South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment M & E Teacher Performance Improving teaching effectiveness Capacity Building Workshop on ‘Monitoring and Evaluating Progress in Education in the Pacific’ (with the technical assistance from SPBEA, UNICEF and PRIDE) October 2008 Tanoa Hotel, Nadi, Fiji Islands

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Assessment Collecting evidence about pupils’ achievements Collecting evidence of teachers’ teaching Apply the principles of effective assessment to the appraisal of teachers What are the most direct measures of the effectiveness of teachers?

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Key Questions What is it for? Who is it for? Does it serve these purposes? Does it make a positive return? Formative vs Summative

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Sources of indication of teacher performance The Classroom The Planning The Pupil achievements Others ?

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Teaching Effectiveness Indicators 1 The Classroom Does it convey an atmosphere of vibrancy rather than lethargy? Does it convey a feeling of ownership by pupils and teacher with clear respect for displayed work and infrastructure?

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Teaching Effectiveness Indicators 2 The Planning : Teachers cannot progress from day to day in an ad hoc manner. Does the teaching plans indicate short, middle, long term and well focussed planning? Are they revised regularly? Curriculum documents make clear the anticipated learning outcomes for pupils. Without the curriculum documents the teacher and all pupils are travelling on a ship without a rudder. Does the teacher have the up-to-date curriculum documents? Are lesson plans clearly structured on identified learning outcomes, and the pupils must have a strong vision of what learning outcomes they are striving for.

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Teaching Effectiveness Indicators 3 The pupil achievement : Perhaps the most significant indicator of teaching effectiveness is provided by the achievement indicators of pupils. Does the measurement of pupil achievement clearly reflect the students achievement levels of the learning outcomes? The measure use must be meticulously designed and planned, and it is likely that experienced teachers may not be accustomed to monitoring the achievements of their pupils. Each school should ensure that there is a formalised mechanism for recording the achievement levels of pupils.

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment WHAT? Teachers must be clear on what it is they are being asked to do and hence what they will be assessed against – assessment criteria. What do we mean by ‘ effective classroom teaching ’? How should we define the standards to be applied when assessing teacher competence in teaching?

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment HOW? The teachers being assessed should be offered a proper opportunity to ‘show what they know and can do ’ against predefined competency levels. These competency levels would have been developed over an extended period of time after much trialling and modification, thus one could say that they have been reliably set and there is sufficient relevant information available for valid conclusions to be reached.

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment HOW? (cont) Teachers would rate themselves against agreed competencies and discuss these with peers or Principals in the school. After each assessment, strengths and areas for improvement are identified. Teachers and Principals may then prioritize the areas that need to be improved and identify intervention strategies to realise the improvements. The competencies so designed will describe what every teacher should possess in order to teach effectively.

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Achievement vs Competency Levels Competency level is set … Achievement (Performance) level is what the assessee attained

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Formative role About helping teachers to improve and enhance their skills Review of performance and enhancement of professional growth About self-development and organisational improvement and effectiveness

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Partnership to Effective Teaching Effective teaching should be an institutional (school) goal. It should be achieved through co- operative actions between teachers and management It should be the product of support and collaboration, and a source of institutional pride.

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Table of self-assessment Aspect Assessed of Competencies Level 4Level 3Level 2Level 1Level 0 Quality of my feedback I always give feedback to my class and to individual pupils. My feedback is constructive and indicates the path to improvement for the pupils. I always give feedback to my class and to individual pupils. My feedback often lacks an indication of how pupils can improve. I always give feedback to my class, but rarely provide feedback to individual pupils. My feedback often lacks an indication of how pupils in the class can improve. I sometimes forget to provide any feedback to the class I rarely give any feedback to the class Use of learning outcomes Every lesson I prepare is built upon specific learning outcomes. I always make sure that I have discussed the learning outcome with the class so that they know what we are trying to achieve. Every lesson I prepare is built upon specific learning outcomes, but I do not discuss the learning outcome with the class. Only about 70% of my lessons are built upon specific learning outcomes, but I do discuss the learning outcomes with the class Less than 50% of my lessons are built upon specific learning outcomes. To be honest I still teach to content and do not think about the learning outcomes Establishing achievement levels I always try to make sure that I identify the path towards each learning outcome by identifying achievement levels. I discuss the achievement levels with my pupils so that they can see the path towards the learning outcome. I always try to make sure that I identify the path towards each learning outcome by identifying achievement levels. I don’t discuss the achievement levels with my pupils. I am trying to develop achievement levels for the learning outcomes, but have not used them in my teaching. I have not adopted any achievement levels for the learning outcomes To be honest I don’t understand what value achievement level statements have

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Table of self-assessment Aspect AssessedLevel 4Level 3Level 2Level 1Level 0 Involving pupils in their own assessment I always encourage pupils to determine how far they believe they have moved towards achieving learning outcomes. I only respond to pupils who come and ask me how well they are progressing towards achieving learning outcomes. I rarely discuss progress towards achieving learning outcomes with pupils I don’t involve pupils in their own assessment, but think it might be worth trying I see no value in getting pupils to think about how well they are doing Identifying pupil progress I try to make sure I know the progress being made by each of my pupils at the end of each week, and I have a strategy for helping me do that I try to make sure I know the progress being made by each of my pupils at the end of each week, but find it difficult to do this I report on progress at the end of each term, and also if the information is asked for by a parent or the Principal. I only report on progress at the end of each term I only provide marks for term tests Implementing intervention As soon as I find weakness in my teaching to a learning outcome I revise my approach and try again. When I find a pupil with a problem I arrange help either through a fellow pupil or with a few minutes of special attention, and sometimes engage the help of the parents I really only intervene with problems experienced by the whole class. I revise my approach and try again. I find I do not have the time for individual intervention, but do advise the parents. I go back over points that I think the class is having problems with. I advise the pupils to go over the work at home. I think I need to get on with teaching the brighter ones. If I spend time going over work with the weak ones, the bright ones will suffer.

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Sample competency levels

South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment Conclusion Teacher should: Be involved in self assessment, peer and internal school appraisal processes for improved competencies of teachers to be developed. Ensure that in their schools assessment is an integral part of the teachers job and not a peripheral role. Advocate for improvements in ‘internal assessments’, more outputs based assessments and reporting, less assessment for high stakes purposes.