Presenter: Michele Winship, Education Reform Consultant, Ohio Education Association (OEA)
Summary:
This session reviewed steps to take in developing a local teacher evaluation system and how to plan for a successful pilot experience in 2012-2013.
Winship shared a 10-step plan for building a local teacher evaluation system, summarized below:
Step 1: Agree on the purpose of your teacher evaluation plan, referring to the teacher evaluation plan language in Ohio House Bill HB 153. This bill has left the Ohio Senate and is currently under debate in the Ohio House.
Step 2: Start with a review of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation Framework, a 4-level rating system that identifies teachers as accomplished, proficient, developing, or ineffective. The Framework calculates student growth measures as 50 percent of the evaluation, and teacher performance as 50 percent. Also review the evaluation matrix that measures three levels of student growth in a year’s time.
Step 3: Look at your local system requirements, keeping in mind that:
- By July 1, 2013, your local board must adopt a teacher evaluation policy in consultation with teachers and aligned with the state framework. Teacher inclusion is very important for collaboration and buy-in.
- Student growth measures must include value-added data.
- Every teacher must be evaluated every year, unless the board passes a resolution to allow “Accomplished” teachers to be evaluated every two years.
Step 4: Identify and engage a district evaluation team.
Top Tips:
- Involve teachers from the very beginning.
- Include educators from different buildings, grade levels, subjects and special areas and district roles.
- Set up a schedule so everyone to be present.
- Select co-chairs (administrative and teacher) who can define the work and move it forward.
Step5: The evaluation team’s work:
Top Tips:
- Create a communications system.
- Develop both internal and external communication systems that allow information to flow in both directions.
- Utilize technology whenever possible.
- Create a regular schedule for sharing evaluation development information and soliciting feedback from various stakeholders (e.g., board, administration, stakeholders).
Step 6: Review your district’s local current evaluation model, looking at:
- Board policy
- Current evaluation system processes procedures and tools
- Collective bargaining agreement evaluation language
THEN
- Conduct the gap analysis provided by the Ohio Department of Education to determine how much or how little your system will need to change.
Step 7: Review The Ohio Teacher Evaluation System, Ohio Principal Evaluation System and other models at the link found at the end of this page.
Top Tips:
- Review current state models to determine what is appropriate to adopt.
- Explore other models from other districts and state for best practice and best fit.
- Select/design local processes, procedures and tools.
- Who does what, when, where and how.
Step 8: Develop student growth measures
Top Tips:
- Determine what measures you already have for value-added and vendor assessments.
- Identify where assessment gaps exist and determine what locally developed measures need to be created.
- Review state guidance for Student Learning Objectives.
- Provide initial assessment literacy professional development for all staff.
- Create work groups of teachers to select/develop appropriate assessments. The Austin, Texas, school district has done a good job of this. To learn more click here.
Step 10: Implement
- Collectively bargain your new system.
- Set up a regular system for review of the system.
- Create evaluation resources for new hires and new evaluators.
- Maintain open lines of communication for both evaluators and educators to provide feedback about the new system.
- Be flexible to adapt to whatever changes may come.
For more information: Find the Ohio Teacher Evaluation Framework and other Ohio Department of Education resources here. | Download Presentation (PDF)
