An outdated teacher evaluation process in Akron Public Schools has created a culture of rating inflation in which excellence goes unrecognized, teacher development is stymied, and schools are unable to address poor performance among either novice or veteran teachers. Findings include:
- Evaluation ratings suggest a dramatically inflated view of teacher performance.
- Rating inflation obscures true excellence and prevents rewards for the district’s top performers
- Rating inflation undercuts teacher effectiveness by giving teachers an unrealistic view of their own performance and limiting constructive feedback.
- APS misses a critical opportunity to differentiate strong and weak novice teachers by excluding performance from consideration in granting continuing contracts.
- Poor performance goes unaddressed.