Teacher evaluations can be a tool for success

Recently Walter Rubel of the Las Cruces Sun-News published two essays addressing a Brown University study on teacher evaluations, and stated that New Mexico’s teacher evaluations are punitive. Having taught for 20 years, the last 10 for Las Cruces Public Schools, I offer a different perspective that evaluations are not punitive. The Brown University study found that 28.7% of teachers in New Mexico are ineffective. Have any teachers taken a pay cut or been fired due to teacher evaluations without the opportunity to improve the following year? To my knowledge, none.

Mr. Rubel’s essays missed an opportunity to address the more important issue of how New Mexico’s evaluation system can improve education for the students of New Mexico. The high percentage of ineffective teachers raises the question of whether administrators and education policy-makers are doing enough to assist teachers and to improve teacher training and development.

Administrators receive annual training on how to evaluate teachers and should provide assistance to teachers in improving their craft, which is the real intention of this evaluation process.

The New Mexico Teacher Leader Network is working to provide specific examples for each domain of the evaluation so teachers can use these to improve. There are also teacher trainings provided by the state throughout the year. The last two years, the New Mexico Teacher Summit has provided trainings for teachers to better understand the evaluation system and gain information to improve their teaching skills.

In addition to teaching, I was also a Teach Plus Teaching Policy Fellow and a member of the New Mexico Teacher Leader Network. The Teach Plus cohort, a group of 15 New Mexico classroom teachers, worked hard on a smart solution to revamp our state’s evaluation system. We polled 1,000 teachers from across the state on what they would want their evaluation to look like. Based on the research, we proposed to Secretary Skandera to shift the test scores component of the evaluation from 50% to 35% and to increase the principal evaluation to 40%. The intent is for a more balanced evaluation system.

With teacher programs, trainings, and Fellowships like Teach Plus, New Mexico is moving in the right direction. I am optimistic that as teachers continue to have a role in policy decisions, we will continue to see improvements in our state, but teachers must become more active in understanding how the evaluation system works. Focusing on the system's positive intent will go a long way toward improving the education system in New Mexico.

Joel Hutchinson teaches Honors and AP English courses at Centennial High School in Las Cruces Public Schools. He is a Teach Plus Teaching Policy Fellowship alum.