Conducting Teacher Evaluations

Welcome Evaluators! This course is an overview for district leaders and adminstrators assigned to conduct formal teacher evalautions. Teacher evaluation is the standardized process of rating and assessing the teaching effectiveness of educators. Teacher performance evaluations aim to help promote a better learning experience for students and foster professional growth for educators. Review the evaluation experience of Principal Evans at ABC Middle School. Let's begin! [[Pre-Conferencing]]

Principal Evans is scheduled to evaluate one of his 6th grade teachers, Ms. Grouse. Two days ago, Evans scheduled the pre-conference session with Ms. Grouse, asking her to come prepared with information about the lesson she anticipates teaching and any questions that arise. How should Principal Evans prepare for the pre-conference session? [[1. Request and review the teacher's lesson plan for the intended activities.]] [[2. Ask Ms. Grouse's teammates about her teaching styles]] [[3. Do nothing and wait until the pre-conference with Ms. Grouse.]]

Principal Evans should take this time to review the lesson plan and any other documents (Ex. student data, previous evalaution notes for areas of concern) for the given evaluation. Reviewing the lesson plan gives evaluators an idea of the flow of the lesson and whether or not the activities planned meet instructional goals. Evalautors should use this review to document any questions or concerns that the teacher can address before evaluating the lesson. Principal Evans can now conduct the pre-conference with Ms. Grouse. The conversation will be a robust conversation about various aspects of her lesson based on the [questions] she prepared to answer. After the Pre-Conference, Principal Evans is prepared to [[Conduct the Evaluation]]

Incorrect. Principal Evans will not learn anything beyond surface level information about Ms. Grouse's teaching style.

Incorrect. If Evans waits until the actual pre-conference , he will not be prepared for any questions that may arise.

Two days later, Principal Evans arrives to Ms. Grouse's classroom 4-5 minutes before the scheduled evaluation. As she asissts with class transition, Evans finds a desk in the back of the room and begins to set up his laptop to begin collecting notes. Soon the new class enters and he hears Ms. Grouse begin prompting students to start the bellringer. Evans begins to type, collecting evidence. What type of evidence is Principal Evans collecting? [[1. Student actions and outcomes occurring during the lesson]] [[2. Teacher actions and outcomes occuring during the lesson]] [[3. Teacher and student actions and outcomes occurring during the lesson]]

Later in the day after dismissal, Principal Evans was finally able to sit down and score the Grouse evaluation. He reflected on the strategies he learned in the evaluation certification training he attended earlier in the summer and decided to quickly write the steps down to help him score the lesson he observed. He grabbed the district evaluation rubric, his laptop with the collected evidence, and paper and pen to write his steps down. To score the lesson, where should Principal Evans begin? [[1. Score the lesson based on what he felt the lesson deserved]] [[2. Comb through each piece of evidence and align to the rubric's descriptors that best represent the actions.]]

Uh-oh! You're close! Student evidence of their actions and outcomes are very important to track during evaluations, but evaluators must ensure they are documenting how the teacher assists students reach instructional milestones during the lesson.

Not Quite! Collecting only teacher actions and outcomes will not give the evalautor a true picture of student comprehension.

Correct! Teacher and student actions are considered high quality evidence, as is reflects what is happening during the classroom at the time of the evaluation. To make sure performance ratings are as acurrate as possible, evaluators are collecting [What's SEEN, SAID, and DONE] between teachers and students. Examples of high quality evidence can include, but are not limited to: 1. Students engaged in accountable talk discussions 2. Teachers modeling and explaining lesson outcomes 3. Student ability to explain, demonstrate, or apply lesson/tasks to real world situations or current events 4. Teachers asking probing or clarifying questions to push student thinking Once the class period has concluded, Principal Evans alerts Ms. Grouse to check her email in the next 24 hours for an invite to the Post-Conference session, thanks her for her time, and exits the class. Later in the day, Evans will use the evidence collected from the evaluation to [[Determine Performance Ratings]] for the lesson.

Incorrect. Evaluators should never determine scores based on their personal biases. Without concreete evidence from the actual evaluation to justify scores, teachers can file greivances against evaluators for improper practices being used.

Yes! To eliminate bias when determining scores, or ratings, for the lesson, an evaluator must be able to align the evidence collected to the guidelines of the designated evaluation rubric used by your school district or charter network. Comb through each piece of evidence you collected and align it to the descriptors of your evaluation rubric. BONUS: Use highlighters to identify if you have full evidence (highlight green), partial evidence (highlight yellow), and no evidence (highlight pink). For each requirement of your rubric, you will search through your evidence to highlight the specified color and determine an overall rating. Evans is now ready to align and generate scores. Afterwards, he can prepare for the final phase of Ms. Grouse's evalaution- the [[Post-Conference]]

Principal Evans knows from experience that the Post-Conference session can make or break the evaluator-teacher relationship. He is ready to discuss the results of Ms. Grouse'e evaluation with her, based on the following action steps: 1. Positive Praise 2. Identifying 1 area of improvement and probing the teacher's thoughts on how it can be enhanced 3. Introducing an action plan to work on the area of improvement, including practice and implementation 4. Developing a follow-up timeline to work with Ms. Grouse Soon the post-conference with Ms. Grouse begins. After 30 minutes of discussiom amd questions, they reach the final step in the evaluation, the [[Sign-off]] phase for both teacher and evaluator.

As they reach the end of the post-conference, Evan becomes nervous about the teacher sign-off. Throughout the conversation, Ms. Grouse has had several questions about a few of the scores, noting her surprise that one indicator's score was not as high as she felt it should be. Yet, Evans remained calm and followed the stpes he learned in training. When asked if she had additional concerns, Ms. Grouse simply replied, "Not any at this time." At the conclusion of the session, he explained the two options to Ms. Grouse for sign-off. Which option do you think Ms. Grouse will select? [[Option 1: I understand and agree that the evalaution process has been conducted with fidelity by the evaluator.]] [[Option 2: I do not understand but I do not agree that the evaluation process has been conducted with fidelity by the evaluator.]]

This option means the teacher does not have any questions about the manner in which the evaluation was ocnducted from beginning to end. Sign-off also denotes that the teacher has an understanding of the scors for the instructional practice conducted and will follow the action plan as prescribed with the evalautor supporting them. [[Next Steps for Principal Evans]]

If selected, the teacher believes there is a part of the process that was not conducted properly or do not agree with the scoring. If encountered, Principal Evans can offer to review the results and scoring with Ms. Grouse, listen to her rebuttal and any evidence she may have to support her stance with option 2. If there is no evidence to support her stance, the evaluation results will stand. Ms. Grouse's concerns can be documented in the notes before sign-off. Once noted, Principal Evans will move forward with sign-off steps. As the action plan unfolds, he will be mindful to address Ms. Grouse's concerns as they work on the areas of improvement identified.

Principal Evans confirms the conclusion of the evaluation with Ms. Grouse by signing off. His sign-off finalizes the process and officially closes the process. He can then provide Ms. Grouse a copy of the evaluation with both of their signatures for her records and a copy of the action plan to work on the identified area of improvement.