There are several problems involved in the creation of effective and fair appraisal systems for teachers. The schools are not uniform, nor are the expectations of teachers uniform. The backgrounds of teachers are not the same, and the students that they deal with are not the same. In other words, this is a variable system, so designing an appraisal system that is invariable would be difficult.
There are a number of ways in which teacher performance could be appraised. An appraisal system could use self-appraisal, appraisal by peers, appraisal by peers, mentors, and superiors, or a system in which student performance is the basis of teacher appraisal.
One of the models that directly ties in teacher performance to student performance is the model developed in Pasco, Washington. In that model, instructional goals are generated by staff themselves, and teachers cooperate in developing training programs and providing feedback and coaching for each other. More than 95 percent of staff are involved in the goal-setting part of the evaluation program, while the 4 percent who are new or evaluated as inadequate are provided with more intensive monitoring, checklist evaluation, and either non-renewal or movement into the goal-setting category (Tesch et al., 1987).
This is a model based on the work of Tom McGreal. McGreal noted that many of the standard checklist instruments and evaluation procedures are less useful than a more open-ended evaluative procedure using trained evaluators. As he indicated, many states and districts have legally-mandated forms of evaluation, like the evaluation procedure the Pasco school district had to change in order to put its new program in place.
In McGreal's method, the monitoring of minimum requirements is ongoing and continuous by administrators in their administrative capacity. However, there is also provision for administrators to work
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