When I was a classroom teacher in the Bronx, the district office would occasionally send a team of inspectors to each school in its jurisdiction. It was an "all hands on deck" team, which even included non-education staff members. One year, I remember talking with my 4th grade students in my classroom, when the district accountant poked his head through the door. He didn't say hello or make eye contact with me. He just stood in the doorway, scanned the room, ticked items off his checklist and left, without saying thank you, goodbye, or making eye contact. And that was how the district evaluated me as an educator. A 5 minute, fly-by from the district accountant and his checklist. I'd like to think the standards and techniques for evaluating teachers have improved, since the 90s. But if they had evolved to take into account the complexities of managing diverse, personalized learning needs, while growing a community of learners, would an accountant be able to reliably evaluate a teacher's performance? Probably not. And that's why in this country, we have high-stakes tests, the ultimate clipboard checklist. But that doesn't stop a good teacher from trying to move even the most challenging students...forward.
