Tell Us: How Should Teachers Be Evaluated in Holmdel?

Holmdel Township is looking to strengthen its teacher evaluation standards and clearly outline its methods.

The township recently chose the Danielson's Framework for Teaching, a rubric used during in-class teacher evaluations, which makes up 40 to 50 percent of the overall score.

A combination of state mandated standards and conditions negotiated by the teacher's union make up teacher evaluation methods around the state.

The formula, according to Assistant Superintendent Mary Beth Currie in a, coule leave around 10 percent wiggle room in the overall evaluation, to be customized by the district.

Board member Joseph Hammer suggested in a January meeting that the extra 10 percent could be carried by parent input.

"The Danielsen rubric only had secondary parental measurement (tracking of correspondence, emails, etc.) included in its rubric, I suggested that parent evaluations be included as a separate measurement," Hammer said in the comments section of a related Patch article. "Since children cannot evaluate teachers effectively and evaluators just by being in the classroom change the classroom environment, parents can fill a valuable role providing good feedback to teachers and administrators."

The Danielsen rubric adopted by the board evaluates the amount and effectiveness of teacher and parent communication. Currie said any customized evaluation methods would have to be negotiated within teacher contracts and meet state standards.

Patch is wondering: As a parent, what kinds of things do you look for in teachers? How would you like to be a part of the evaluation process?