The questions and discussions of how teachers are to be evaluated has awkwardly silenced the real question that needs to be asked: How can teachers be helped?

Ideally, “evaluation” and “helping” should be synonymous; however, evaluation has the tendency to primarily focus on judgment.

The UFT needs to take the lead here because removing “ineffective” teachers who survive under the protection of tenure is the leading mantra of many of the “education reformers.” This makes evaluation a singularly judgmental and punitive instrument when it should point the way toward growth and improvement.

If a teacher is being evaluated with the intent to help, the evaluator will be welcomed into the classroom. If the evaluator’s sole goal is judgment, as is often the case, then tension is created that does not serve the needs of teachers or students.

Larry Hoffner, retired