Anthony Thai ’14: In order to realize the true potential of the Folio program and make sure that teachers are performing at their highest level, faculty members need to seriously prepare students for the annual Folio sessions while students need to recognize the importance of such sessions and give honest, direct feedback.
As an integral part of the school community, teachers, coaches, and faculty need feedback from their colleagues and students to improve their teaching abilities. To this end, the school introduced the new Folio program last year to allow students to provide faculty with constructive criticism and suggestions for improved instruction. While this system has seen remarkable success in its inaugural year, there is still much to improve upon.
Before adopting the Folio program, the school evaluated its teachers and faculty in a four-year system, with a quarter of the faculty receiving feedback each year. “Each faculty member received student feedback and was evaluated by a team consisting of that member’s unit head, department chair, and peer of choice,” explained Dean of Faculty Doug Parsons. “Each member of the team would write up two reports for that year and there would be a group meeting at the end of the year.” The main criticism of this program, however, was that these documents were never reviewed or put to any practical use.
In an effort to provide a more student-inclusive feedback system, the Folio program was introduced last year to a well-receiving faculty. According to Parsons, a survey of approximately one-third of the faculty revealed that the new system was generally favored. Although data from the survey are confidential, Parsons estimated that “a slight majority of the faculty saw the new system as neutral to helpful and many of the remaining members had valid reservations, such as whether the Folio system could be changed to accommodate more feedback for coaches. Some also stated that the feedback should be given earlier in the year so that the faculty could act on it in a timely fashion.”
Parsons himself noted that he thought the feedback provided to him was helpful. “Although not every single review was incredibly illuminating,” explained Parsons, “I found that the students took the process seriously and gave thoughtful assessments.”
Nonetheless, the system does have its drawbacks. Since it is required annually for every teacher and coach, students can find themselves completing the same feedback rubric multiple times in a span of a few weeks. This makes the process seem cumbersome and prevents students from providing earnest feedback for every class and sport.
To combat this, teachers should adequately prepare students for these feedback sessions, reminding them of what they have learned so far in the year and emphasizing its importance to the faculty. As Parsons noted, “I like to tell my students, ‘I give you feedback on your assessments and I try to be thoughtful and fair. Wouldn’t you agree that this is a great approach?’ Students usually end up admitting that the process is helpful..
The school should also consider allowing students to give constructive criticism earlier. Not only does this allow teachers to improve throughout the year but it also incentivizes useful feedback from students. With the current end-of-year feedback system, students know that their suggestions will not have any effect on the teacher’s approach, as there are few class periods left. Allowing students to give feedback earlier would remedy this problem and elicit more useful teacher assessments.
Teachers should also consider giving students more time for critique and, as Parsons stated, “make Folio a formal, ritualized process.” When teachers emphasize the significance of constructive criticism and remind students of what they have done in class to date, students enter these Folio sessions with ample substance on which to provide feedback, making these sessions much more productive.
However, it is not only teachers that have to contribute to this process. One of the reasons Folio is not living up to its potential is that students often do not expend much effort in assessing their teachers. Some students have even taken advantage of Folio’s anonymity to express their hatred toward teachers who have given them low grades or with whom they have an unpleasant relationship. Although these hateful comments constitute a small percentage of the comments teachers receive, they speak to the reality that students are not taking their role in this process seriously. Students need to understand the significance of constructive feedback and put effort into helping their teachers improve instead of viewing this process as ungraded and insignificant.
Ultimately, the recently introduced Folio program has seen incredible success, especially when compared to the previous feedback system the school used. However, there is still much to improve upon. While little needs to be changed about the Folio program itself (except perhaps an earlier date for student feedback), students and teachers need to put greater effort into their respective roles in this system.
Teachers need to make sure students understand the importance of this process and remind students of class material thus far so that students have substance to critique. Meanwhile, students must embrace this privilege and realize that, even though they are completing many identical rubrics, each teacher wants to hear their opinion and advice. Only then can the full potential of the Folio program and each faculty member be fully reached.