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Handhelds @ Work
Teacher evaluation, the Pocket PC way
As
a school principal for 19 years, Rex Tift knows the importance
of tracking teacher performance ö for ongoing feedback, for formal
evaluation, and to make sure teachers are performing to official
standards. Of particular importance is the walk-through observation
ö a 10-15 minute classroom visit to monitor the teacher in action.
During these brief visits, he has to quickly record a variety
of details about what he sees and hears. A lot is at stake based
on the information he is able to collect ö for the teacher, the
students, and the school district.
The
search for a more effective method led Tift to investigate handheld
PCs, but there were no suitable applications on the market. Undaunted,
the Orcutt, CA elementary school principal created his own computer
application, which he uses to track the performance of the 28
teachers on his staff. The program, which Tift has named ãThe
Evaluator,ä includes a comprehensive observation module, as well
as modules for tracking extra effort and professional growth,
absences and whether teachers have submitted required reports
on time.
The
ability to tap through drop-down lists on a Pocket PC, collecting
data on the fly as events unfold, allows him to track details
of teacher performance to a degree that was impossible using a
pen and notepad, or even a laptop. It's an approach designed for
speed and efficiency, without being restrictive ö he can always
add new entries to the lists and type notes to explain special
circumstances. The result is a complete picture of teacher performance,
packed with detail. ãMany final evaluations look like a pat on
the head with vague comments about what a nice job the teacher
did,ä notes Tift. ãNow I can say, ÎYou did a great job, and here's
WHY'. For example, in Professional Growth, I can say, ÎWow, you
went to four workshops on your own.' In Extra Effort, I can see
that you took some math workshops, and then took our staff through
training after you came back. Using this tool, teachers know that
their efforts are seen and appreciated.ä
The
modules are especially useful for capturing impromptu information
that may previously have been overlooked ö he's always hearing
comments in the halls or lunchroom about teacher accomplishments
that are worth preserving. ãOften you'll hear teachers talk about
upcoming field trips, or mention that they ran over to Bakersfield
and took a neat workshop in math for elementary kids,ä he says.
ãThis program allows me to keep records of all those details.ä
While
Tift enjoys using computers, he admits that he has no formal computer
training, much less a background in programming. But that didn't
stop him ö he used a software tool called Visual CE from SYWARE
(http://www.syware.com) that allows useful handheld applications
to be created without coding. The easy-to-use software makes creating
handheld applications a reasonable proposition, even for mere
mortals without programming experience. For educators, like people
in other fields, it means an opportunity to invent new solutions
that bring professional improvements and make life easier.
Efficient
observations
The main module of The Evaluator allows Tift to capture quickly
all details associated with a walk-through classroom observation.
A considerable amount of information, covering the variety of
situations, activities, and standards that might be observed during
the visit, is concisely arranged for easy access and viewing on
the miniature screen of his HP 5550 handheld.
When
Tift enters the classroom, he opens a new record that already
includes basic pre-entered information including teacher name,
grade/assignment, room number, work phone, and home phone. (Once
entered, these details will appear automatically at the top of
any record for that teacher.) He taps a Time In button to start
the observation. He then records the objective that he perceives
the teacher to be teaching to. For example, for a fifth grade
math class, he may enter ãEstimating numbers to the nearest million.ä
He then double-taps Student Activities to open a drop-down list
of activities in which students might be engaged ö receiving large
group instruction, small group instruction, working independently,
and so on. He taps on the activity(ies) that he observes, which
then become part of the observation record. The Teacher Activities
field is similar ö a drop-down list that allows Tift to indicate
what the teacher is doing during his visit ö giving large group
instruction, small group instruction, counseling, disciplining
ö the whole range of possible activities.
Room
Environment allows him to capture details about the classroom
environment as a favorable learning setting for students. He selects
from a list of descriptors such as: student work displayed, curriculum
support materials, classroom library available to students, advanced
organizers, daily/weekly schedules, etc. ãI prefer to see student
work on the walls, rather than pretty teacher-made bulletin boards,
and my staff knows that,ä he adds.
Other
pull-down lists display California teaching standards as well
as grade level, subject-specific academic standards, allowing
him to record which standards are being met during that particular
visit. When he double-taps Teaching Standards, the screen displays
a list of teaching standards in six major categories, each with
sub-entries. For example, as Tift scrolls through Category 1.0.
Engaging and Supporting, he might see that the teacher (we'll
call him Mr. Jones) is meeting part 1.1, Connecting student's
prior knowledge, life experience, and interests with teaching
goals. Accordingly, Tift will tap on the 1.1 entry to select it.
During this visit he may also see that Mr. Jones is addressing
part 1.5, Promoting self-directed reflective learning for all
students. He continues scrolling through the standards, and tapping
on those he sees being addressed.
Tift
next double-taps Academic Standards. Since Mr. Jones is a fifth
grade teacher and Tift is observing a math lesson, he scrolls
down to the Fifth Grade Math data field. He double taps the field
to bring up a list of all fifth grade standards for math. From
this list he may select I.1a, or whatever standard(s) he observes
being addressed.
Finally,
Tift will enter some appropriate notes, such as ã(1) All students
on task. Students aware of classroom rules (raise hand, listening
when others talk, taking turns), (2) You modeled the expected
behavior by demonstrating estimation strategies on the board and
with the overhead projector.ä
When
the observation is complete, he taps Time Out, which automatically
records the number of minutes spent in the classroom. ãWhen I
leave, I have an instant little record that I can capture in 10-15
minutes in the classroom.ä
Later,
he'll print a report of his observation and give a copy to the
teacher. Rather than placing a completely computer-generated form
in the teacher's mailbox, he'll normally hand-write some brief
notes and draw a happy face. ãThis is an elementary school ö people
understand happy faces!ä
Using
the information
Tift has a staff of 28 teachers, and normally observes each one
at least five times during the school year. In the past, this
meant a lot of typing by his secretary, and a back-and-forth revision
process between the secretary and Tift that consumed several hours
each week. In addition to saving valuable time, the new approach
allows much greater flexibility for managing teacher information
that was possible when working with static paper files. Data collected
from classroom observations and the other modules now becomes
part of a database that Tift can view and organize as needed ö
by teacher name, date, or any other relevant criteria.
He
keeps a copy of the database on his desktop PC running under Microsoft
Access, a popular database management package for PC users. He
syncs his handheld Visual CE application with the Microsoft Access
database to keep the desktop version up-to-date. (The two programs
are compatible.) From the PC, he can print reports that slice
and dice the database information in dozens of different ways.
Information
collected over the year becomes input for the formal year-end
teacher evaluation ö a much easier task when the details are at
his fingertips. ãWhen it's time to prepare the evaluation, I can
refer to specific anecdotal information about what a teacher accomplished
over the course of the year. For example, I can see that on November
8, Mr. Jones taught a great math lesson that really exemplified
what we're looking for in teaching mathematics, and here are the
standards that I saw being met. Over time, I can see that teachers
are meeting all grade level academic standards as well as California
teaching standards.ä
öNatasha
Ryan
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