Educator Evaluation Beacon

Examples

What Moves the Needle?

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ThermometerIt’s only mid-year, and middle school music teacher Ben (not his real name) learns that three-quarters of his students have surpassed his year-end DDM goals for them.  In just half a year they have made the progress with sight-reading he thought would take the whole year. This is the kind of improvement every educator and evaluator wants to see, and is the result of focus on curriculum and effective instruction.

The DDM process has led to improved instruction and student outcomes in certain classrooms. But DDMs aren’t the only aspect of the educator evaluation system designed to make a difference in teaching and learning. The system provides many mechanisms that  can move the proverbial needle, including:

  • Self-assessment
  • Goal-setting and tracking
  • Classroom observations and related conversations
  • Gathering artifacts
  • Measuring student growth
  • Student feedback (surveys)

Question: Which one of these components is moving the needle in your district?

 

 

School Counselors Measure Student Growth in Worcester

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMany thanks to the Worcester County Guidance and Personnel Association, who invited me to speak to their monthly gathering.  Thanks to preparation support from Gwynne Morrissey, I was able to clarify misapprehensions for the 45 counselors in attendance and share completed DDMs written by peers in the Pioneer Valley. Viewing these examples helped counselors envision what is possible and see that the end product need not be long or overly complex. Guidance Successful Transitions DDM; Common App DDM; SelfControl SelfRegulation DDM

Apparently, many of their misunderstandings spring from trainings that presented conflicting information. They’ve heard from DESE, outside vendors, and district leaders. These misunderstandings concern not only DDMs, but core components of the educator evaluation system as well.

The counselors in attendance are doing important work with their students: one team is teaching the signs of suicide and how to address the topic. They measure student growth meaningfully when they seek to discover how much students have learned from their lessons about suicide prevention.

I emphasized the importance of measuring what counselors and their schools care most about while capturing data that is useful for improving their instruction.

Handy Guide to Teacher Performance Rubric

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It’s a year or two into the state’s new evaluation system, and districts are identifying practices and tools that smooth the  process.

One such tool is the Educator Evaluation Tour Gutour guideide, developed by curriculum directors and the Collaborative for Educational Services here in the Pioneer Valley. Sales of the Tour Guide, which presents the standards and indicators in a colorful flipbook format, have topped 2,300 copies.

For each of 33 elements, the Tour Guide includes the language of proficiency, what proficient practice might look like, and suggestions for artifacts.

Slick Method for Assembling DDMs Across a District

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Northampton Public Schools are asking teachers to submit  DDM information via a DDM Google Form – Northampton. The information they provide raindrops-on-smooth-banana-leaf-landscape-1-screensaveris  automatically tallied on a google spreadsheet, in a format that can be sent to DESE in June. The district is willing to share their work if there’s interest. Let me know through a comment or email: ddouglas@collaborative.org.

Locally-Crafted DDMs Available Here

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schoolnurseWe are happy to make available measures of student growth created by local educators. You can access them by clicking here. The collection features examples from the arts, physical education, special education, and nursing. As teachers craft DDMs in their field, high-quality examples are extremely helpful.

A big thank you to the folks who shared their work. If you have a finished DDM, please send it to: ddouglas@collaborative.org.