Field Experience #5 Policy - Essay Example

The challenges in evaluated are in a wider dimension linked to the interpretations in policies and guiding procedures for teacher evaluation. For effective evaluation, there is need to review the consistency of the policies with the state law to ascertain their legality and their entire separation from procedural requirements of teacher evaluation. From a general point of view, the policies are supposed to give guidance for procedures in the assessment to ensure legal consistency. A policy is simply a set of rules and principles which are used as a guide in decision making or procedural activities with the goals of the principles clearly stated.

The teacher evaluation policy is part of Arizona’s education policies in which there are guidelines to teacher evaluation procedures. Policies are usually politically negotiated rules governing the entire operation of a system which in our case is teacher evaluation and must be consistent with the law. On the other hand teacher evaluation procedure is a set of guidelines agreed upon by professionals in the field on best practice in evaluating teachers for compliance to education policies. This might be the beginning of the trouble in understanding policy and procedural requirement of teacher evaluation because of some inconsistencies in the application of the two especially after the law changes in Arizona.

In the Standards for Arizona Teachers we find more description of procedural activities in teacher evaluation and less of policy matters. It offers a criterion for judgment of good practice and indicators of teacher failure. As part of legislation we find the policies based on the old set of law on education but with the recent changes there is a lot that is inconsistent with the state law. Just to cite an example the law which is observed to discriminate against teachers whose first language is not English is contrary to what the policy covers under communication requirements of a teacher. In