Scores of the students in the class and their success only provides part of the story. The path the teacher guides the students along to reach these goals is a key in reaching students with a variety of learning styles. When a principal or administrator spends a few days a month in the classroom observing the teacher, this can help aid in judging the teacher's performance. Instead of just reports, this allows data to be collected about how the teacher interacts and connects with her students.
Talk to the parents of the students in the class. Parents interact with their children on a daily basis and hear information about the teacher that is valuable data and feedback for evaluation. Parents can hear stories about how teachers have helped their child or other children in school. The students might also share information with their parents during conversations that might not be revealed in forms or feedback when completing teacher evaluation forms.
Teachers learn different skills and teaching methodologies from their peers. While interacting with each other, they develop opinions of the teaching strategies and interpersonal skills their colleagues have. Collecting feedback from fellow teachers provides input about how teachers interact with both students and their coworkers. The insight from someone else that performs the job on a daily basis can provide informed feedback from someone who is familiar with the challenges other teachers face.
When you want to know how a teacher is performing, go to the people that she interacts with the most each day. Provide the students an opportunity to provide feedback on their teachers. Don't just rely on teacher evaluation forms at the end of the year. Interview individual or groups of students throughout the year. This data collection aids administrators in evaluating teachers based on the feedback from the individuals the teachers are striving to influence.