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Evaluating America's Teachers: Mission Possible?
Poor evaluation systems don t just hurt teachers they hurt students, too. Popham provides a clear rationale and strategies for implementing a balanced, accurate, and rigorous teacher evaluation model.
- GenresTeaching
201 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 17, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 27, 2026
Had to read this for a grad school project
The message really is that teachers should be informed about the various elements of teacher evaluation in order to advocate for themselves and their students in the judgements made by evaluators.
Honestly, while there a few new things I learned, it was really boring and super repetitive.
These systems are built without the teachers and students in mind, and therefore have created a system that results in inaccurate judgments for the large middle group of your average, typical teachers. These systems are also increasingly relying on student performance data as a reflection of teacher instructional ability and effectiveness… which is a whole different can of worms!
The message really is that teachers should be informed about the various elements of teacher evaluation in order to advocate for themselves and their students in the judgements made by evaluators.
Honestly, while there a few new things I learned, it was really boring and super repetitive.
These systems are built without the teachers and students in mind, and therefore have created a system that results in inaccurate judgments for the large middle group of your average, typical teachers. These systems are also increasingly relying on student performance data as a reflection of teacher instructional ability and effectiveness… which is a whole different can of worms!
June 27, 2023
This book was a little disheartening as it focused on all the gaps found in the teacher evaluation process. It would be best put to use in the hands of administrators and school board members who have the power to improve evaluative programs in their schools or district.
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June 27, 2025informative!
March 7, 2014
An excellent primer for anyone--educator, policy-maker, community member--wanting to dissect the essential processes of evaluating teachers. Popham provides deft, non-jargony descriptions of the most common means of evaluating teachers' instructional effectiveness (the holy grail of evaluation systems) and other critical competencies.
He's clear about evaluative processes that provide some value in improving teaching and learning--and things that have very little meaning. Although he's polite and dispassionate, this is not an expert who believes that standardized test results, in the absence of "better" evaluations, are the way to go. The chapter on uses and misuses of standardized test data is very useful stuff.
The chapter I liked best, however, was the grab bag at the end of the book of things--student affect, lesson plans, teachers' self-rating-- that aren't "scientific" but impact general knowledge about who is a "good" or "bad" teacher. There was some real meat there, but because these factors are not reliable, valid or untainted by strong bias, they are not part of Popham's evaluation toolkit. I want to think some more about that--but wonder if there isn't more genuine value in these things than Popham, an assessment expert, can admit or see, given his status as national expert.
Popham closes the book by urging educators and policymakers who find their states headed in the wrong direction to band together, use the information in the book, and scream until teacher evaluation is done right. Right now, that's pretty much everyone in the classroom or the front office of any given school. It's nice to know he's on our side, at least.
He's clear about evaluative processes that provide some value in improving teaching and learning--and things that have very little meaning. Although he's polite and dispassionate, this is not an expert who believes that standardized test results, in the absence of "better" evaluations, are the way to go. The chapter on uses and misuses of standardized test data is very useful stuff.
The chapter I liked best, however, was the grab bag at the end of the book of things--student affect, lesson plans, teachers' self-rating-- that aren't "scientific" but impact general knowledge about who is a "good" or "bad" teacher. There was some real meat there, but because these factors are not reliable, valid or untainted by strong bias, they are not part of Popham's evaluation toolkit. I want to think some more about that--but wonder if there isn't more genuine value in these things than Popham, an assessment expert, can admit or see, given his status as national expert.
Popham closes the book by urging educators and policymakers who find their states headed in the wrong direction to band together, use the information in the book, and scream until teacher evaluation is done right. Right now, that's pretty much everyone in the classroom or the front office of any given school. It's nice to know he's on our side, at least.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews