Fact Sheet #15: Documentation

Georgia Department of Education. (2014). Teacher Keys Effectiveness System.  Atlanta:  Retrieved from http://www.gadoe.org/School-Improvement/Teacher-and-Leader-Effectiveness/Documents/TKES%20Handbook%20FINAL%207-18-2013.pdf.

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Fact Sheet #15–Documentation

DOCUMENTATION AS A DATA SOURCE FOR TEACHER EVALUATION

Introduction

Documentation of a teacher’s performance can serve as valuable and insightful evidence for detailing the work that teachers actually do. Evaluators may request documentation when a standard is not observed during an announced or unannounced observation. Documentation should emphasize naturally-occurring artifacts from teachers’ work (i.e., lesson plans, instructional units, student assessments).

Documentation of teacher practice and process is an important part of a comprehensive approach for documenting teacher performance. Generally, a teacher’s evaluation documentation is considered to be “a structured collection of selected artifacts that demonstrate a teacher’s competence and growth”.1

Documentation serves as a system for collecting data and recording work quality during each evaluation cycle. Specifically, the documentation houses pertinent data that confirms the teacher meets the established performance standards. Written analysis and reflection about artifacts often are included in the documentation to provide insight into the rationale for the events and process documented in each entry. Documentation is designed to serve as a complement to other data sources in order to provide a fuller, fairer, more comprehensive view of teacher performance.

Advantages of Documentation

• The artifacts included in documentation provide evaluators with information they likely would not observe during the course of a typical classroom visit.
• Documentation provides the teacher with an opportunity for self-reflection, demonstration of quality work, and a basis for two-way communication with an evaluator. Tucker, Stronge, and Gareis discussed the beneficial nature of documentation by pointing out it is: “Appealing for many reasons, including their authentic nature, recognition of the complex nature of teaching, encouragement of self-reflection, and facilitation of collaborative interaction with colleagues and supervisors… [It embodies] professionalism because it encourages the reflection and self-monitoring that are hallmarks of the true professional.”2

Concerns of Documentation

• When goals and standards are not determined, the result can be unfocused and haphazard. The materials included could be idiosyncratic and biased.
• When goals and standards are not determined, the result can be unfocused and haphazard.  The materials included could be idiosyncratic and biased.

How Is Documentation Aligned with the Teacher Standards?

Documentation contains a broader, more comprehensive collection of naturally-occurring materials than other data sources. A variety of evidence may go into documentation, such as: student work; unit/lesson plans; student assessments; evidence of professional development activities; professional publications; recording of teaching; samples of instructional materials; diagrams of classroom arrangement; summary of analysis on longitudinal student test scores; evidence of help given to colleagues; information from others, such as observation of teaching by qualified others; and significant correspondence and memos.3  Therefore, it is capable of providing teachers with an opportunity to demonstrate professional competence with regard to meeting standards identified in the evaluation system.