Submit Your Questions Here
Question: Will those who will be evaluating us (department heads, administrators, etc.) be viewing our previous evaluations to get a better scope of our past successes and stellar reviews?
Answer: The evaluation process is meant to encourage the continuous growth of educators. Certainly past successes are relevant, and educators may highlight evidence (past evaluations, successes, etc.) they feel are relevant, but the primary focus is on the educator’s current goals and performance.
Question: Will there be consistency with who your evaluator is and will they do your evaluation every year?
Answer: While the contract language (see excerpt below*) leaves open the option of multiple evaluators, we will initially make every effort to have one evaluator for each educator in order to ensure consistency and continuity.
* “The Educator shall be notified in writing of his/her Evaluator(s), at the outset of each new evaluation cycle,”
Question: Will this system take up more of the principal's time?
Answer: It seems clear that this new system will take up more time on the part of Principals (and evaluators).
Question: How many unannounced observations are required?
Answer: Here is the BPS Contract Language for Teachers who do not have Professional Teaching Status (PTS):
"The Educator shall have at least four unannounced observations, no more than two per marking period, during the school year.”
Here is the BPS Contract Language for Teachers who have PTS:
“...must have at least one unannounced observation during the evaluation cycle and will receive, upon request of the educator, or evaluator, one (1) additional unannounced observation.”
Question: What is the total number of Smart Goals that each teacher needs to set?
Answer: Each educator will need to have two Smart Goals, one Professional Practice Goal and one Student Learning Goal.
Question: When is the rollout date?
Answer: Sometime between October 1 and November 1, teachers will be notified that we are officially starting to conduct unannounced (and announced observations). We would like to make sure that staff have had enough support in finalizing their goals before implementation of the new system.
Question: I don't believe our building faculty and staff were informed that we are all to use Evernote for this. Will this point, that we must all use Evernote (for evidence gathering), be communicated to faculty and staff, in K-12?
Answer: Yes, we are trying not to throw too many things at staff at one time. We will be talking more about Evernote and how we will use it as a resource for evidence gathering in the future (End of September/October).
Question: How many goals are we required to have and is it a team goal or an individual goal?
Answer: Each educator needs to have (a minimum of) two goals. One goal is a Professional Practice Goal and the other is a Student Learning Goal. Each goal may be a team goal or an individual goal, it is up to the individual educator to make this decision.
Is the self-assessment supposed to be an assessment of our teaching skills (strengths and concerns) or an assessment of our student's strengths and weaknesses?
Answer: The self-assessment is meant to be an exercise by the individual educator to reflect upon his/her strengths and weaknesses in relation to the standards.
Question: Will those who will be evaluating us (department heads, administrators, etc.) be viewing our previous evaluations to get a better scope of our past successes and stellar reviews?
Answer: The evaluation process is meant to encourage the continuous growth of educators. Certainly past successes are relevant, and educators may highlight evidence (past evaluations, successes, etc.) they feel are relevant, but the primary focus is on the educator’s current goals and performance.
Question: Will there be consistency with who your evaluator is and will they do your evaluation every year?
Answer: While the contract language (see excerpt below*) leaves open the option of multiple evaluators, we will initially make every effort to have one evaluator for each educator in order to ensure consistency and continuity.
* “The Educator shall be notified in writing of his/her Evaluator(s), at the outset of each new evaluation cycle,”
Question: Will this system take up more of the principal's time?
Answer: It seems clear that this new system will take up more time on the part of Principals (and evaluators).
Question: How many unannounced observations are required?
Answer: Here is the BPS Contract Language for Teachers who do not have Professional Teaching Status (PTS):
"The Educator shall have at least four unannounced observations, no more than two per marking period, during the school year.”
Here is the BPS Contract Language for Teachers who have PTS:
“...must have at least one unannounced observation during the evaluation cycle and will receive, upon request of the educator, or evaluator, one (1) additional unannounced observation.”
Question: What is the total number of Smart Goals that each teacher needs to set?
Answer: Each educator will need to have two Smart Goals, one Professional Practice Goal and one Student Learning Goal.
Question: When is the rollout date?
Answer: Sometime between October 1 and November 1, teachers will be notified that we are officially starting to conduct unannounced (and announced observations). We would like to make sure that staff have had enough support in finalizing their goals before implementation of the new system.
Question: I don't believe our building faculty and staff were informed that we are all to use Evernote for this. Will this point, that we must all use Evernote (for evidence gathering), be communicated to faculty and staff, in K-12?
Answer: Yes, we are trying not to throw too many things at staff at one time. We will be talking more about Evernote and how we will use it as a resource for evidence gathering in the future (End of September/October).
Question: How many goals are we required to have and is it a team goal or an individual goal?
Answer: Each educator needs to have (a minimum of) two goals. One goal is a Professional Practice Goal and the other is a Student Learning Goal. Each goal may be a team goal or an individual goal, it is up to the individual educator to make this decision.
Is the self-assessment supposed to be an assessment of our teaching skills (strengths and concerns) or an assessment of our student's strengths and weaknesses?
Answer: The self-assessment is meant to be an exercise by the individual educator to reflect upon his/her strengths and weaknesses in relation to the standards.