We all know that effective teaching and student achievement are interrelated. This is the reason that teacher performance is reviewed by administration as well as students, so that all perspectives can be analyzed.
Student evaluation of teachers has come a long way. Earlier it was done only by verbal communication, then too only by parents. When the child would reach home their parents would ask who is your teacher, how does he/she teach, does the teacher treat you well, etc. and it would end there. What is more important is to have a well-designed evaluation system for merging professional development with quality assurance in teacher evaluation.
With the changing time and scenario in education, students are asked to take proper surveys to evaluate their teachers. This has been in controversy for a long time. Few analysts feel is it not right to judge teacher’s effectiveness through student evaluation. They feel that students are still immature and lack the expertise to make judgments.
If we look at it from a larger perspective it can be positive. A survey conducted and given to all students where all have the opportunity to share different views, can make an evaluation a truly effective one. Most schools are adding it as a part of the school activity. By doing this they get to monitor their teachers and understand a child’s need properly.
Why are schools having students evaluate teachers?
Students are the main source of information about the teacher’s actual behavior in the class. They are the most logical evaluators of the quality, contentment with course content, textbooks, and system of instruction. When evaluated by students, the communication between students and teachers increases. It also gives teachers the opportunity to improve themselves in the way that students want.
Goals of teacher’s evaluation by students
There are many goals of teacher evaluation. They are mainly divided into two according to their nature: formative or summative.
- Formative evaluation refers to a system wherein evaluations are done to shape-up and improve teacher’s performance. Here supervisors scrutinize teachers, assemble all the data based on teaching behavior then organize those data and finally share the results in conferences with the teachers.
- Summative evaluation refers to system of evaluation where the aim is the development and use of data to inform summary judgments of teachers. This is done mainly by the principal who observes all the actions, work with the teacher, examine the student’s work and communicate with the parents.
