1. Teacher Performance Evaluation
a workshop designed and presented by Margaret Banaszkiewicz
TESL Ontario 2010 Conference
Toronto, Ontario
Sheraton Hotel, October 29 and 30, 2010

2. Hello! Are there any great ESL Teachers out there…?
This workshop is
dedicated to YOU!
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

3. TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010
Objectives
To discuss the purpose and the importance of evaluating teachers using classroom observation as evaluation tool
To discuss how a systematic process of evaluating performance can contribute to teacher’s professional growth, teacher effectiveness, and therefore, to more effective student learning
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

4. The reason for this workshop
In colleges, the results of student evaluations are not always discussed with faculty
In private schools, there may be sporadic classroom observations
In the ESL/LINC programs, teacher performance appraisals may be conducted by program administrators; external consultants may be called to conduct classroom observations
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

5. The reason for this workshop
In the private schools, the administrators may not always inform teachers about receiving the positive student feedback about their teaching
While the credentials of the experienced and highly qualified teachers may contribute to securing profitable contracts, the long-term teaching assignments may be offered first to the teachers charging lower rates.
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

6. Meet your group members…
Teachers
Evaluators
Your name
Teaching experience
Who were your evaluators?
Write a word or a very brief comment describing your attitude towards/against classroom evaluations
Evaluation experience
Who were the teachers your evaluated?
Write a word or a brief comment describing your attitude towards/against classroom observations
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

7. TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010
Quality Teaching?
“Quality learning begins with quality teaching”. (Mary Lou McCloskey, B. Thornton, Nadia Touba)
“You haven’t taught unless they’ve learned” (?)
“Teacher performance evaluation as part of teacher’s professional responsibility”
(Seeking the Standard, by Jill Burton in: Source: Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness in ESL/EFL Contexts)
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

8. Why Should Teacher Performance Be Evaluated?
“Accountability is a primary purpose in the teacher evaluation process. As recipients of public funds responsible for educating all students, universities and schools must ensure that each classroom is under the care of a competent teacher (Danielson, 2001)
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

9. Accountability and LINC Contractual Agreements
One of the most important factors contributing to receiving funding is effective teaching.
Meeting our student learning needs brings positive learning outcomes.
Meeting our student learning needs can be reflected in regular student attendance, increased number of new intakes, expected progress rate.
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

10. Accountability and LINC Contractual Agreements
While class closure may be attributed to various factors, the most common is
POOR ATTENDANCE
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

11. Poor attendance may be caused by:
Poorly conducted outreach activities
Poorly delivered language instruction
Poor access to language school/facility
All of the above
Other factors may be related to:
Childcare
Health problems
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

12. TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010
The most common contributing factor to the success of a language school is high quality of instruction delivery
It is reflected in:
Higher student progress rates
Regular attendance and higher student retention
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

13. What makes a competent teacher? What is good teaching?
Among the researchers there is a consensus that good teaching may be the single most important factor in improving student achievement (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Wright, Horn, &Sanders, 1997)
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

14. In your opinion, does quality teaching depend on..
…teacher’s qualifications, certificates and diplomas?
…the number of years of teaching?
… ?...
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

15. What is quality teaching?
“Effective teachers have high expectations for all students
Effective teachers contribute to positive academic, attitudinal, and social outcomes for students such as regular attendance, on-time promotion to the next grade/level, on-time graduation, self-efficacy, and cooperative behaviour.” (Approaches to Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness. Goe, Bell, Little, June 2008)
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

16. What Is Effective Teaching?
“Effective teachers use diverse resources to plan and structure engaging learning opportunities; monitor student progress formatively, adapting instruction as needed; and evaluate learning using multiple sources of evidence.” (Approaches to Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness. Goe, Bell, Little, June 2008)
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

17. What Is Effective Teaching?
“Effective teachers contribute to the development of classroom and schools that value diversity and civic-mindedness.
Effective teachers collaborate with other teachers, administrators, and educational professionals to ensure student success[..], (Approaches to Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness. Goe, Bell, Little, June 2008)
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

18. Systematic process of evaluating performance can contribute to:
teacher’s professional growth
teacher effectiveness
and therefore, to more effective student learning
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

