These evaluation practices stress accountability and frequently are based upon teacher-directed models of learning such as lecture, demonstration, recitation, and modeling designed primarily to transmit knowledge and cognitive skills to students. Traditional summative evaluation models are not necessarily structured to support dynamic, regenerative school environments. Evaluation procedures that focus on complying with regimented sets of behaviors do not encourage teacher involvement in their self-development or in the development of collaborative school cultures. Administrators and teachers need access to comprehensive evaluation models that capture the complexities of teaching. Congruent with an expanding knowledge base of teaching and learning, performance standards are being developed that lead to reconfigured assessment designs requiring an array of reflective, analytic skills.
Teachers are members of learning communities.
Teachers are asked to demonstrate how their teaching relates to their students' learning. Using these guidelines, evaluation becomes part of a reflective process in which teaching is studied on a regular basis with colleagues for purposes of continual growth, rather than static formalities determined outside the classroom. Teaching needs to be understood dynamically in its multiple contexts and performance data need to be gathered from diverse sources. These approaches appear to be more effective than traditional evaluation systems at both improving and letting go of teachers. Because these systems rely on teachers having increased opportunities for decision making and collaboration with colleagues, the process of evaluation becomes an integral part of everyday practice.