Achievement & Student Growth Philosophy - What is truly important?

It is inevitable, teacher evaluations are becoming increasingly important at the state level and it filters down to districts and school buildings where principals and teaching faculty are expressing varied opinions.  No matter the opinion, we are in the thick of the evaluation process and this is the time of year when many of us are in the final stages.  As I was working on my own evaluation I noticed some common “catch phrases” and “acronyms” regarding achievement data and student growth.  I am sure you could guess what they are: 

·        Data Drives Instruction – I say that a lot…

·        RTI approach to differentiation

·        Achievement dashboards

·        Progress monitoring with fidelity – My RTI committee loves this! 

·        SMART Goals

·        Data Binders to triangulate data… I think I just like saying triangulation!

·        Standard Based Grading

·        F&P tracking documents

·        Digging Deeper Assessments

·        Data Notebooks created by students

·        MEAP, NWEA, GPWA, FASTT, TTM, GES3, MLPP, Class A… ok, you get it!

It really got me thinking… what do I want to showcase in my evaluation regarding my achievement and student growth philosophy?  I summarized with the following:

There are many phrases and acronyms that educators utilize when talking about assessment data and student growth.  Many of them are stated within my evaluation.  Simply measuring student learning and reviewing data does not increase learning… Good Instruction Increases Learning!  Data should inform our decisions; however, educators need to be careful, not to get hung up on chasing classroom/building data, but to focus on the following:

-          Building relationships that support a culture of learning

-          Motivating and creating a love for learning

-          Maximizing instructional time

-          Increasing student engagement, empowering to be life-long learners

Rather than chasing data we should be focused on creating a culture of achievement, one where assessment data is used to gauge how to create lessons that maximize effectiveness of student engagement and learning.  Educators should utilize assessment strategies that are informal in nature; and that drive decision making, emphasizing flexibility and responsiveness to individuals during the learning process.  The most important informal assessment data educators should be looking at is student engagement and excitement for learning.  If educators are able to build positive relationships, maximize instructional time, and create a love for learning that motivates students to be cognitively engaged throughout the day then we should not need to worry about summative achievement data… they will achieve! 

I feel this sums up my assessment philosophy for my evaluation.  So, as you think about the many summative assessments we give each school year; I want you to focus on what is truly important:

-           Building relationships that support a culture of learning

-           Motivating and creating a love for learning

-           Maximizing instructional time

-           Increasing student engagement, empowering to be life-long learners

Thank you for always putting students first and not thinking they are a number, recognizing their individual needs!  Educators are the best!

Have a great week of teaching and learning! 

Keith