How to evaluate your program

As the term winds down, it’s a good time to pause and reflect on the last 10 weeks. Some things in your programs worked brilliantly. Others… not so much. That’s normal. The goal isn’t to be harsh on yourself — it’s to look for opportunities to improve next time.

Evaluating a teaching program should never mean throwing everything away and starting over. It means asking honest, practical questions about how well it supported learning — based on what actually happened in the classroom.

Start with what actually happened — not just what was planned.

What did you teach? What got skipped, rushed, or reshaped? Jot down notes now while the term’s still fresh. Research into teacher reflection (Schön, 1983) shows that learning from experience — especially recent experience — is key to improving practice over time.

Dig into student work.

Were students meeting the intended outcomes? Did assessments reveal common misconceptions or unexpected gaps? According to Black & Wiliam (1998), high-quality feedback loops — including analysing student performance — are one of the most effective ways to improve both teaching and learning.

Think about teachability.

Was the program easy to teach from? Did the lessons flow in a logical sequence? Could another teacher step in and make sense of it? Programs that are “coherent and learnable” (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000) support better implementation and reduce cognitive load for both students and teachers.

Cut the bloat.

If you skipped parts of your program to make room for deep learning, that’s a valuable clue. As Dylan Wiliam says, “Curriculum is not what we teach — it’s what we prioritise.” Programs packed with too many goals or activities often dilute what matters most.

And finally — did it support good teaching?

Great programs help you make better decisions during planning and in the moment. They should clarify, not complicate. Danielson (2007) reminds us that instructional planning is most effective when it’s “purposeful, flexible, and informed by evidence.”

With Planuva, you can evaluate along the way, track what worked, revise with clarity, and build programs that get stronger every term — without starting from scratch.

Register your interest at https://planuva.com