Grading the Teachers: An Exploration Into Teacher Evaluation

Filmmaker Dr. David Silverberg's Grading the Teachers offers some insight into current thinking about fair and meaningful ways to evaluate teacher performance at all grade levels, illustrating how evaluations—a hot topic in the U.S.—have gained extra dimensions over time. Judging a teacher's effectiveness is no longer just about student performance on tests but also about the quality of a teacher's work in the classroom. School district administrators, teachers, and other experts from eight different cities in the U.S. and Mexico here also note that it is a question of teacher goals, such as having a plan every year for growing in at least one area of the job, and setting specific benchmarks to reach. While there is a bit of redundancy in the interviews here, the comments only add credence to the fact that a broad, national consensus around teacher evaluations—one that is both fair and constructive—may be possible. Extras include an interview with the director, and a digital guidebook. Recommended. Aud: E, I, J, H, C, P. (T. Keogh)