Members of the Teacher/Principal Model Steering Committee discuss the pilot programs, which will be implemented in five pilot school districts in January.
The Teacher/Principal Model Steering Committee released the draft evaluation models that will be used in five pilot school districts beginning in January.
The Pennsylvania School Leadership Standards Evaluation Tool is designed to help evaluators rate the performance of school leaders with respect to each of the three Core Standards and six Corollary Standards and to assign an overall competency rating that encompasses the nine state standards and one locally determined standard.
The Core Standards address the leader’s ability to: think and plan strategically; create an organizational vision around personalized student success; understand standards-based systems theory and design and the ability to transfer that knowledge to their job; and access and use appropriate data to inform decision-making at all levels of the system.
The Corollary Standards gauge whether a leader knows how to: create a culture of teaching and learning; manage resources for effective results; collaborate, communicate, engage and empower others to pursue excellence in learning; be fair; advocate for children and public education; and support professional growth of self and others through practice and inquiry.
Team Pennsylvania Foundation, which is administering the project through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, believes there needs to be consistent standards to gauge student achievement.
“Our goal is to enhance student achievement so we can be assured they are prepared to enter the workforce or move on to the next phase of their academic careers,” Matt Zieger, Team PA, Chief Operating Officer, said.
The Rubric Assessment is the model being used to evaluate teachers, Zieger said. Teachers will be assessed on planning and preparation, the classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities.
“The teacher evaluation model includes a self-assessment as well as an evaluator assessment,” Zieger said. “The idea is to recognize those teachers who consistently obtain a distinguished rating and to help those who need improvement.”
The assessments will be utilized during the pilot program in the Allentown, Cornell and Mohawk school districts, Global Leadership Charter School and Northwest Tri-Community IU 5.
Following the end of the current school year, the pilot site data will be analyzed and a final Steering Committee meeting will be held next fall to make final recommendations to the program.
Here is additional background on the Foundation’s work with this initiative.
