Project Update: Team Pennsylvania Foundation investors have an unprecedented opportunity to participate in a project that will radically reform education across the commonwealth.

The Foundation is looking for investors interested in serving on the Gates Teacher and Principal Evaluation Project’s Stakeholder Steering Committee. The committee will assist the PA Department of Education in developing an evaluation system for teachers and principals, as outlined in the state’s Race to the Top proposal.

The initial charge to the committee, which is expected to meet about five or six days between August 2010 and August 2011, is to:

1. Identify the measures of effectiveness to be used in evaluating teachers and principals, including valid measures of student growth.

2. Work with the PDE leadership team to guide a pilot project with approximately five to seven schools/districts/intermediate units in developing evaluation tools and protocols and piloting them in the 2010-11 school year.

3. Help to disseminate the results of this one-year project to various stakeholders across the state.

Individuals interested in more information or participating on the committee should contact Foundation COO Matt Zieger at info@teampa.com for more details.

The following is additional information concerning the project that was previously published on this website:

Team Pennsylvania Foundation, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, is conducting a pilot project to create a statewide model evaluation system for teachers and principals that will incorporate  student growth as a significant factor. This project is the first stage of development in a system that will expand statewide with the expected funding of the department’s Race to the Top proposal.

“Team PA believes we must ensure our children are being taught by effective teachers and leaders in our schools,” Rich Hudic, Team PA President and CEO, said. “Toward that goal, there is a growing recognition of the need for a statewide teacher and principal evaluation system by education and business leaders alike.  Such a system would make possible needed interventions and support systems, create a basis for rewarding effective teachers and leaders, and establish a fair and objective basis for removing ineffective teachers and principals.”

Team PA will work diligently to ensure  stakeholders and educators have more than just input, but truly have ownership in the outcomes of this project.

“There is strong agreement in Pennsylvania that such an evaluation system must use growth in student achievement as a significant factor in measuring teacher and principal effectiveness,” Hudic said. “This project will enable us to start the consensus-building process to reach agreement on the growth factors and their weighting in the overall evaluation. In determining the student growth weight, we will draw on the work being done in the Pittsburgh School District to ensure that our work on the statewide evaluation system does not conflict with the similar work they are undertaking.  We also will draw upon the results from the Gates Foundation’s Measure of Effective Teaching study as they become available.”

Team PA expects the stakeholders to agree to a model by the end of 2010.

Let us know what you think! What do you believe are effective measures of teacher and principal effectiveness or student achievement?