Teacher Supervision
Supervising teachers is a multifaceted and complex job. At one level, it involves ensuring that the appropriate people are hired to fill the available positions and that they show up to fulfill their responsibilities on a daily basis. However, excellence in education requires far more than this. The alert administrator will recognize that all teachers need encouragement, ideas, guidance, resources, and feedback. Knowing what to provide and how to do it is no easy task.
Perhaps the most difficult task is assessing teacher performance and providing useful feedback. This can be done on three levels:
1. Professional. This includes reviewing their training and certification before hiring and then observing as they interact with the administration and colleagues. Do they make worthwhile contributions to staff meetings? Do they carry their fair share of the extra-curricular work? Do they respond to guidance from the board and principal? Do they submit forms and plans in a timely fashion? Do they show up on time for staff devotions, etc.?
2. Technical. This involves actual classroom observations. Typically, a principal will arrange times with the teacher in advance and agree to focus on certain areas for improvement. However, it should also include a number of spontaneous visits to assess the overall climate in the classroom and establish a benchmark for what is "typical" for this teacher. During classroom observations a principal can observe all the various elements of effective lessons: routines, set, link to prior learning, explanation/demonstration of new concepts, practice, checking for understanding, and follow up assignments. This should be augmented with reviewing the "paper trail": long range plans, unit plans, lesson plans, attendance records, gradebook, tests, and selected assignments.
3. Habitual. This involves assessment of student achievement over a year or more and the ongoing relationships and reputation that a teacher has with students and parents. Student achievement can be evaluated by reviewing results on teacher made tests and major assignments as well as standardized tests. Relationship and reputation factors can be assessed through student and parent surveys. Student and parent feedback provides broad context for teacher technical skill. In other words, being able to effectively deliver a lesson is not the same as doing so every day over a year. And maintaining good classroom control for a period or two while the principal is observing is not the same as doing so consistently.
Perhaps the most difficult task is assessing teacher performance and providing useful feedback. This can be done on three levels:
1. Professional. This includes reviewing their training and certification before hiring and then observing as they interact with the administration and colleagues. Do they make worthwhile contributions to staff meetings? Do they carry their fair share of the extra-curricular work? Do they respond to guidance from the board and principal? Do they submit forms and plans in a timely fashion? Do they show up on time for staff devotions, etc.?
2. Technical. This involves actual classroom observations. Typically, a principal will arrange times with the teacher in advance and agree to focus on certain areas for improvement. However, it should also include a number of spontaneous visits to assess the overall climate in the classroom and establish a benchmark for what is "typical" for this teacher. During classroom observations a principal can observe all the various elements of effective lessons: routines, set, link to prior learning, explanation/demonstration of new concepts, practice, checking for understanding, and follow up assignments. This should be augmented with reviewing the "paper trail": long range plans, unit plans, lesson plans, attendance records, gradebook, tests, and selected assignments.
3. Habitual. This involves assessment of student achievement over a year or more and the ongoing relationships and reputation that a teacher has with students and parents. Student achievement can be evaluated by reviewing results on teacher made tests and major assignments as well as standardized tests. Relationship and reputation factors can be assessed through student and parent surveys. Student and parent feedback provides broad context for teacher technical skill. In other words, being able to effectively deliver a lesson is not the same as doing so every day over a year. And maintaining good classroom control for a period or two while the principal is observing is not the same as doing so consistently.