19. Some benefits of being observed and evaluated are:
Opportunity to have own teaching strengths recognized and validated by an external party
Opportunity to use the constructive feedback for improvement
Gain more control over own performance by identifying and eliminating bad habits (for example, self-monitoring teacher talk)
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

20. Some benefits of being observed and evaluated are:
Having the Performance Evaluation outcomes documented by an external party should help teachers in gaining recognition leading to promotion, better pay, bonuses, etc.
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

21. Classroom Observations
Process
Observation Tools
Rating
Frequency
Mentoring Support
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

22. Factors Contributing or Hindering Performance
“Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.” (reported to have been posted in Albert Einstein’s office)
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

23. TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010
Teacher’s Behaviour
Eye contact with students?
Oral delivery - too loud/too low.
Is the language understandable to students?
Is the instructor dull/tired/boring/active/too intense/hyper?
Reflective Faculty Evaluation, Enhancing Teaching and Determining Faculty Effectiveness. J.A. Centra,993
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

24. Instructor-Student Rapport
Does the instructor demonstrate fair and equitable concern for all students?
Are the students receptive to what’s being taught?
Is the instructor sarcastic/patronizing/ disrespectful/tough/harsh/biased/
discriminating?
Reflective Faculty Evaluation, Enhancing Teaching and Determining Faculty Effectiveness. J.A. Centra,993
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

25. Instructor-Student Rapport
Teachers are expected to provide timely and constructive feedback
Dry testing score or general comments, such as: Great Job! Good Effort! Excellent! are not enough
Effective teachers provide detailed feedback (use rubrics/frequent reviews/use specific terms/words to help students focus to what needs to be improved and what has been acquired)
Positive objective comments should precede negative ones.
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

26. TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010
External Evaluator vs.
Peer evaluators
Principals as evaluators
Student feedback
Electronic course evaluation tools
Self-evaluation/Teacher’s Portfolio
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

27. TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010
External Evaluator..
..should be experienced in teaching/mentoring in a context relevant to the context in which the observation is to be conducted (LINC; academic; workplace; etc.)
Understands the specifics of a language program and its students
Is able to focus equally on teacher’s strengths and weaknesses
Is tactful and trained in offering feedback
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

28. Why some teachers fear or resent classroom observations?
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

29. Why some teachers may fear or resent classroom observations?
Teacher doesn’t know the observer because there was not enough time for the pre-observation interactions
Teacher doesn’t know how much the observer knows about teacher’s working context, students, etc. ….
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

30. Teachers’ comments about regular classroom observations:
Feedback useful
Increased awareness
Improved overall performance
Some improvements can be made immediately
Motivated and more at ease when trying new or more effective methodologies
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

31. TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010
In Your Opinion
In your opinion, what are the most effective ways to evaluate teacher performance?
Should teachers be awarded for their quality teaching?
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

32. Thank You for Margaret Banaszkiewicz
Your Participation in this Workshop
Margaret Banaszkiewicz
Quantum Education Inc.
Tel. (613)
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010

33. TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010
Laura Goe, Courtney Bell, Olivia Little. (2008). Approaches to Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness: A Research Synthesis.
Coombe, Al-Hamly, Davidson, Troudi. (2010). Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness in ESL/EFL Contexts
Friedenberg, Kennedy, Lomperis, Martin, Westerfield.(2003). Effective Practices in Workplace Language Training
Ontario Teacher Appraisal
Danielson, C. (2001). New trends in teacher evaluation. Educational Leadership, 58(5)
Routledge Flamer (2004). Assessing teacher effectiveness.
Lorin W. Anderson. Paris : Unesco : International Institute for Educational Planning (1991). Increasing teacher effectiveness
Williamson M. Evers and Herbert J. Walberg,Testing student learning, evaluating teaching effectiveness An introduction to classroom observation [electronic resource] /
K.O.Doyle, Jr, Univ. of Minessota (1975) Student Evaluation of Instruction.
J.A. Centra.1993.Reflective Faculty Evaluation, Enhancing Teaching and Determining Faculty Effectiveness
Margaret Banaszkiewicz Quantum Education Inc.
TESL Ontario Conference Toronto, Ontario, Oct. 29&30, 2010