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Session 3. Appraisal for Growth
Objective. Design a growth-focused appraisal cycle with several sources of evidence, calibrate observers so that readings are fair, and lead a growth conversation using a clear structure, including with a resistant senior colleague.
An appraisal system is judged by one test: do teachers bring their real problems to it? If they do, they will improve. If they perform for it, they will not. The key ideas gave you the cycle and the conversation. This lesson looks closer at two things that decide trust: how an observation note is written, and how bias creeps into even honest observers, and what a system can do about it.
Key ideas
Growth and judgement: two jobs, kept apart
- The OECD review 'Synergies for Better Learning' argues that teacher appraisal and feedback can help a school focus on the quality of teaching and on teachers' development, and can support career progression. Both are legitimate. The problem is doing both in one conversation: a teacher who fears a rating will hide the very lessons where she needs help.
- Design so that the yearly growth cycle is mostly conversation and evidence for the teacher. Any step that has consequences (a category, a reward, a formal procedure) follows ministry regulations, is separate, written, and known in advance.
- England's Teachers' Standards are an example of a short baseline that is used in appraisal. Whatever you choose, tell staff in plain words what each step is for.
A yearly cycle that fits a real school
- Set (September-October): one goal per teacher, linked to the framework and to one group of pupils, agreed in a 30-minute talk. Gather (October-March): at least three sources, such as two short observations by trained colleagues, a sample of pupils' work, and the teacher's own reflection or pupil feedback.
- Check (January): 20-minute mid-year check on progress and support. Review (April-May): a 45-minute conversation, a one-page record with strengths, one next step and the support promised, and the goal for next year.
- Count leader time: 40 teachers x about 2.5 hours is 100 hours. If the head and deputies cannot do this, train and use peer observers, as in 11.9 (Peer Observation).
Fair evidence: more than one lesson, more than one reader
- One lesson on one afternoon is a weak basis for any judgement. Use several short observations with look-fors agreed in advance from the framework, notes that describe what happened (not adjectives), and pupils' work as a second source.
- Calibrate observers: two people read the same lesson notes or watch the same lesson and compare which stage they would choose for each competency. Discuss the evidence behind any gap. Do this before the first cycle and once a year.
- Give the teacher the notes within two days, the right to add evidence or a comment, and clarity on who keeps the record and who may read it.
The growth conversation, including the hard ones
- A simple structure: (1) the teacher speaks first about what went well and what was hard; (2) you share the evidence, described not judged; (3) one strength, named exactly; (4) one next step chosen by the teacher with your help; (5) the support you promise and a date to check.
- With a senior teacher who says 'I have done this for 25 years', do not argue about the past. Ask what she is proud of, show the pupil work, and ask what she would like her pupils to do better. Use her expertise: invite her to mentor on something she does very well.
- If a teacher is struggling seriously, support comes first: a written support plan with named help and a review date. Any formal capability or disciplinary process follows ministry regulations and is outside this growth cycle; take advice from the district office before you start one.
Two notes about the same minute
Judgement note
- Pupils were bored
- Weak class control
- Score 2 of 4
Growth note
- 10:12, 9 of 28 looked out of the window
- 10:20, after pair talk all 28 wrote
- Question: what changed at 10:15?
Writing an observation note that can be trusted
Use three columns. In the first, write what you saw and heard, with times and counts: '10:12, 9 of 28 pupils looking out of the window during the explanation'. In the second, write what it might mean, as a question, not a verdict: 'perhaps the explanation was too long?' In the third, write one question to ask the teacher. Adjectives such as 'weak' or 'boring' belong in no column.
The teacher receives the first column before the meeting and may correct it: perhaps three of the nine pupils had just come from a sports lesson. This small right changes the meaning of the visit. It becomes a joint look at evidence, not a verdict handed down. Add pupils' work as a second source, so that a single hard afternoon does not define a year.
Common biases and what a system can do
Honest observers still lean. First impressions colour the whole lesson. We favour teachers who teach as we do. A quiet class looks like a good class, even if pupils are not thinking. The most recent lesson weighs more than the earlier ones. These are common patterns in human judgement; naming them aloud in observer training makes them easier to catch in oneself.
