We are into the second year utilizing our school’s new learning target. I blogged last year, as part of “The Transparency Files,” about why and how we created the target and how it would guide important decisions about how the school runs, what programs the school invests in, and about anything and everything central to questions of teaching and learning. And so far it has. Our decision to move to a 1:1 BYOiPad pilot for Grades 4 & 5, helps move us closer to the target. Creating a “Community of Kindness” position and utilizing the 7 Habits to develop the program, helps move us closer to the target. Our work in Middle School, developing a new app that will become commercially available in time for Purim, helps move us closer to the target. Our decision to expand the use of “Student-Led Conferences” to Grades 4-8, helps moves up closer to the target. Our move to Singapore Math, expansion of the Daily 5, use of blogfolios, our current conversation about homework, increasing the amount of immersion in our teaching of Hebrew – all of these decisions are framed by whether or not it will bring us closer to the target. That’s the power of having a clear and shared vision for what teaching and learning ought to look like in our school.
So it should have been so surprise that when it came time to re-imagine what teacher evaluation ought to look like…we looked to the target to guide us.
We realized last year that with the success of student-led conferences, that we are actually treating our students with greater ownership of their evaluation process that we were our teachers! If our students are supposed to own their learning, then our teachers ought to own their professional growth. And if our students can collect artifacts of their growth, organize them on their blogfolios, reflect on their growth and present to their teachers and parents…
And so we charged our faculty to form a “Teacher Evaluation Committee” to re-imagine the evaluation process for teachers and what they came up with is our new “Teacher-Led Evaluation”. It reflects what we believe is the most authentic way for teachers (and teaching assistants) to document, reflect and share their professional growth while still allowing for the accountability necessary to ensure expectations are met. In the spirit of transparency, I would like to share the process and briefly reflect on how it working out so far…
This is what teachers received a couple of months back:
Dear Faculty:
For the fall evaluation, please schedule an appointment with Jon before Winter break. You will need the following:
- A completed self-evaluation packet (checklist plus narrative)
- Be prepared to discuss your self-evaluation with Jon
- Not required at this time: A presentation, artifacts, a video-recorded lesson or peer observation
For the spring evaluation, please schedule an appointment with Jon in April. You will need the following:
- A completed self-evaluation checklist (narrative not required)
- A presentation aligned with the Learning Target documenting your professional growth during this school year in a format of your choice, including the following:
- Artifacts to show evidence of growth
- A reflection of your video-recorded lesson
- A reflection of your peer observation
- Goals: Where do I go from here?
- Be prepared to discuss your self-evaluation with Jon
Teacher Evaluation Committee
The self-evaluation comes straight from the target:
And the narrative prompt:
Please reflect in writing on your growth as a teacher at this point in time. Your reflection should be directly related to the Learning Target. Make sure to address your professional development goals and offer an evaluation of your progress to date. Also consider the following questions: What are my successes? Is there room for improvement? Do I have artifacts as evidence of my learning? What tools or resources do I need to continue my professional growth on the Learning Target continuum?
I have made my way through about a half to two-thirds of the faculty and I am enjoying it immensely. The conversations have been more focused on growth and less focused on what I (or others) feel is lacking. The conversations are led by teachers who are experts in who they are and not guided by me who, in the past, would have to play detective in order to have what to present. The artifacts are fabulous, the discussions are rich and – most importantly – what teachers are working on is astounding.
The accountability is still there – teachers are required to demonstrate growth in areas mutually agreed upon by them and me – but the shift in emphasis has brought a shift in attitude that brought a level of professional development we have never seen before.
All in all, this first go around has been a true success. I can’t wait to see the fuller presentations in the spring and see how much more growth there is to come!
