Teachers Put Their Best Foot Forward With Video

September 29, 2014

The Best Foot Forward Project is featured in the following EduMomentum article. 

Before the 2013-14 school year, every teacher at Edwards Elementary School in Eagle County, Colorado, was observed by the principal in the traditional manner. The principal would take copious notes while watching them teach and then meet with each of them to offer feedback.

Last year, a new wrinkle was added for three Edwards teachers. Instead of just in-person observations, they presented the principal with videos of three of their lessons—videos that the teachers had themselves taken and chosen for evaluation.

The teachers are among 350 teachers and 101 administrators at 85 schools participating in the Best Foot Forward Project, an initiative of the Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. They liked the project so much that they decided to participate in it for a second year.

“It’s empowering to present what I want to an evaluator with a video instead of having someone walk in when they choose,” says 4th and 5th grade English teacher Amanda Cricco. “It gives you some control over the process.”

Because the teachers can preview the videos, they come to the meeting with the principal fully prepared, which both saves time and leads to deeper discussions.

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