Observation vs Evaluation...In other words, what I know I didn't know

Ever have one of those moments (read 7.5 hours) of having your brain scrambled?

No?  Must just be me then.  We spent an entire day this week looking at the NC Teacher Evaluation Instrument (TEI), the teaching standards, and the observation/evaluation process.  I thought I was very familiar with it; I mean, I've been evaluated on it before and I used the instrument during a peer observation, so I would hope I had a pretty strong grasp of how the TEI is supposed to be used and what the rubric levels meant.  Yeah, not so much.

To link to the actual TEI, click HERE.

Through working with my teachers this past year, I became very familiar with the premise of the TEI being tied very tightly to the Framework for 21st Century Learning that posits all of the skills and knowledge students should have by high school graduation on a system of supports that includes instruction.  

Some of the skills that students are expected to demonstrate, like Global Awareness, are directly addressed in the TEI as necessary elements of effective teaching for 21st Century Learning.  I studied this, took a workshop, feel pretty confident in this knowledge, or at least I know where to look for the best information...HERE, in case you're interested.

I also knew there the two categories of teachers--probationary and career status--are observed and evaluated slightly differently, although with the same instrument.  I was also fairly sure I knew and understood the actual standards on which teachers are evaluated.

1. Teachers demonstrate leadership
2. Teachers establish a respectful environment for a diverse population of students
3. Teachers know the content they teach
4. Teachers facilitate learning for all students
5. Teachers reflect on their practice
6. Teachers contribute to the academic success of students

What lost me was the actual and appropriate implementation of the rubric and the observation/evaluation process.  By about hour 3, I felt like the facilitator was trying to make me erase everything I thought I knew and replace it with other information.  Anyone remember that old anti-drug commercial, "This is your brain; this is your brain on drugs?"  Well, this was my brain on the TEI rubric and process.  

For example, while I understood that the observation process is meant to be a coaching model, I didn't realize that the end of the year evaluation is not meant to be an average of the ratings on each observation.  It makes sense after having it explained to me, but hearing it made me question why it was often difficult for me to get what I felt was a honest observation rating.  Yes, of course, there is the whole thing about us being our own worst critics, but I know when a lesson was not really a lesson. Anyway, I digress.

The rubric...ah the rubric

In my mind, if the goal for the state is for every teacher to be proficient, then a competence should be demonstrated pretty obviously with some consistency, but that's not how the rubric works.  To be proficient, you just have to show you know how to do the skill, although you might not have perfected it yet.  This is a big deal for me because I'm not sure I want someone who demonstrates any parts of these standards just once in a classroom for 180 days.  Then again, as this is a growth model, I see it as my job to continue to help them progress and improve, moving into more consistent demonstration.  Also, when I reflected on it further, the National Board Certification process is to distinguish Accomplished Teachers from Proficient Teachers, so it makes sense that consistent practice would demonstrate accomplishment.  So, here's the way it was explained to me:

• Developing: Knowing that to ride a bike, you have to put your feet on the pedals, but still falling off every time you try.
• Proficient: Getting on the bike, pedaling, and able to travel 100ft while wobbly or even to the corner store and back (proficient has the widest range of all of the ratings).
• Accomplished: Riding your bike to and from work each day just because it's the thing to do (the action appears effortless).
• Distinguished: Riding your bike to and from work everyday effortlessly AND showing someone else how to ride a bike without falling.

As if riding a square-wheeled bicycle isn't enough of a challenge, the ratings on the final evaluation determine the level of Professional Development Plan needed at the beginning of the next year.  I'm not even going to try and tackle that aspect of it now, but I will, at some point, have something to say about it, I'm sure.