Secretary Arne Duncan is concerned with improving teacher effectiveness and addressing low-performing schools, but focusing only on student test scores is misguided. True success requires better teacher, principal, and classroom preparation and oversight. Many teachers lack preparation to meet different learners' needs or manage classrooms. Principals often lack skills to supervise teachers. On-site training is needed in diversified curriculum, classroom management for teachers and learning principles, supervision, and coaching for principals. Teachers also need accountability for lesson design and classroom management. Outside observers should audit classrooms objectively to assess learning, teacher behavior, and validate effective teachers so principals take action on ineffective ones. Improving teacher and principal training and providing objective

1. Performance management in schools
Secretary Arne Duncan of the U.S. Department of Education is concerned about
improving the effectiveness of teachers and addressing the issue of low performing
schools. However, the current focus on student test scores to assess teacher performance
seems misguided. Student test scores are only a symptom of teacher effectiveness. If the
goal is successful student learning, it can only be achieved through better and more
effective teacher preparation, principal preparation, and classroom oversight.
Problem: Many teachers in challenged schools are unprepared to meet the needs of
different learners or to manage their classrooms.
Many long-term and some new teachers have no idea how to create an effective lesson
plan. They do not know how to write specific, observable, measurable learning
objectives. They do not understand the need to incorporate a variety of learning activities
that will give the students an opportunity to learn and apply the lesson.
They do not check for comprehension to see if they need to re-teach a lesson before they
assign independent study.
Some new teachers have not been taught how to create or maintain an effective learning
environment. They either attempt to be the students' friends or act as their disciplinarians.
If they want to be the students' friends, they are unwilling to establish limits or to
constructively focus the students on learning the lesson content. If they see themselves
primarily as disciplinarians, they focus all of their time and energy on control rather than
real learning, resulting in an adversarial, anxiety-filled, and often abusive environment.
Both approaches are detrimental to effective learning.
Solution: Provide on-site training on diversified curriculum design and classroom
management techniques.
Problem: Many principals in challenged schools are unprepared to supervise, monitor or
manage teacher performance.
The effectiveness of the teachers and the learning environment that they create are
directly within the control of the principals. However, many of the principals who are
willing to move to impoverished areas lack the necessary supervisory and performance
management skills. In other words, they do not know how to manage, coach, or hold poor
teachers accountable for making demonstrable constructive improvements in their
teaching or classroom management styles. As a result, the schools fail.

2. There are two areas in which school principals need additional training. First, principals
need to be trained in learning principles and lesson plan design, so that they can
effectively review teacher performance.
Some principals do not understand basic learning principles or what an effective lesson
plan should look like. As a result, they are ill equipped to review lesson plans to ensure
that they are effective.
Principals need to ensure that their teachers set their students up for success. This means
incorporating a variety of learning activities to meet the needs of different learning styles.
This also means reinforcing the need to check student comprehension and re-teach as
needed.
Second, principals need to be trained in effective supervision, performance management,
and coaching techniques so that they can establish, monitor and enforce teacher
accountability. This includes the skills to coach low performing teachers, set specific
remedial performance goals and measures and time tables, establish a monitoring
process, and follow through.
Solution: Provide principals training in basic learning principles and lesson plan design,
as well as training in supervision, performance management, and coaching.
Problem: Many teachers in challenged schools are not held accountable for the teaching
choices they make and the manner in which they interact with students.
Once trained, the teachers need to be held accountable for using effective lesson design
and classroom management techniques to achieve real learning in their classrooms. Some
teachers have literally given up. Because these teachers also have no classroom
management skills, chaos results and no learning takes place.
Some teachers interact with their students in a manner that indicates they do not like or
respect them. These teachers are only concerned about "getting through" the syllabus
rather than ensuring that their students successfully learn the syllabus content.
These issues only surface and become apparent during classroom audits.
There is a real need for an objective outside observer to audit these classes. First, this
ensures an educated review and assessment of the degree of learning, based on the lesson
plan and its execution.
Second, this ensures an unbiased review of teacher behavior in the classroom.
Third, auditor documentation and feedback provide validation for effective teachers and
incentive for the principals to take specific remedial action in the case of ineffective
teachers.

3. Solution: Bring in outside observers to conduct objective classroom audits.
If the goal is to improve the effectiveness of teachers and address the issue of low
performing schools, there are three problems that must be solved: inadequate teacher
training, inadequate principal preparation, and inadequate classroom oversight. Better
education of teachers and principals is necessary- in the long term, at the college level,
and in the short term, through onsite training programs. More objective oversight of
teacher performance in the classroom is also necessary. Until the time when principals
are better qualified to assess teacher performance, an objective third party auditor should
be used.
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