What do you do if a teacher's performance needs to be assessed?

1 Why evaluate?

Performance evaluation is not only a requirement for many teachers, but also a valuable opportunity for learning and growth. Reflecting on your teaching philosophy, methods, and outcomes can help you align your teaching with the curriculum, standards, and expectations of your school or institution. It can also be used to showcase your achievements and contributions to your students and colleagues. Through performance evaluation, you can receive constructive feedback and suggestions from multiple sources to identify strengths and weaknesses and set realistic and measurable goals for improvement. Additionally, it provides access to relevant professional development resources and opportunities to help enhance confidence, motivation, and satisfaction as a teacher.

2 How to evaluate?

There are several methods and tools for evaluating your performance as a teacher, such as self-evaluation, peer evaluation, supervisor evaluation, and student evaluation. Self-evaluation can involve creating a rubric, checklist, portfolio, or journal, while peer evaluation may involve observing teaching and exchanging ideas. Supervisor evaluation may include feedback from a principal or manager based on observation or documents. Student evaluation can involve surveys, questionnaires, interviews, or focus groups. Quantitative and qualitative data can be combined to get a comprehensive picture of your performance. The method used depends on the purpose, context, and availability.

3 When to evaluate?

The frequency and timing of your performance evaluation may vary, depending on the policy of your school or institution, your contract, or your personal preference. For instance, you could undergo an annual or biannual evaluation as part of an appraisal, promotion, or certification process. Alternatively, you could have a midterm or end-of-term evaluation to monitor progress and adjust teaching plans. Additionally, you could conduct a pre- or post-intervention evaluation to measure the impact and effectiveness of a new teaching strategy, curriculum, or technology. Or you could opt for an ongoing or formative evaluation to collect feedback and data for self-reflection and improvement. Of course, you can always initiate your own evaluation at any time to assess performance for a particular course, lesson, or project.

4 What to evaluate?

When evaluating your performance as a teacher, criteria and indicators may vary depending on the standards of your school or institution, your professional goals, or your students' needs. You can measure your performance in areas such as planning and preparation, instruction and delivery, assessment and feedback, and professionalism and development. To do this, you can use a rubric, scale, or rating system to assess yourself in each domain and aspect. This will help you identify your strengths and areas for improvement. Planning and preparation involves designing and organizing teaching objectives, materials, activities, and assessments. Instruction and delivery involves communicating with students, using various teaching methods and techniques, and managing classroom time. Assessment and feedback involves accurately measuring learning outcomes and providing constructive feedback. Professionalism and development involves conducting yourself professionally, working collaboratively with colleagues, and actively participating in professional learning opportunities.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?