Teacher Evaluations: What We Need Is Better Leadership, Not a Debate on Evaluations

Last Wednesday night, we learned that 92% of Boston Public School teachers rated proficient or better under the new teacher evaluation system. This news comes as a surprise to some, but I don’t find it all that shocking. While evaluations are important, I think we miss the point when we focus on teacher proficiency, without thinking about how we create a school environment with great leadership that inspires exemplary teachers. That should be our goal.

Our city’s teachers have one of the most difficult jobs in Boston. They are our children’s greatest resource, working in a tough environment. I should know, since I married a Boston public school teacher.

Over the coming weeks I will be rolling out more detail on my plan for Boston Public Schools. I firmly believe that if we can improve our schools through leadership and resources, we can ensure that every child from any income level in any neighborhood of Boston can get a great education.

As a community leader who has run a health center and co-founded two schools, I know what good leadership means, and how important a good evaluation process is. I know that, when employees are evaluated honestly, they are given a chance to learn and grow. That is the purpose of an evaluation system. Making that happen is the role of our leadership.

I also understand the importance of evaluating the measurable aspects of our educational system. There are percentages more important than those of our successful school teachers. We need to pay more attention to the graduation and dropout rates for our schools to be truly successful. We need to allow parents to spend more time supporting their children’s learning and less time raising money to fill funding gaps. That requires strong leadership from principals to Court Street to City Hall.

Blaming teachers and making their jobs even more difficult than they already are will not make more excellent schools. Let’s recognize that 8% of under-performing teachers is not a small number. We need to work to shrink that number. But we also need to value the work our teachers do, not for pay or for recognition, but because they want to better the lives of our children. We need to put strong leadership in place to support that remarkable effort.

I co-founded Codman Academy Charter Public School 13 years ago because I wanted to create a model of a high school operating within a professional environment, connecting children to that professional environment, and providing kids from low-income families an opportunity to have great career opportunities. I am proud of the work we have done in establishing that model, but our work does not end with charter schools.

We must focus on the 56,000 children who are in the traditional public school system, and how we ensure that they are the best educated in the world. We need to think about what our next mayor can do to ensure that every child has a chance at higher education, at a good job, at learning from great teachers.

That’s not just talk. I’ve done it.