ASSESSING AND PLANNING SKILLS

Assessing and Planning Skills



Assessing and Planning Skills

Introduction

As noted by numerous critics and scholars, the practice of teacher evaluation in many U.S. schools is antiquated, ineffective, and in dire need of reform. Although some school districts have brought classroom teachers, school administrators, and other stakeholders together to study and rebuild old and poorly conceptualized models, others continue to employ practices that are outdated given current knowledge of teaching and learning. If the school reform movement is to fulfill its promise, improving methods of teacher evaluation will play a critical role. The past decade has seen the development of new tools, methods, and metrics that are now part of the public discourse about teacher evaluation and, in some cases, are already driving significant change.

Discussion

Clinical supervision as a field of study is complicated for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most important of these reasons is that a deep division exists within the field about whether the purpose of clinical supervision is to provide administrative oversight or to support teachers' instruction. Another reason is that scholarship having to do with clinical supervision does not exist as a well-demarcated body of literature and research, but can often be found within other related educational fields, including curriculum. Yet another reason is that clinical supervision, both as a practice as well as a field of study, extends across the full range of a teaching career, and assumes various forms to address the needs and interests of teachers at varying stages of their professional development. Nevertheless, because specific models of clinical supervision have been developed and widely researched, and because clinical supervision is an important aspect of many roles in educational settings, it warrants consideration as a field of study. (Danielson, 1996)

Assessing and Planning Skills: Direct Assistance to Teachers

The arguments in favor of peer grouping in relation to the clinical super vision include, the world is increasingly diverse that is heterogeneous, and it is only through working with others who are different or who are perceived as different that students will learn to work cooperatively and without prejudice with a wide range of other people. Heterogeneous peer groups lend themselves to natural peer support and peer tutoring, thereby increasing the number of teachers in the classroom and significantly altering peer relationships. Moreover, peer grouping can significantly minimize the stigma associated with being in the “low” group, including the risks of self-fulfilling prophecy and subsequent diminution of learning opportunities. In addition, the intended gains for students in ability groups often fail to materialize, and formation of such groups often correlates with income, social class, and race, resulting in racially and class-segregated classes and instructional groups. (Danielson & McGreal, 2000)

Strengths and Weaknesses

The process of evaluating classroom teachers has historically pursued two distinct goals: monitoring teacher performance for the purpose of making personnel decisions, and supporting teachers in their efforts to improve their classroom practice. Unfortunately, there is considerable evidence that in many schools neither of these goals has been ...