Evaluating

Keeping track of the effects of instruction is an important part of teaching. It is the process by which teachers decide whether the approach they are using is effective with their students. Teachers also use evaluation to decide whether the methods and materials they are using are effective. And, evaluation data are used to make important decisions like whether to refer· students to specialists, whether to change interventions, and whether (or when) to exit students from programs. Evaluation activities provide a necessary and valuable loop in any effective instructional process. This is why evaluating is a key component of instruction.

Effective instruction requires evaluating. Some evaluation activities occur during the process of instruction (i.e., when teachers collect data during instruction and use those data to make instructional decisions). Other evaluation activities occur at the end of instruction (e.g., when the teacher administers a test to determine whether a pupil has met instructional objectives). There are four principles of effective evaluating:

1. Monitor student understanding.
2. Monitor engaged time.
3. Keep records of student progress.
4. Use data to make decisions.

Each of these principles implies a set of strategies that teachers use when evaluating (see Figure 42).

Monitor student understanding involves checking students to determine if they have understood a classroom instruction presentation and keeping track of their progress as a result of that instruction. The goal is to determine the extent to which students have profited from what has been taught.

Monitor engaged time involves keeping track of student participation rates or having students monitor their own behavior. The goal of monitoring engaged time is to determine the extent to which students are actively engaged in relevant, productive instructional activities rather than irrelevant, unproductive ones.

Keep records of student progress involves keeping track of student performances using a variety of procedures and sharing the results with students regularly. The goal of maintaining records of students’ progress is staying informed about performance and sharing that knowledge with students.

Use data to make decisions involves deciding when additional assistance is needed or no longer needed to meet the needs of individual students. The goal of using data to make decisions is identifying the appropriate form of assistance needed to ensure that benefits of instruction are experienced by all students.

These four evaluating principles are addressed in this section, along with a set of specific strategies that effective teachers use when focusing on each one. The main content of the unit is a set of tactics that illustrate specific ways to actively address each principle and strategy when providing effective instruction.