New evaluations promise a ‘culture change’ in education

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New evaluations promise a ‘culture change’ in education

By Rachel Schleif
World staff writer

Saturday, July 16, 2011

World photo/Don Seabrook

Pioneer Middle School teacher Susan Cox discusses her students’ speeches with principal Mark Helm on June 13. Cox is one of more than 50 teachers who volunteered to pilot a new evaluation system next year. New principal evaluations will be piloted next year as well.

Helm holds on to his ever-present clip board, which he uses during teacher evaluations.

World photos/Don Seabrook

Pioneer Middle School principal Mark Helm laughs with teacher Susan Cox as they listen to a student’s speech on June 13. Cox is one of more than 50 teachers who volunteered to pilot a new evaluation system next year. New principal evaluations will be piloted next year as well.

A “satisfactory” evaluation never did much for seventh-grade teacher Susan Cox.

In her 21 years teaching kids, she’s earned a national board certification and a master’s degree. She’s taken on new projects and district initiatives. She’s hoping the new evaluation system Wenatchee School District plans to pilot next year will become the next step up in her teaching.

“I can’t remember how many years I’ve been on a short (evaluation) form,” Cox said. “I’m observed once and that’s it. But this is going to be very different.”

Big changes for the evaluators, too

By Rachel Schleif

World staff writer

WENATCHEE — In some ways, the principal evaluation is more ground-breaking than the teacher’s. Until now, every school district evaluated principals on a different scale, with relatively little state regulation.

“Ours was more wide open; it’s not defined anywhere,” said Jon DeJong, assistant superintendent for Wenatchee Schools.

That changes next year. For the first time, every principal statewide will be assessed on the same eight criteria. Wenatchee assigned a separate committee to build the principals’ evaluation system from scratch.

Like the teacher evaluation, the new pilot is even more specific, with descriptions of what good leadership looks like for each criteria. The evaluation also holds principals accountable for student performance like never before.

Two criteria are weighted above all: Maintaining a safe school environment, and meeting the deadline to evaluate teachers. If they rate “unsatisfactory” on either, they’re automatically given an “unsatisfactory” rating overall.

DeJong said he hopes once principals are more familiar with the evaluations, they won’t any take more time.

“It’s going to look different, but we’re hoping it’s not going to feel dramatically different in terms of how this plays out.

Setting it up

Wenatchee’s first step was deciding what separates the “unsatisfactory” teachers from the “distinguished.” It started with eight criteria, required by the state for all pilot districts:

• Set high expectations for student performance

• Use effective teaching practices to engage students

• Recognize individual needs

• Understand the subject, skillfully uses curriculum

• Manage a safe learning environment

• Use student performance data to guide instruction and help students set goals

• Communicate with parents, the rest of the school and the community

• Collaborate with colleagues, pursues professional development

The committee further defined those eight criteria with 25 indicators that spell out what’s expected of teachers. A “basic” teacher, for example, occasionally understands a student’s individual needs. A “distinguished” teacher would understand, design lessons to address those needs and help their colleagues do the same.

Principals will rate teachers on a 1-to-4 point system for each of the indicators. The points are added up to determine the teachers overall rating. The committee consulted a mathematician to help them work out the different point scenarios in which teachers would fall under “basic” versus a “proficient” or “distinguished.”

Two criteria are weighted more than others. If teachers can’t provide classroom safety or practice effective teaching, they receive an “unsatisfactory” overall.

— Rachel Schleif, World staff

A closer look

Current teacher evaluation

Ratings: Unsatisfactory, satisfactory

The measure: 5 criteria, 38 indicators

Provisional status for new teachers: Two years

Options: Short form for longtime “satisfactory” teachers, a more in-depth long form for new teachers and a “professional growth options” for longtime teachers who want to try something new in the classroom

Observations: One annual observation for short form staff, two for long form staff; plus pre- and post-observation meetings and a fall goal-setting meeting

Student performance: Not included

Professional development: Not tied to evaluation

Cut off: After one unsatisfactory evaluation, teachers are put on probation and given a written improvement plan

Teacher pilot evaluation

Ratings: Unsatisfactory, basic, proficient, distinguished

The measure: 8 criteria, 25 indicators

Provisional status for new teachers: Three years

Options: Not yet decided.

Observations: Not yet decided

Student performance: Teachers must show at least half of their students are growing academically

Professional development: Directly tied to evaluation

Cut off: If a teacher is still “basic” after three years, they receive an “unsatisfactory” evaluation, given a written improvement plan and put on a one-year probation

Current principal evaluation

Ratings: Unsatisfactory, satisfactory

The measure: 9 criteria, 42 indicators

Student performance: Data must be factored in the school’s plan, but no specific targets

Provisional status: Three years

Options: None

Observations: One a year, plus a monthly meeting where principals show evidence of their work

Professional development: 3 hours a month

Cut off: An unsatisfactory evaluation resulted in a one-year probation

Pilot principal evaluation

Ratings: Unsatisfactory, basic, proficient, distinguished

The measure: 8 criteria, 33 indicators

Student performance: Must show at least 60 percent all students are meeting standard or improving

Provisional status: 3 years

Options: Three-year evaluation for new principals; two-year evaluation for intermediate principal, transferred principals or those who received a low rating; and a shorter eval for those with six-plus years experience

Observations: Monthly meetings with district administration, self assessment and goal setting worksheets, plus any documentation of progress in those 8 criteria

Professional development: At least four hours a month

Unsatisfactory: If a principal is still “basic” after three years, their contract is not renewed

Source: Wenatchee School District

Instead of “satisfactory” and “unsatisfactory,” teachers will assessed on a four-tier system: Unsatisfactory, basic, proficient and distinguished. The new evaluations are designed to motivate teachers to keep improving. At first, some teachers may be surprised when they don’t make the “distinguished” category, said Lisa Turner, Human Resources Director for Wenatchee School.

