I just read an interesting article about how the Bill Gates is at it again. The Bill Gates foundation is investing $335 million through to help improve personnel at several large school districts, mostly teacher quality. The article, Teacher Ratings Get a New Look, Pushed by a Rich Watcher, written by Sam Dillon appeared in the New York Times on December 3, 2010.
One concept that was covered and grabbed my attention the most was the idea of placing video cameras in the classroom to do teacher evaluations. This would help with the time of administrators and their budgets. In addition, it could allow teachers to be evaluated by several administrators instead of just one. Further, Mr. Gates personally feels that it give an opportunity to study good educators - what they do to set them apart from the rest.
Since I am not in a classroom and really can't imagine the political climate of working in a school, I was wondering what some of you thought about this concept? How would you feel if you were videotaped? Would it be okay once in a while? What if video cameras are in the classroom all the time? Would that make a difference?
After reading your post I read this article and commented more on my own blog but here’s what I leave you with.
ReplyDeleteEducators shouldn’t have to go through that much scrutiny to educate. Everyone wants to put the fact that students are learning on the school system. However if it’s happening all over the US, maybe it’s another factor. Maybe it’s the fact that students come to school at 5 years old unprepared for the expectations they must reach. Some of them are strong enough to keep up because they have a strong foundation at home; a foundation that many of our students are lacking. Parents nowadays are quick to worry about if their child had on the right name brand shoes but not worried enough about checking homework and reading with their child daily. It’s hard for non-educators to understand that Little Billy came to the first grade not knowing how to spell him name or count to 50. But you want him to read 60 words per minute, be able to comprehend what he’s reading, add and subtract 2 digit numbers and be prepared to start multiplication in second grade. No matter what that where he should be, it doesn’t matter where it starts. As an educator, it frustrating to hear students aren’t achieving when I know my students are. They may not be where we want them to be but they have made progress. Instead of scrutinizing teachers about what they are doing in the classroom, let’s work on parents and what they are not doing. If students HAD to start school with basic knowledge it would help to bridge the achievement gap we have in our school system. We don’t need camera for that.
The climate of the classroom would change dramatically. Nothing would be private. Aside from the desire to not be scrutinized every day, I think students would have a real problem with being videotaped in class. After class, I have had students come up to me many times to discuss personal issues, i.e. their parents going through a divorce, death in the family, etc. Information that is private and confidential. I would not have the same relationship with my students if every conversation was videotaped.
ReplyDelete