Just saw this article on EdWeek:

New Teacher-Evaluation Systems Face Obstacles

While I am employed in the large-scale manufacturing business where production is relatively easy to measure and employee performance can be tied to some fairly clear metrics, I can fully appreciate that children are not widgets, even big ones, and the skills to create great students, our future leaders, are not easily discerned or measured.

While I am, indeed, a fan of metrics and I have almost never met a spreadsheet I didn’t like, there are some fundamental questions I need to understand and research, and I’ll be interested in the opinions of others in wrapping my arms around this topic.  Most importantly, perhaps, are the questions of basic humanity and of the key goals sought in establishing metrics.  After all, these are people teaching people and the range of skills and issues that are both effective and challenging are very broad.  This is undoubtedly a very complex issue that, based on the article, has yet to be resolved in favor of any one plan of attack.

I’m interested in learning more, so please share your thoughts, if you care to.