Ed,
You provided a great summary of why 'evaluations' never worked for you,
and I think your experience can be generalized. Let me summarize.
1 - No commitment to partnership from the evaluator toward the shared
goals of your area.
2 - Detached critical observer.
3 - Ambush.
Pretty profound indictment of most current practices, and it puts a clear
context around why assessment does not work as it is practiced most of the
time.
I think I have said this before, but it never hurts to repeat. You cannot
assess effectively except from a position of deep caring about the person
you are assessing. You cannot assess another person unless you are
committed to them achieving their goals. If you cannot love that other
person, you will never be effective at helping them learn.
If you had a supervisor who really cared about you, and who really was
committed to helping you achieve your goals, do you think your points 1,
2, and 3 would have occurred?
--Rol Fessenden
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>