Role of Supervision and Evaluation in Education

The process by which most teachers are supervised and evaluated in our schools is inefficient, ineffective, and a poor use of principals’ time. It’s based on a flawed theory of action: that supervision and evaluation will improve teachers’ effectiveness and therefore boost student achievement. I think the process drastically needs to be streamlined and be linked a more effective strategy for improving teaching and learning. I have not seen any teacher who told me that a formal summative evaluation changed his teaching style or improved her/his instruction.

I believe that supervision and evaluation is the heart of successful schooling given that certain conditions or prerequisites are met. The most important factor determining the success of a school is what goes on in the classroom and how much learning takes place. Supervision and evaluation set the standard and send clear messages to the teachers about what a school system wants to take place in classrooms. Supervision and evaluation, if it is implemented successfully determines the job description for teachers. However, in order to have supervision and evaluations transform and shape the school culture there are certain things need to be in place.

First of all, the basics should be in place. What it means are common language and system to talk about teaching, crystal-clear end-of-year learning expectations and goals; common assessments for the end of the year and interim assessments to diagnose problems during the year; and common rubrics for assessing student work. The common language and system mentioned above need to include irreducible elements of good teaching. These elements will be the ones teachers are supervised and evaluated for.

I also believe that supervision and evaluation should be done systematic classroom visits on a regular basis rather than the conventional way which is dog and pony show most of the time and not frequent enough.

Another factor that should be in place is a system that allows teachers to get frequent and high-quality feedback. This could be accomplished through different models of classroom based assistance such as clinical supervision or peer coaching. This should be separate from summative evaluations in order to get effective results. However, teacher’s participation, willingness to improve, professionalism, and performance in clinical supervision might be part of his/her summative evaluation. Supervision and evaluation have the capacity to shape and determine many things in schools from collegiality to parent and public relations.

Another important must-have in order to make supervision and evaluation work and transform the school culture is building collegial relationships and trust amongst the staff. This is the key to an effective learning environment and it could be accomplished through teaching team and teamwork. Evaluation and supervision can even shape the team work in schools. If you think about it evaluation and supervision are capable of shaping everything in a school if implemented effectively.