NJ Schools Turn to Familiar Instrument to Measure Teacher Performance

By John Mooney (Courtesy of NJ Spotlight)

A pioneer in teacher evaluation, Charlotte Danielson knows her name is soon to be part of the vocabulary in hundreds of New Jersey public schools. She’s hoping that will be in a good way.

Danielson, the creator and driving force behind the eponymous Charlotte Danielson’s “Frameworks for Teaching,” will see her methods for observing and evaluating teachers adopted in almost two-thirds -- or more than 330 -- of the state’s school districts this fall, the first year that New Jersey’s high-stakes grading of teachers and principals will be in play.

It’s an overwhelming endorsement for Danielson’s methodologies, one that reflects her nationwide influence on teacher evaluation. It's also a testament to the instruments' familiarity to districts after more than a decade, as well as to how easy teachers and educators find it to use.

The second choice of an instrument -- one developed by James Stronge of the College of William and Mary -- was picked by 65 districts, according to the state’s most recent survey.

The Danielson instrument uses her four distinct “domains” to evaluate classroom performance, as well as to plan and analyze that performance. It relies heavily on collaboration and dialogue between teacher and observer.

Read more at NJSpotlight.com

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