Move Over, Coaching Models and Performance-Based Pay/Evaluation: Peer Review Makes a Comeback

Just when I was lamenting the fact that peer review and evaluation of teachers seemed to have gone the way of the dodo bird, it seems to be coming back -- in Chicago, of all places, modeled on the Toledo and Rochester programs. Teachers to grade peers (Tribune)

To be sure, peer review isn't perfect, but I'd argue it's not only better than what we have now but also better than relying solely on non-evaluative coaching and induction models or waiting for years until the performance-based teacher evaluation systems everyone's talking about are in place. Like most principals who evaluate teachers, I give this TQ approach a rating of "excellent."