the Insanity!” If teacher observations are intended to ensure that students are achieving desired outcomes then why is student achievement plummeting. I found this on a blog and I am sure most of us can relate:
My current principal smugly says he “follows Danielson to a T.” He quotes the domains routinely as if we teachers should be impressed. We are, of course, an inner city title 1 school, where much of the Danielson framework has little to no meaning. But nevertheless, our principal thinks it is some sort of panacea to all our problems. We have kids beating each other up daily, cussing teachers out routinely, and simply getting up and walking out of class. The students walk around the hallways saying, “We own the school.” And our principal–our naive and silly principal–wants us to be more “student centered.” The irony.
How many of us can relate to this? The average teacher is probably observed 2-4 times each school year (using the Danielson Framework). So why after 10, 20, or 30 years of classroom instruction are highly skilled and qualified teachers still being observed and still getting their Do Nows wrong, or not asking students the right questions in the right way, or not calling on children correctly? Is it because they are bad teachers? Is this professional development or professional persecution? If it is professional development shouldn’t the first 1 or 2 years of teacher observations correct any bumps or problems made by our bright and talented, albeit inexperienced, teachers? If not, why continue observing if they are not producing the desired outcome?
Why observe teachers at all? My urologist is not observed, my dentist is not observed, my lawyer is not observed, my cardiologist is not observed, my accountant is not observed and they all hold professional licenses. So why are teachers observed not once, but multiple times every year? And if they are observed and rated Excellent on a consistent basis, why continue observations for the remainder of their careers?
There is an alternative that is used every day by management consultants in the private sector, and can be used as a highly effective adjunct, but education is reluctant to change and adopt this way of effective evaluation (no, it is not an “observation”).
After 20+ years of teaching, I have (we all have!) been observed by the best and by the worst.
The best told me when they would be coming and followed up with a positive review of findings on a sheet of paper in my mailbox to sign and return. No discussion needed. He was a great AP (thanks Sean!) and his approach validated the work I put into my classroom experience more than any other AP supervisor I had worked under. I always felt professionally supported by him and his approach. Sometimes he would point out the minor thing here or there (mandatory), but overall it was always positive and supportive. This was because coming to my room was not a surprise for him. He was in my room all the time just to say hi or see what I was doing. He knew better than any other administrator what I was doing, when I was doing it and why it was being done. he made it his business to know all whom he supervised. His observations were a mere formality. He already knew the score. If he ever had a problem with what I was doing (which might have happened once or twice!) he would come and speak with me. No “Unsatisfactory” write-ups, no letters in my file. He would just stop by and begin with something like, “Mike, I heard….” and we would talk. That’s how, given the mandatory nature of teacher observations, a rock-solid administrator helps to professionally develop those he supervises. Sean was a gift to the school, and to the teachers. He made formal observations unnecessary.
On the other hand, at the same school, the worst (and we have all had them) would pop in for a formal observation on the last period before a vacation when students are on a rampage and teachers are ready to drop. (Why would a supervisor do this?) This is a true story and I know I am not alone. As a tenured veteran teacher, I put up with these horrible, but surprisingly Satisfactory observations one after the other. After one extremely brutal post-op dressing down over every detail and shard of minutiae, without a single positive comment, I couldn’t stand it any longer (even teachers have feelings and should be treated with respect, right?) I interrupted her and said, “Janey, I just want to thank you.” She stopped and gave me the deer-in-the-headlights look. I continued, “Yes, prior to coming here to XYZ School, I was always rated as highly qualified and thought myself to be a pretty good teacher. But I want to thank you, because I was wrong. You have shown me that I am not a good teacher. In fact, now I know I suck. I appreciate you letting me know how wrong I was about my teaching this whole time. Thank you.” She began backpedaling and I jumped in, “No, you are right. I agree with you.” I stood and let the office. What followed was no letter in my file (for insubordination). In fact, no discussion at all. Satisfactory rating. True story.
So how do schools change? Not just to eliminate teacher observations, but to pivot to a new system - if only as a pilot for a few teachers.
Goal setting is the key to positive change in any scenario - school, business, or personal - and should be given a three week window to see change based on the data collected. (Danielson is still being used in schools every day in spite of her own admission her program should not be used as an evaluative tool! Years later, we are still using it and student achievement continues on the decline!) In all of Goal Setting, after three weeks the data can show a downward trend, an upward trend or no trend at all. This is how management consultants help guide and nurture professional development is a wide variety of professionals. If you were to look inside at how private sector consultants work their magic (and it is like magic!) with doctors, lawyers, dentists, accountants and any of the other professional fields you would see the same approach:
Step 1 - Meet with client to get a general feel for the person. We can do this, but we can also do this in a PD to feel out the audience.
Step 2 - Review all client practice data. We don’t have to watch the client practice. It is totally irrelevant. Everyone practices differently. If we were to look at each one practice what they do, we would miss the big picture - and that is data. For teachers, we can teach them how to easily do this. Teachers already have the necessary data!
Step 3 - Agree on a baseline. This is why most failing students don’t know how to pull themselves up and out. They were never taught how to use their baseline. Teachers don’t teach this. (*Tip - even failing students have a baseline and it is even more important to them than to start students!)
Step 4 - Set goals. SMART Goals? No, No and NO! The “SMART” system is only to be used as a template for goal setting, not as the goal itself!
Step 5 - This is where data collection/representation, graphing and trending come into play!
If teachers were shown how to collect, record, and display their data (and their students’ data) like this, any administrator could informally walk into their class, look at these stats, and come away with a clearer picture than ever before as to how the teacher and his/her students are performing.
Most believe that teachers need to be evaluated in some way, shape or form. I agree - and we are evaluated by 30+ kinetic little bodies in our classrooms five times every day. We are also evaluated by our colleagues as they walk past our doors. We are evaluated by parents when we call home to let them know of a problem - or a success - with their child. And we are evaluated by administrators walking the hallways, or who come spend some time in our rooms seeing what we do and learning about how we teach. These are all valid evaluations, when they can see the “value” in what we do.
These posts about teacher observations is not to lay blame for the state of affairs. I have the utmost respect and admiration for principals, AP and supervisors who, like teachers, perform thankless tasks every day to help develop students to their maximum. Unfortunately, teacher observations are not achieving this goal while I wait for one principal to say, “Ok, let’s hear what you’ve got. Zoom meeting at 10am tomorrow!”
Dr. Cubbin
Website - schoolgoalswork.com
Substack articles (like this one!) - schoolgoalswork.substack.com