New review process will begin next year
By Melissa Fales
Reporter
WARE – Ware Middle School teacher Cyndy Hardaker and Stanley M. Koziol Elementary School teacher Keon Ruiter were at the April 11 School Committee meeting to present information about the new five-step evaluation cycle for teachers that will go into effect for the next school year.
The new evaluation process has been developed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Hardaker and Ruiter have attended DESE-sponsored meetings about the new system and both teachers are working to help the district’s staff understand and become accustomed to the new regulations.
Hardaker explained the five-step evaluation plan as “a circle of continuous learning for educators.” She said the new system is designed to encourage more input from teachers in their own evaluations. “Educators are supposed to be active participants in the evaluation process,” Hardaker said.
The new evaluation plan begins at the start of the school year with a self- assessment requiring each teacher to take a look at his or her own practices. Teachers are encouraged to use a 16-page rubric with 33 elements to guide their self- assessment.
Hardaker said teachers will use their self-assessment to propose two goals to work towards. One will be a professional practice goal and one will be a student learning goal. Hardaker said the state is encouraging the creation of team goals among groups of educators. “This new evaluation plan is designed to promote collaboration among teachers,” she said.
Ruiter said when setting goals, the DESE asked teachers to remember the acronym SMART. Goals should be specific and strategic, measurable, action-oriented, rigorous, realistic and results-focused, timed and tracked. Ruiter explained that a goal such as “I will lose weight and get in shape,” is not a SMART goal because it is vague and lacks any details. He said SMART goals include key actions to encourage progress and outcome benchmarks to track it. “Basically, it’s making sure we’re setting goals that are realistic,” he said. “They have to be specific enough.”
Teachers will then work with administrators to develop a plan for how they will reach their goals. Once a plan is developed, the teacher will begin collecting evidence, or artifacts, that will help demonstrate and track their progress towards their goals. “It’s almost like we’re creating a portfolio as a student teacher but every year,” Ruiter explained. Superintendent Mary-Elizabeth Beach each said the artifacts the teachers will be gathering will be a helpful tool for them. “The nice part about that is that it is reflective for you,” she said. “You can actually see what you’re doing.” Beach also said the artifacts will help teachers see what has worked in the past and what hasn’t and will also make it easier to share information with other teachers for them to use in their teaching.
Each teacher will receive a mid-cycle review to examine where they are in terms of attaining their goals. Hardaker explained that by having a review mid-cycle, teachers will have time to make adjustments if needed.
The conclusion of the cycle is the summative evaluation. At this point, the educator will receive a rating based on several things including their performance against four academic standards; Curriculum, Planning and Assessment, Teaching all Students, Family Outreach & Engagement, and Professional Culture, and the progress made on their goals. Teachers are given one of four ratings; exemplary, proficient, needs improvement and unsatisfactory “The state has made it clear that they fully expect that most every teacher will fall into the proficient category,” said Hardaker.
Hardaker noted that the summative evaluation will also be a helpful tool for the self-assessment part of the process the next school year.
Beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, the state will add a second evaluation that will reflect the students performance. “The MCAS scores along with district assessments will be the artifacts that will really drive that piece,” said Hardaker.
Teachers will be given a low, moderate, or high rating in terms of their impact on student learning. These ratings, in conjunction with the summative evaluation ratings will be used to determine the type and length of the educator’s plan for the following school year. Hardaker said teachers who score highly in both areas will be able to follow a two-year self-directed evaluation plan. Teachers whose performance is lacking will remain on a one-year plan for more frequent evaluations and review with administrators.
When the new evaluation process begins next year, some teachers will be on a one year cycle and some will be on a two-year cycle. “It’s a way to get them somewhat staggered so the administration is not overwhelmed,” said Hardaker.
Committee member Danielle Souza asked if the new evaluations were designed to increase MCAS scores. Beach said the new educator evaluations were an effort to raise student performance. “MCAS is one area where that might be demonstrated,” Beach said.
Committee member Aaron Sawabi asked about the teachers’ response to the new evaluation system. Ruiter admitted there was some trepidation because it was such a big change. “New things are scary,” Ruiter said. “We’ll get used to it.”
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