It has been noted many times that the greatest single factor impacting a student’s ability to learn is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. The teacher alone is an excellent source of learning, inspiration and change. Thus, teacher evaluation is very significant.

         A strong teacher evaluation system is central to improving teacher quality. It provides the means to recognize and reward great teachers so we can learn from and replicate their success. It also helps to identify those who need help so they can get the extra training they need to be effective. For those who are not cut out for the profession, it will help to identify them, too, before they get to take advantage of benefits like lifetime job security that should be earned.  

         According to Sedlis, 2015, for a teacher evaluation system to be truly effective, it should set clear, rigorous performance expectations for teachers that lead to strong student achievement. Evaluations should use objective data to fairly and reliably measure teacher performance against those standards. There must also be a way to provide teachers with valuable feedback that helps them improve their practice, as well as a way to share information with districts so they can retain their best teachers, remove persistently poor performers and address the talent gap in schools that results in our neediest students getting less effective teachers.

         The primary purpose of teacher evaluation is personal and professional growth that leads to improved performance. The principal (or other evaluator) acts as a facilitator for each teacher, just as the teacher serves as a facilitator for students in the classroom. The principal makes it clear that the evaluation or walk-through is part of a continuous improvement cycle designed to help the teacher. As the school leader, the principal plays an active role in the teacher’s professional growth. This may include the following: asking questions that help the teacher self-evaluate; helping the teacher design a plan for improvement; and providing opportunities for professional development.

         Unless an individual finds value in expectations and evaluations, there is little likelihood that they will lead to quality work. The key to evaluation is involving the individual being evaluated and creating value in the experience, including feedback and developmental planning. The most important element of effective evaluation for personal improvement, especially in a social profession like teaching, is self-evaluation. Self-evaluation is vital for a teacher’s professional growth because no other person can observe the teacher’s performance often enough to document total classroom interactions and because there is no valid and reliable way to measure the totality of student learning. Teacher self-evaluation is especially vital in a school where teachers ask the students to self-evaluate. Because the skill of self-evaluation is so critical to the teaching profession, the first priority of an evaluation should be to help each teacher develop the skills to engage in continual self-evaluation leading to personal and professional growth.       

In the public school system, we follow certain orders in the performance evaluation. For instance, the Individual Performance Criteria and Review Form (IPCRF) is a uniform evaluation form for all the teachers, which is being reviewed twice in a School Year. The mid-year evaluation is usually done to monitor and update records of performance and the end-of-the-school-year evaluation, which serves as the final assessment of teacher’s performance. Thereafter, the plan of action must be agreed upon between the teacher and the evaluator to be approved by the school head or any other case depending on the school situation. The plan of action includes the strength and the points to improve and how they will be achieved.

         The basic principles of supervisory practices during teacher performance evaluation in my school are the following:

         1. Teaching method can be improved through adequate and appropriate supervision. Almost eight (8) domains in the IPCRF are all about classroom teaching, which are evident and can be improved through classroom observation. Based from the IPCRF guidelines, one classroom observation must be done per quarter either by head teacher, master teacher or principal, or by all of them in an announced approach.

         2. All certified personnel have degrees of responsibilities for improving classroom method and should function as a supervisory team. The hierarchy / position in the organization imply responsibility on helping all teachers improve classroom methods. It takes a collaborative effort and function to guide each other to have the best method in the classroom be it with management or strategies. That’s why when you have a certified position to observe teachers and help in improving classroom method it is tantamount to having expertise, so if you just have the position but not the expertise, you have to start asking yourself of your true purpose.

         3. Good supervision promotes methods that bring about a classroom climate of satisfaction and accomplishment. The supervisory team should always think clearly and appropriately all the time to help teachers accomplish their desired goals. It should always be the mind set of supervisory team to think wisely on what are the best possible ways or activities whether inside or outside the classroom to lead the school to satisfaction and accomplishments.

         4. Supervision of methods should include preplanning, observation and a follow-up conference. This is being followed in our school. The school head usually announces schedule of observation with ample time of preparation. Then, the observation proper. Afterwards, a follow-up conference with the observer/s. The teacher should present annotation of whichever strategies or activities he would like to emphasize. Then the observers will give ratings and justifications. They will likewise present strengths and weaknesses of the teacher. The end point is an agreement for the next observation. Further, constant informal observation may be done just to check consistencies and honest performance of duties as teachers.

         5. Wise supervision should include freedom for teacher’s initiative in classroom experimentation of methods. It should always be the teacher who is the main source of methods to use in the utilization of lesson. Supervisory team serves as guide and moderator, not a changer of method. Do not erase the idea of a classroom teacher as to how he would like a lesson be done, just improve from it and make it better.

         Teacher evaluation must be done with pure professionalism and sense of responsibility to work as one with one goal for the main clients – students.

By: Gerlie Sapad Tagudin | Teacher III| Barretto II Elementary School | Olongapo City