Education: Defining Terms

The California state department of education recently decided to issue "guidelines" to local school boards for "evaluating certificated personnel." To make sure that everyone understood, it solemnly included a glossary.

Evaluator, it said, means "one who evaluates." Evaluatee, by contrast, is "one who is evaluated." As for evaluation, that is "the process of making considered judgments concerning the professional accomplishments and competencies of a certificated employee based on a broad knowledge of the area of performance involved, the characteristics of the situation of the individual being evaluated, and the specific standards of performance pre-established for the position."