At this point, it's clear to all of us that great teachers lead to greater student achievement. And lately, we've seen a lot of research confirming that one of the best ways to help teachers grow is through high quality feedback on their practices.
But have you stopped to think about what great feedback really looks like? Or perhaps more importantly, where it comes from?
In my latest article featured on Education Week's Education Futures: Emerging Trends and Technologies in K-12 posted on June 20, I explain the three big obstacles that often stand in school leaders' way when it comes to implementing truly effective observation and feedback processes: time, content, and acceptance.
Fortunately, though, there are ways for school leaders to overcome these challenges and provide teachers with feedback that improves practices and leads to increased student achievement. Here are two solutions that I shared in the Ed Week article:
1. Video
As I've explained in other posts, there's practically no end to the potential of classroom video to drive processional growth. In observation processes, video can help school leaders manage their time more effectively and increase teacher acceptance by serving as a common reference point. Video also makes it possible for the district's content experts to review lessons for more meaningful feedback and increased validity of scoring.
2. Qualified outside observers
As I explained in The proven benefits of external observers in educator evaluations, third party observers can also help alleviate the logistical challenges of observations by saving school leaders time and ensuring that teachers receive impartial, accurate assessments of their performance with content-specific feedback that improves practices.
Read the full article on Ed Week's blog and start thinking about the support school leaders really need in order to ensure their teachers can impact student achievement.