Former educator Dr. Richard Giordano is taking aim at teacher evaluation in the public schools.
“The system of teacher evaluation used in American public schools has become both inefficient and ineffective,” Giordano said.
Giordano, who worked for more than 25 years in public education as a teacher and secondary school principal, has written a new book “Ineptitude, Conformity, and Obfuscation: The Fraud of Teacher Evaluation in the Public Schools.”
The veteran educator insists that teacher evaluations in public schools are a “fraud” and offers ways to fix the process. Giordano argues that school administrators alone can’t ensure that education is being properly handled and he believes schools need more comprehensive approaches when it comes to the teacher evaluation process.
In his book, Giordano wrote that school administrators don’t actually know whether teachers are providing students with a quality education because the current evaluations are being done by principals who lack the necessary expertise.
“There really is not an effective, valid, over time means of establishing whether or not good education is taking place in the classroom from the standpoint of both the content being taught, which cannot be evaluated by principals … or the strategies that are being employed for the teaching process itself,” Giordano said.
Giordano insists too much responsibility is given to school principals to evaluate the teachers, calling for the whole structure of principalship to be “rearranged,” arguing that such an extensive evaluation cannot be effectively executed by one person.
“It’s a bridge too far, it’s a job too big, it cannot be done by one person, especially in the area of instructional leadership, which is the biggest job the principal has,” he said.
Weighing on what should replaced the current system, Giordano recommends that the teacher evaluation process should instead be “farmed out” to different experts in the community including business leaders and university instructors.
“Just think for a minute: in French, in Spanish, in Latin, in biology, in quantum physics, in a whole variety of subjects those areas need to be evaluated by and provided by people who have expertise in those areas,” Giordano said.
In his book, Giordano pointed to the challenges that public school principals face today, insisting that by bringing too many current trends, including political correctness, educators are harming students and, as a result, the country’s future.
Contact Ed at Ed.Dean@FloridaDaily.com.
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