Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!ukma!uflorida!haven!purdue!bls
From: bls@cs.purdue.EDU (Brian L. Stuart)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Teacher Competence
Message-ID: <5908@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>
Date: 26 Jan 89 20:34:38 GMT
References: <1461@trantor.harris-atd.com>
Reply-To: bls@cs.purdue.edu (Brian L. Stuart)
Distribution: na
Organization: Department of Computer Science, Purdue University
Lines: 53

In article <1461@trantor.harris-atd.com> ferguson@x102c.harris-atd.com (ferguson ct 71078) writes:
>
>On the issue of teacher competence, I have a sister who is a school
>teacher outside Houston, TX and she has some interesting observations
>on the subject.  She claims that few "incompetent" teachers really
>exist or at least the competency exams are ineffective in identifying
>them.  She points out that most teachers have passed several
>competency exams by the time they begin their teaching careers and
>that additional competency exams will prove nothing.  The worst
>teachers are generally able to pass competency exams without
>difficulty.
>
I would believe that bad teachers can pass the competency exams.
After all those exams are written by the same people that taught
the bad teachers to teach.  They then generally test what the
teacher learned in getting an Ed. degree.  However, I'm not
convinced that passing such a test establishes competence.
This is really a part of the question about whether or not
teachers are given sufficient education to teach well. My
experience leads me to think not.

>She claims that the real problem with "bad" teachers is lack of
>motivation.  Basically, some teachers just don't give a hoot.  The
>teacher's performance appraisal process is ineffective at identifying
>such teachers.  The teacher performance appraisal is Texas consists of
>a once-a-year visit to the classroom by the principal.  E.g., one day
>a year the teacher has to perform admirably and the rest of the year
>he/she can take a mental holiday.  I can remember teacher appraisal
>day well from my days as a student in Texas.  It was hilarious to see
>a football coach/part-time history teacher try to become Socrates for
>a day.
>
>Chuck Ferguson             Harris Government Information Systems Division
>(407) 984-6010             MS: W1/7732  PO Box 98000  Melbourne, FL 32902
>Internet:                  ferguson@cobra@trantor.harris-atd.com

Maybe its time we discussed ways of determining who is doing a good
job of teaching and who is not.  Clearly, most existing systems are
not working.  This may seem like hearesy to some, but how about using
the students' evaluation of teachers are part of the process.  After
all, it is the students who are the "consumers" of the teaching "product."
My undergraduate alma mater (the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology)
used the student evaluation of professors as one of the primary parts
of teacher evaluation.  I have seen professors whose contracts were
not renewed largely as a result of the recognition on the part of the
students that they were not up to the Rose standard.

What do the rest of you think about this?  Do you have any ideas about
how we can better evaluate teachers in all levels of education?

Brian L. Stuart
Department of Computer Sciences
Purdue University