“When you’re going from two tiers to four, that’s going to be a huge culture shift for people,” Turner said.

A team of about 20 Wenatchee teachers, union reps, principals and administrators dealt with some of the toughest questions surrounding education reform today: How do you factor in student performance, what about skills that can’t be observed, and where do you draw the line when staff continually miss the mark?

The state legislature launched the evaluation overhaul last year in hopes of winning $250 million in federal Race to the Top grants. The state didn’t win, but pushed on with reform anyway, appointing eight school districts and one consortium of districts to develop new evaluations. Each one is trying to find a reliable formula that would recognize teaching skills backed by research and data, while rooting out incompetence and stagnation.

Next year, the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction will recommend a few of the pilots as the statewide model. Every school district must adopt one of the new models by the 2013-14 school year. For most school districts, it will be the first change to teacher evaluations in more than 25 years.

• • •

One of the main concerns teachers have is how much time the new evaluations are going to take, said Gayle Northcutt, president of the Wenatchee Education Association. It’s going to take more than observation for teachers to prove that they’re hitting all the targets. They must also document those non-observable traits, such as communication with parents or student progress over time.

“It shouldn’t be so overwhelming that you can’t do your job. It should reflect your job,” Northcutt said.

Fourth-grade teacher Angie Alto said she’s heard mixed reactions among her colleagues at Lewis and Clark Elementary School.

“They’re skeptical about it because they think it’s going to be a lot of work,” Alto said. “Some are leery and scared that evaluations will be attached to the pay scale.”

Alto said she volunteered to pilot the evaluation next year to learn the new system early, and to work on her own teaching skills.

“It’s an amazing tool,” Alto said. “This is going to be really good, if it’s used properly. If it does go to merit pay or a ranking system, I’ll be hurt.”

State lawmakers mandated that the pilot districts use student data as part of the evaluation. It’s an especially touchy subject because of the way it’s being used elsewhere. Washington D.C., for example, created a ranking system of teachers, then lopped off the bottom 20 percent. Houston school officials planned to tie teacher bonuses with a test score-based evaluation system, but then shelved it after massive protests.

In Wenatchee, at least half of the class must meet standard, or show academic growth, for the teacher to earn a “basic” rating. A “distinguished” teacher can show that 80 percent of the students showed growth.

The state tests won’t count as a measure, because students only take it once a year, in the spring. Student learning will be measured in several ways — classroom tests or other assessments that students take twice a year.

“I think the fear is whether, at the state level, this ends up being more about student data,” said Cox, the Pioneer Middle School teacher.

As Wenatchee prepares to unveil the new evaluations this fall, several committee members repeatedly said they are against turning the evaluations into a ranking system. High school teacher Chris Cloke, who served on the evaluation committee, lobbied against a ranking system in a meeting with Gov. Chris Gregoire and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell last month.

“I kept emphasizing if this ever leads to a competitive system of ranking, you can kiss all collaboration goodbye,” he said. “If you get to any sort of competitive process of ranking teachers, the conversation changes from our kids to my kids. If someone down the hall is struggling, that’s to my benefit. We don’t want that.”

The committee said they expect to make changes and adjustments to the new evaluation system over the next year, especially regarding the elements they’ve never tried before — the use of student data and requiring evidence beyond the observation.

“Next year is really our adjustment year,” Cloke said. “We’ve been working in theory for nine months now, and next year we’re going from theory to application.”

Rachel Schleif: 664-7139

schleif@wenatcheeworld.com

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rwcooper1954 1 year, 11 months ago

"New evaluations promise a ‘culture change’ in education"...or else, what?

mattman 1 year, 11 months ago

Way to go Susan Cox. Always doing what is best for students!!!!!

Krinkyie 1 year, 11 months ago

“Some are leery and scared that evaluations will be attached to the pay scale.” You are still getting pay raises? Do you know how many consecutive years most companies have been unable to give any pay raises? Or worse yet, have had to lay people off or downsize? Look at the positive side, you are still being considered for a raise, but now you will be more properly rewarded for workplace performance. What I like about the whole thing is that a barely satisfactory teacher won't rank as equal to an outstanding teacher that is inspiring to his/her students. As it should be and has been in most businesses for decades.

Norm 1 year, 11 months ago

"You are still getting pay raises?"

You know what they say about assumptions, no?

