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A Different Take on Performance Evaluation

August 21, 2006

Writings on teacher performance evaluation have argued for benefits of assigning different evaluators the two roles of deciding salary decisions (summative evaluation) and performance improvement assistance (formative evaluation). This would allow those being evaluated to remain less defensive and more open to discussing performance problems and accepting suggestions. Without the responsibility for making an salary decisions, evaluators would be able to provide more assistance toward improving performance. But according to a recent study by WCER researcher Tony Milanowski and colleagues, there were no major differences between two groups of teachers, one evaluated in split-role manner, and the other evaluated in combined manner, in terms of their openness to discussion of difficulties, reception and acceptance of performance feedback, stress, turnover intentions, actual turnover, or performance improvement. When offering professional development services to teachers, the study finds, it may be more important to ensure that developmental assistance is provided to evaluatees than to split the evaluation roles between administrative (summative) evaluation and developmental (formative) evaluation.