On the one hand, it’s nice to see Wisconsin’s public schools finally moving toward a human resources model that most of the rest of the working world has been using for years — i.e., rewarding or sanctioning employees based on how well they do their jobs.
On the other, given that public education isn’t exactly inventing the wheel here, it’s puzzling that the state would need to spend so much time and money coming up with and implementing ways to gauge how well educators do their jobs.
Then there’s the question of whether the new teacher evaluations — expected to cost about $6.9 million this school year and $6.7 million the next — will produce data that’s any more useful than that produced by the old, largely pro forma teacher evaluations.
Two systems have been approved for use so far. One was created by the Department of Public Instruction, the other by the publicly supported Cooperative Educational Service Agency for region 6, or CESA 6.
To my untrained eye, they seem fair and on point. Among the highlights:
Evaluators complete a series of announced and unannounced classroom observation visits.