A system cannot remove bias, but it can reduce it: set look-fors before the visit, separate writing facts from interpreting them, use two readers for any record that matters, rotate observers, let the teacher answer in writing. Decide how long notes are kept and who can read them, following ministry regulations on records, and tell teachers. Trust grows when the rules are known.
Examples from the classroom
Rewriting a note
Scene. Deputy head Aziz in Namangan has written, 'Lesson was boring, pupils inattentive.' With a colleague he rewrites it in three columns after the Grade 6 lesson: times, counts and pupils' words. The first column now says that for 12 minutes the teacher explained and 9 of 28 looked away, and that after two minutes of pair talk, all 28 were writing sentences. His question for the teacher is, 'What was different at 10:15?' The teacher answers in a minute: 'They had something to do.'
Insight. A note with counts and a question starts a conversation; a note with adjectives starts a defence.
A calibration meeting
Scene. Four observers from a cluster of three schools in Andijan meet for 90 minutes before the cycle starts. They read a written account of a 40-minute Grade 5 lesson, decide separately on a stage for 'checking understanding', then show their choices at the same moment. Two choose Established, two Beginning. They find that the difference is whether the teacher's 'does everyone understand?' counts. They agree it does not, and add the sentence 'checks the understanding of most pupils through answers or work'.
Insight. Calibration finds the hidden disagreement and fixes it in the wording, before any teacher is affected.
A veteran sets his own goal
Scene. Shavkat has taught for 31 years in a Samarkand school and says he is 'too old for goals'. The head does not argue. She asks, 'What do you want your Grade 9 pupils to be able to do in June that they cannot do now?' He says he wants them to explain a physics result in their own words. They agree his goal: weekly explanation tasks, with a colleague visiting once to watch. By March Shavkat shares three pupil explanations in a staff meeting.
Insight. Starting from what the teacher wants for pupils makes the goal his own.
Common pitfalls
- Writing the note after a week from memory, when facts have turned into impressions.
- Letting one observer's single visit settle a stage for the whole year.
- Starting the conversation with the evidence before the teacher has spoken.
- Keeping notes about teachers in an open folder that anyone in the staff room can read.
Fix the Form, Calibrate, Hold the Talk
- Open the Kit: a SAMPLE appraisal form from a school that mixes growth and ratings. Alone (7 min): mark every item that is a judgement, every item that is growth, and every item that cannot be observed.
- Trios (13 min): redesign the cycle on one page: four steps, dates, who does what, what is written, who can read it, and the line you draw between the growth cycle and any formal process.
- Calibration (15 min): read the two observers' notes on the same Grade 5 lesson. Alone, choose a stage for 'checking understanding'. Then compare in the trio: where do you differ and what evidence does each reading use? Agree one wording change for the framework.
- Part B, role play (3 rounds of 8 min, 3 min to swap): in trios take the roles of leader, teacher and observer. Use the conversation script and one of the three cards. The observer notes what the leader said before the teacher spoke and which sentence helped most.
- Whole group (10 min): share one sentence that worked and one that did not. Add them to the script.
- Alone (7 min): do the leader-time sum for your own school and write your leadership task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which item on the sample form did the most damage to trust, and what replaced it in your redesign?
- What did the calibration show about how much the same lesson can look different to two honest readers?
- Which sentence from the role play would you say to the most experienced teacher in your school?
Reflect
- How did you feel the last time someone judged your lesson? What would have made it feel like help?
- Which colleague would be a good calibration partner for you, and why?
- What records about teachers exist in your school, and who can read them?
Try it tomorrow
- Rewrite one of your own old observation notes into three columns, removing every adjective.
- Ask a colleague to read the same lesson description as you and compare your stages before you talk.
- Before your next feedback talk, write the first question you will ask and the strength you will name.
Further reading and links
Keep growth and judgement apart, use more than one lesson and more than one reader, and let the teacher speak first.