CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–April 17, 2015. As Illinois educators launch new teacher-evaluation models as part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top initiative, a Roosevelt University professor is releasing a book for principals about designing and conducting effective evaluations.
Alyson Lavigne (pictured at right), assistant professor of curriculum studies at Roosevelt, and Thomas Good, professor emeritus of educational psychology at the University of Arizona, were named authors of the month in March by Routledge Publishing for their book, Improving Teaching Through Observation and Feedback.
“We wrote the book for principals who are in the trenches and don’t always have the time they need to spend on teacher evaluations,” said Lavigne, who is an expert on teacher evaluation under the Race to the Top initiative, which she believes is “a race to nowhere.”
“As part of Race to the Top, achievement growth must be a significant component of teacher evaluations,” said Lavigne, “but one of the biggest flaws in following that approach is that student achievement data doesn’t always correlate with the scores that teachers receive from administrators who observe them as part of the evaluation process. These weak correlations are incredibly problematic when using observational and student achievement data to provide teachers with feedback to improve teaching and learning.”
Improving Teaching Through Observation and Feedback provides a foundation for teacher evaluations that includes best practices for improving the quality of the evaluation process. It highly recommends that teacher interactions with students – and not solely test scores – be an important component of the evaluation process. In the book, principals are encouraged to identify teacher actions that have been linked by research to student achievement and also are taught how to give teacher feedback that is effective and supportive.
Illinois educators are expected to have new teacher evaluation models as part of the Race to the Top initiative fully implemented by 2016.
“There is an overemphasis in Race to the Top on the notion that high-stakes teacher evaluations will improve America’s schools,” she said. “As schools nationwide rapidly overhaul their teacher evaluation process, we believe our book can help principals and teachers deal better with designing and conducting effective evaluations that will truly make a difference in helping students and in building teacher morale.”
Improving Teaching Through Observation and Feedback is available at Barnes and Noble, www.amazon.com and www.routledge.com Lavigne also is the co-author of Salsa Dancing in Gym Shoes, a new book published earlier this year on best practices for effective teaching with Latinos in the classroom.
Source: www.roosevelt.edu
