This fall, Brevard Public Schools in Florida will join a handful of other districts nationwide that have adopted peer reviews as part of their teacher evaluation system. The change comes after Florida approved a bill this past spring that did away with tenure for new teachers, and requires 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation to be based on standardized testing measures.
Michelle Spitzer of Florida Today reports that the peer reviews will not affect teacher pay until 2014, when a new state mandate may take effect. The peer evaluation method will require teachers with less than four years experience to undergo four colleague reviews, whereas teachers with four or more years of experience only need to have one review.
While Janet Eastman, the former president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers, called the new evaluation system a “great, great thing,” not all teachers were as enthusiastic. Spitzer writes, “Some teachers expressed concerns about the fairness of having their peers evaluate them but declined to talk on the record.”
How would you feel about having your colleague evaluate your performance?