New Teacher and Principal Evaluations to be Used Beginning in 2010/2011

As part of the Empowering Effective Teachers project, district committees have created new teacher and principal evaluations for the 2010/2011 school year. A team of nine teachers, four principals, and seven administrators worked with Charlotte Danielson to develop the teacher evaluation instrument. The instrument consists of twenty-two evaluation components, divided into four domains of professional practice. Rubrics are provided to evaluators so that the process will result in more consistent evaluations across the district. Each teacher's evaluation will be comprised of a written evaluation by the principal (30%), a written evaluation by the peer/mentor evaluator (30%), and a student gains calculation (40%). Presented in this item is the new written evaluation form; a consultant will soon be engaged to work with us in creating the new gains model.

The principal evaluation was created by a team of six teachers, three principals, two area directors, and six other administrators. Principals will be evaluated by teachers and their area director using a 360 degree survey from Vanderbilt University (30%), thus providing an evaluation voice to faculty members. Additional elements of the principal evaluation will be student gains (40%), facilities and audits (10%), attendance and discipline (10%), retention of effective teachers (5%), and teacher evaluation (5%).

Charlotte Danielson is currently working with district staff to develop evaluations for other personnel, guidance counselors, adult education teachers, media specialists, etc., that will be used beginning in 2011/2012.

* Increase promotion rates at all grade levels and the percentage of high school graduates, * Demonstrate consistent and effective teaching methods, * Motivate students to become responsible learners, * Challenge and support all students with an appropriate curriculum, * Recruit, develop, and retain a highly effective, diverse workforce, * Align the performance management system with the district’s priorities

The project is funded by both district funds (Charlotte Danielson's work) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Empowering Effective Teachers Grant.

The project's progress will be evaluated annually by the District, Gates staff, and external evaluators.