I stared at the stack of bus discipline reports on the corner of my desk. Well, there goes my day, I thought. Another day of trying to translate the bus driver’s comments in a way that makes sense to misbehaving elementary school students. Another day of listening to explanations and excuses from students. Another day of knowing that nothing I do seems to change behavior and make the problems go away. 

I have had several people contact me about how to approach teacher evaluation in a Quality Learning context, so I decided to make it the subject of a newsletter. This is a hot topic, especially in the United States, since state and federal grants and funding are now requiring teacher evaluation. I don’t have any quick fixes to this dilemma, but I do think there are three concepts to consider when modifying or creating teacher evaluation systems. 

Often when I hear educators discussing problems related to school improvement I want to shout, “Stop the madness!” Undoubtedly, everyone in education, both in K-12 schools and higher education, feels pressure to improve.

As a Continuous Improvement consultant for schools, districts, colleges and universities, I continually encounter the same common systemic problems no matter the size of the organization, nor its location in the world. One of these common problems is the idea of goal setting to improve performance either within the class-room or the organization.