Tenure Deconstructed

Campus Report ^ | July 10, 2009 | Brittany Fortier

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Tenure Deconstructed

by: Brittany Fortier, July 10, 2009

A system can truly be considered broken when evaluators of hiring decisions are the ones that need to be evaluated. A panel hosted by the Center for American Progress on June 25, 2009, discussed why the American educational system has struggled in keeping itself accountable to students and parents, while at the same time creating a tenure system that critics claim gives teachers jobs for life.

Many critics say that evaluation systems for teachers have been a huge reason for this discrepancy. Morgaen Donaldson, Assistant Professor at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut, argued that “many evaluation instruments are quite inadequate” because “they often reflect what’s measurable, not exactly what matters.”

Donaldson said that teacher evaluation systems are “a work in progress.” Her report on the state of teacher evaluations, So Long Lake Wobegone, explained why current evaluation instruments are unable to “accurately and meaningfully assess teacher performance.”

Some of these reasons include “external constraints” on evaluations. “District policy often specifies the procedures and timelines related to teacher evaluation, but does not give evaluators much guidance on how to do it,” Donaldson said. Evaluators are given “very little time to work with” in completing their evaluations, which prevents a teacher from receiving effective feedback, she argues.

Donaldson also cited “internal constraints” within the school itself, such as not enough training to evaluate the quality of a particular teacher. She said that there are “very few incentives” for school administrators to do an accurate and critical evaluation because of a “norm of non-interference” with a teacher doing their job....

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...explained why current evaluation instruments are unable to "accurately and meaningfully assess teacher performance." Some of these reasons include "external constraints" on evaluations. "District policy often specifies the procedures and timelines related to teacher evaluation, but does not give evaluators much guidance on how to do it," Donaldson said. Evaluators are given "very little time to work with" in completing their evaluations, which prevents a teacher from receiving effective feedback, she argues. Donaldson also cited "internal constraints" within the school itself, such as not enough training to evaluate the quality of a particular teacher. She said that there are "very few incentives" for school administrators to do an accurate and critical evaluation because of a "norm of non-interference" with a teacher doing their job...