"A $32.1 billion state budget proposal outlined by Senate Democratic and Republican negotiators Tuesday evening includes reforms that some lawmakers in each party have sought for years. Sacred cows are among the targets of an estimated $4.8 billion in cuts. They include a 3 percent pay cut for public school teachers,"

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/04/12/1614302/senate-cuts-teacher-pay-3-raises.html#ixzz1SNnnCxgq

"As it should be and has been in most businesses for decades."

How big have the bonuses been (not to mention the base salary) for the bank executives who crashed the world economy? How about for the BP execs who presided over the spill in the Gulf?

chloe 1 year, 11 months ago

Pay should be evaluated on performance. Teachers should be held accountable for their work being done. As in anything, some are better and more effective than others. Those that are making a difference, deserve a pay raise and those that are not helping the kids, do not. After a poor evaluation, proving poor performance, teachers should be put on immediate probation. There is too much tolerance for poor teachers. It's not fair to the teachers that are making a difference.

Suz 1 year, 11 months ago

"As in anything, some are better and more effective than others." This is also true of the students with whom teachers work. If a patient dies because she refuses to follow the medical advice of her physician, should the physician be deemed incompetent?

Students are not cogs in a machine. They are highly individual and come to classrooms with varied abilities and varied motivations (or lack there of). Teachers work very hard to reach all the different students in the classroom, but this is a highly subjective profession.

It is possible to have great success and great failure all within the same class. Remember that some students are gifted and some can't read or write, some have parental support and others are homeless or hungry or sleep deprived, some are severely handicapped either physically or mentally (or both), some students are very much concerned about their own success and some seem to actively work against it.

There are probably only a handful of ineffective teachers in any school district. As it stands now in Wenatchee if a teacher is evaluated as unsatisfactory, that teacher is immediately put on an improvement plan. If a second evaluation is unsatisfactory than the teacher's contract is not renewed.

It is refreshing to see teachers and administrators working together for increasing excellence in our schools through an improved evaluation system. Especially true since both groups have seen their salaries cut and an increase in the cost of benefits.

There is no need to castigate our schools and our teachers as they work hard to provide for our children with greatly reduced resources. They need our support and encouragement not cynicism.

chloe 1 year, 11 months ago

Since you have quoted me, I am "assuming" you are referring to me as being cynical. I have great respect for those teachers that work hard to show they can inspire and make a difference in each child. I have given kudos to those teachers by stating they deserve a raise. Yes, it's true that not all students are created equal. That's when the teacher can make the difference. In most cases an A student will be an A student regardless of teacher. As you stated, they are already worried about their success on their own. It's the teacher that can inspire a B student to be a B+ student, or a C student to want to be a B student, that makes the difference. When there is a child that is not "able" to keep up, there are resources to turn to. Success should be measured by more than just grades. I am not sure why it is "refreshing" to see the administrators and teachers work together. They should. I am a little tired of the excuse being budget cuts. Cuts have been going around for awhile now. If one is in it for the money, one chose the wrong career. Not all teachers are worthy of an increase in pay, but many are. They should not be held accountable for those teachers not doing their job. That is not being cynical.

bscappell 1 year, 11 months ago

it actually ended up only being a 1.9% cut. Other state employees took a 3% cut.

Norm 1 year, 11 months ago

Regardless of the percentage, a cut is the opposite of a raise. Krinkyie's assumption was the opposite of the truth.

Suz 1 year, 11 months ago

By the time you compute what it costs to become a teacher (money, time, effort), remain a teacher (continuing ed) and then accept a salary of $34,048, it doesn't seem likely that people are in it for the money. Add to that the out of pocket expenses for classroom materials and it becomes especially cynical ( "believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity")

How do you suggest "inspiring" students be measured? No sarcasm here. Truly, if you have a way to do this it would be of tremendous assistance. As to B to B+ etc., so often that has to do with the student's attention to meeting deadlines and simply turning in assignments (a huge factor in higher grades at the high school level). Students whose parents have encouraged and modeled punctuality always have an advantage there.

"Refreshing" simply refers to the fact that throughout the US, there are school districts that have seen conflict and animosity over evaluations. Good to see it isn't happening here.

The 1.9/3% reductions: -1.9% for teachers, -3% for school administrative staff, -3% for other state employees.

mrmj 1 year, 11 months ago

You better hope the evaluator likes you when it comes to your turn. Grade inflation needs to be addressed as it has gone on for far too long. All those names on the honor roll could not be that smart, as I have encountered some of them.

chloe 1 year, 11 months ago

Measure by attitudes, attendance, tardiness, effort and overall behavior. Also, end of the year evaluations from parents. I can see when my child is excited about an assignment or something done in class and it had everything to do with the teacher on that particular assignment. I am appreciative of those who are in education and work with children. I know it can be thankless work at times. But in the end, it is a job and evaluations can keep things moving forward and fair for those teachers who are trying their best and doing their job.

Suz 1 year, 11 months ago

You cannot measure attitude objectively and teachers are already evaluated on their compliance with attendance policies. Effort is already taken into consideration through observations and documented compliance with curriculum standards. Behavior? Professional behavior in the classroom and the school are already taken into account though a teacher's participation in and compliance with school policies and programs.