Competency Framework and Educator Assessment in K-12 Schools

Abstract

Any organisation is only as good as the team that runs it. It runs smoothly if the objectives are well defined and the people collaborate effectively. Often, the prior resulting in the latter. While some organisations drive this through encouragement and incentives, some companies run on fear and threat. The latter model may help achieve short-term objectives, but in the long run, it causes a high churn rate of employees, followed by challenges in quality control, and so on. Thus, making it the less ideal of the two systems. While in the first case, employees own their lacunae and support each other to grow, the fear-based system is all about hiding and disguising errors to try and survive for as long as required. Imagine if these systems were applied to schools as they are. The results would be ghastly, considering that the existing models are generally built for better numbers and results. Imagine if teachers begin to see children as just such numbers. Something that is increasingly being seen in the conventional school scenario. To remedy this, a wholly different way must be devised. Even in models based on the Right to Education Act of 2009 and affiliation bye-laws of various boards, most skills and abilities that make a teacher great bear little to no mention. Abilities such as how often teachers go beyond the course to chase the curiosity of children or whether teachers work enough on themselves as perpetual learners, inspiring their students to look upon them as role models. Even simple behaviours such as punctuality that make an immense difference in school settings, and must be at the core, again, bear no mention in the aforementioned documents. Such factors, often undermined, must be a part of the evaluation system as Key Result Areas to bring about inspiring teachers and transformative schools.