Frontline Blog

The job of superintendent is one of the most challenging in a school district. Meeting school board and community expectations while ensuring high academic performance is no easy task — especially with tightening budgets and evolving federal mandates.  

The whirlwind 18 months since the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) became law have brought no small amount of buzz. Much of it concerns teacher evaluations — specifically because with ESSA, the federal government handed a fair amount of power back to the states in determining how to conduct them.  

Every administrator — and every teacher — wants the best possible learning environment for students. There’s been a lot of talk about teacher evaluations as a tool for educator growth, and much written about how far we have yet to go.

School buses are parked, classrooms are quiet, hallways are empty (unless your school is hosting theater camp) and many of us are recharging with some time at the beach. It’s also the time of year when educators take time to reflect on the past school year, look at the data they’ve collected, set goals and make plans for the coming year. We surveyed school districts around the country to learn what they’re thinking about evaluations and professional learning. Keep reading to learn what’s working for school districts and what they want to aim for in 2016-2017.

Imagine a world without feedback. No, seriously — try to picture an entire workday when no one receives any information about how things are going. Chefs wouldn’t be able to taste their dishes as they cooked. Pilots wouldn’t receive course corrections from air traffic controllers. You wouldn’t want to get a haircut that day. Feedback is important in all spheres of life, including — and perhaps especially — in education. But not all feedback is created equal. What does it look like to provide meaningful, actionable feedback that supports educator growth? It would be nearly impossible to make an exhaustive list of qualities feedback should have, but this is a start. Effective, actionable feedback should:

Many evaluation processes provide opportunities for evaluators and teachers to meet about observation results. But few go so far as to co-construct evaluations. What are co-constructed evaluations, what do they look like and why are they important?