Episode 81: Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation with Kim Marshall

FocusED Show Notes with Guest Kim MarshallKim’s book, Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation, came from work that he was doing as a school leader where teachers wanted more frequent and meaningful feedback.He updated the book twice because of changes to evaluation systems around the country, some of which he used as examples in the book.The third edition of the book has a huge focus on bringing student learning into the conversation.Kim advocates for short, frequent, unannounced teacher observations at about 10 minutes each that are always followed up with face-to-face meetings.Kim tells leaders to focus on one “leverage point” with teachers--one thing that the teacher either does well or should change.He talks about time management for school leaders so that instructional leadership, including classroom visits and follow up feedback.One tip that he mentions is an “out-of-office” message for principals during the school day. “Unless this is an emergency, you can expect me to get back to you after the student and teacher day.”Kim discusses the various ways that principals can be instructional leaders beyond just the classroom visits. It’s important to layerHe tells listeners that feedback can be 100% positive. You don’t always have to find something that isn’t going well.After an observation, one approach is teamwork for helping a teacher problem solve, and Kim mentions using AI to help with this.Joe asks Kim about how and why he started the Marshall Memo, and he talked about synthesis. He casts a wide net, up to 100 articles, and he picks only 8 or so to highlight. He hopes people use the Memo for 5 reasons: 1. Professional learning, 2. To share good ideas with others, 3. To search previous Memos for articles, 4. So that people read The Best of Marshall Memo, and 5. To use at faculty meetings for everyone to read together.Kim talks about reading widely. Take a look at the books he mentions during the show.Books We Recommend Based on this Podcast with Kim MarshallLeverage Leadership by Paul Bambrick-SantoyoWhistling Vivaldi by Claude SteeleThe Talent Code by Daniel ColeMade to Stick by Chip and Dan HeathSo Much Reform by Charles Payne