Generally when I’m assessed it looks something like this: admin sitting at the back of the room taking all kinds of notes (phone optional!). Photo cred

While I’ve read quite a bit about international student assessment, I haven’t really read much about international teacher assessment. If you have experience with this, please comment below!

I know that teacher assessment/evaluations in the US is a touchy issue right now. In the US I was observed and assessed MANY times while in my yearlong intern year as part of my Master’s program. My mentor teacher, principal, teachers from my grad school, advisers at my grad school, and other teachers would frequently observed me and immediately shared their observations with me and give me a copy of their notes.

In the US I would be told exactly when the observation would happen, I would see what form they were using ahead of time so I knew what they were looking for, and then immediately after the assessment I would be debriefed about what occurred during the assessment period. Sometimes I would write a written reflection on how I think the lesson went and any changes I would make for future lessons. It was very time consuming and even though I later became much more comfortable with being observed, I was always a little nervous to see someone in power taking copious notes at the back of the room while I was teaching.

Since I’ve been teaching internationally, assessment has always seemed less formal. At my last school the director would pop in for five minutes at a time, ask the kids a few questions, email her assessment to me. At my first school the assessment process was almost exactly like the assessments I was given in the US. At another school the assessments could be a five-minute walk-through, a whole lesson observation, or a 15-minute random assessment, you just never knew what to expect. Everywhere is different.

At my new school it seems a little more formal than other teacher assessments I’ve encountered while teaching abroad. This process is certainly less time consuming than other assessment processes I’ve encountered. My current school uses the AdvancED ELEOT form to assess us. The admin says that they will randomly pop in for 20 minutes, fill out the form, and place it in a shared folder, which I can access at a later time.

It hasn’t happened to me yet, so I’m not sure exactly how it will go down, and it doesn’t seem like we will be notified in advance when the assessment will happen, so the best recourse is to always do my best and be true to myself.  I’m interested in seeing how it really happens here.

Please comment below! How are assessments done at your school? How are the international teacher assessments the same or different from any assessments done while working in the US?