Sharon Lowe, an English teacher at Darby Junior High School in Fort Smith, set a goal this school year to ask her ninth-graders questions that would make them think more and, thus, learn more.
Lowe developed a plan to meet that goal as part of a new teacher evaluation system piloted across the state this year. She read professional journals and books for ideas and sought out techniques used by teachers at her school and in other parts of the country.
She saw how classroom discussions among her students changed as a result.
"I was able to see that they've learned to dig more," Lowe said. "I got to see them take more of a leadership role in their own learning."
All schools were required this school year to participate in the pilot of the new Teacher Excellence and Support System, but they did not have to include all of their staffs, said Ivy Pfeffer, director of educator evaluation for the state Department of Education. Full implementation of the evaluation system is set for the coming 2014-15 school year.
The new system, known among educators as TESS, is the first statewide system of evaluation for teachers and was put in place under Act 1209 of 2011, Pfeffer said. The state also is implementing an evaluation system for principals.
The pilot year has provided time for the department to respond to educators' concerns, identify additional training needs for teachers and administrators, update regulations and make decisions about how to measure student growth to determine an educators' overall performance, Pfeffer said.
State officials anticipate including measures of student growth, such as standardized test scores, in individual teacher evaluations beginning with the 2015-16 school year, Pfeffer said. That plan is subject to approval by the U.S. Department of Education.
The evaluation system ties in with the Common Core State Standards that all schools are now following and new statewide student assessments that will be introduced with the 2014-15 school year, Pfeffer said. One ongoing challenge, though, is helping educators see the connections between the new standards and assessments and the work they do.
"The work is an ongoing process, with implementation requiring time and systemic changes to current practices," Pfeffer said.
Brenda Robinson, president of the Arkansas Education Association, received a mix of comments from teachers across the state during the pilot year, she said. Teachers already were adjusting to teaching under Common Core and preparing for new assessments when the new evaluation system started.
"They're overwhelmed," Robinson said. "It's time-consuming. They feel that's all they're doing day and night. They feel they're losing reality with what good teaching is because they're doing so much preparing."
Evaluating teachers
A committee organized by the state Education Department developed the new evaluation system, Robinson said. Robinson was a member of the committee, which comprised teachers, administrators, superintendents, businessmen and university professors. The committee learned that districts across the state differed in how they evaluated teachers and the criteria they set.
The committee focused on finding a uniform evaluation system, Robinson said. The committee liked the work of nationally known education consultant Charlotte Danielson, who developed a framework regarding practices of good teaching. The framework used with the new state system encompasses 22 components of effective teaching practices that are organized in four categories. The categories are planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction and professional responsibilities.
Legislators relied on the committee's work in passing the law requiring the evaluation system, she said.
"I think it's going to take some time for teachers to learn the system," Robinson said. "Right now, they're really uncomfortable with the system. The best thing is having a supportive administrator to walk through this process with the teacher, having great dialogue. They're there to support them, and they're not there to try to terminate them."
Teachers with less than three years of employment in a district are evaluated each year on all 22 components of Danielson's framework. Teachers with more experience are on a three-year cycle for full evaluations. In the two interim years, experienced teachers are assessed under a modified evaluation that can focus on specific components of the evaluation system.
A scoring system helps administrators judge whether teachers are distinguished, proficient, basic or unsatisfactory. Teachers on a full evaluation receive an overall score and a score for each of the four categories.
Struggling teachers are placed on an intensive track if they receive an unsatisfactory score in any one category. If a teacher does not make progress after two semesters, the administrator recommends the teacher for dismissal, Pfeffer said.
Some changes
Fort Smith schools were on a fast track for transitioning to the new teacher evaluation system, said Samantha Hall, Fort Smith director of professional development. Principals were learning the new system at the same time they were conducting the evaluations and learning how to grade teachers on the different components, Hall said.
"It was OK to make mistakes this year," Hall said. "Next year, it's live. Everything goes on as a full teacher evaluation."
Staff members already have their professional growth plans in place for the 2014-15 school year, Hall said. The plans provide an outline of individual and campus goals, and the steps to reach them. Those plans will help teachers identify any training they need to take during the summer, Hall said.
For Darby Principal Darren McKinney, the new evaluation system required him and two assistant principals to reduce the number of frequent, five-minute classroom visits they would make because the new evaluation system requires 20- to 40-minute observations.
Of the 54 staff members at Darby, 18 teachers were on tracks requiring full evaluations that required several hours to complete.
"My ultimate goal is what can I do to make folks better," McKinney said. "For me, approaching it that way, it takes the confrontational aspect out of it. We are here to help. We're here to make sure that we're in this together."
Darby seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher Gloria Schmidt received a full evaluation this year. She has taught for 20 years and found that the new evaluation system is similar to the process of becoming a nationally board certified teacher.
Schmidt developed a system for collecting student work and lesson-planning materials that she needed for her evaluation, she said. She used quick tests before and after lessons to determine what students already knew, what they gained from the lesson and who still needed help.
In analyzing her own performance, she realized that one of her weaker points was involving the community and parents in her instruction.
She is planning lessons for next school year that relate to construction, and gas and oil drilling. Involving parents and community members in the instruction will help students understand how their science lessons relate to activities going on in the community.
"We've got a lot of parents that are involved in construction trades," Schmidt said. "I'd like to bring in some construction dads."
Metro on 06/02/2014