Design and governance of teacher evaluation

Teacher evaluation is recognised as an important policy lever to improve student learning. This is reflected in the substantial work on teaching standards, the very comprehensive approach to teacher evaluation in municipal schools and the multitude of reward programmes in the subsidised school sector. However, while the intended original objective of Docentemás was to conceive teacher evaluation as a formative process, teacher evaluation, as implemented, is presently perceived mostly as an instrument to hold municipal teachers accountable. Also, the teacher evaluation framework remains incomplete. A major gap is that it is not publicly guaranteed that all teachers in the school system undergo a formal process of performance evaluation since teachers in the private school sector (over 50% of Chilean teachers) are not required to undergo a Docentemás evaluation and teacher evaluation procedures in private schools are not validated by public education authorities. Also, there is no formal teacher evaluation which focuses on teacher development and feedback for the improvement of practices. Teachers are generally open to external feedback but few opportunities are available and teacher evaluation generates little professional dialogue. The creation of the Quality of Education Agency is an excellent development to complete and integrate the overall evaluation and assessment framework. However, the conception of the Agency’s activities as it starts its operations emphasises the accountability function of evaluation. Another challenge is that formal teacher evaluation processes require little engagement from local agents. In particular, school leaders play a relatively small role, making little use of the results of Docentemás to coach their teachers and inform their school development plans.