Teacher Evaluation - Start with Why!

Welcome back to Round Pegs!  We took a bit of a summer break.

Teacher evaluation came up again.

"High stakes tests are fine for tested subjects.  What about fine arts, technical arts, or physical education?"

The stock answer:  "Everybody is a literacy teacher.  Evaluate teachers on literacy."

If the feelings embedded in the fine arts could be expressed in words, we would have no need for the fine arts.  Stravinsky once said that "music means itself."  The arts can produce a visceral response that a description of the arts cannot.  But we can even make a distinction between artistic writing and descriptive writing.  John Ciardi wrote How Does a Poem Mean because the question "What Does a Poem Mean" is silly.  As if Emily Dickinson couldn't express herself cogently, so we need a professor to translate for us.

To be fair, I want literate citizens, and reading and writing are among the Mother Subjects.  But when we evaluate fine arts teachers on literacy outcomes, we start with the wrong Why.  "Because We Don't Have Standardized Arts Tests" isn't a good reason to hold teachers accountable for literacy.

But what happens if we meet the CCSS crowd half way?  Let's say that everybody is responsible for every student's literacy score.  What portion of student growth would you attribute to the high school band director?  What portion goes to the 8th grade visual arts teacher?  How about the 5th grade theater teacher?

Here's the answer:  none of the above.  This level of confidence in statistics is pure hubris.  But don't take my word for it.  Read https://www.amstat.org/policy/pdfs/ASA_VAM_Statement.pdf to see the position of the American Statistical Association.

Start with Why.  Why do we teach the arts?  The answer is not to improve literacy.

For more information, check out Simon Sinek's TED talk at http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action