10/05/12 The Indiana Department of Education has worked over the past two or more years to design a model evaluation and development system for evaluating teachers, administrators, and now, superintendents. The RISE system was created by Indiana educators, the Indiana Evaluation Cabinet, and representatives from The New Teacher Project. The IDOE contends the evaluation system is fair, accurate and rigorous. The system is designed, in part, to provide educators with specific feedback for improvement. Gone are the checklists of yes or no questions. They have been replaced with observations of teacher practices and the analysis of student data.

School corporations may chose to adopt the complete RISE model or modify the model to reflect their schools’ needs. Other key components of the RISE evaluation tool are options for additional training, support and resources.

During the 2011-2012 school year, several school corporations throughout the state participated in a pilot program on the new evaluation rubric.

Teachers and administrators will be rated as highly effective, effective, improvement necessary, or ineffective. All teachers must have a minimum of two extended observations per year-one per semester, according to the IDOE website. Extended observation must be for a minimum of 40 minutes and may be announced prior to the observation or be done without an announcement. Additionally, teachers will have a minimum of three short observations-at least one per semester that last a minimum of 10 minutes. To help teachers improve, administrators must provide written feedback following a short observation within two school days. The rubric used for evaluations includes ways to score special area teachers in art, music, and physical education.

The evaluation system for principals focuses on evaluating the role of the principal as “the driver of student growth and achievement” The IDOE website includes the following when referring to principals: “It is undeniable that a principal is required to wear many hats, from instructional leader and disciplinarian to budget planner and plant manger. As the job becomes more demanding and complex, the question of how to fairly and effectively evaluate principals takes on greater importance.” The four core areas used in the administrators evaluations include: Training and Support; Accountability, Credible Distribution, and Decision-Making.

One section of the long rubric includes professionalism, time management and the use of feedback to improve student performance.

During the Plymouth School Board meeting on October 3, the three Board members present voted unanimously to approve the superintendent’s evaluation model. Members Larry Holloway and Todd Samuelson were absent.

The lengthy document will be filled out individually by each of the five Board members. After those have been completed, the Board will meet as a whole to discuss the evaluations and compile one final score.

The superintendent’s model, as does the principal model, includes sections on Human Capital Manager, Instructional Leadership, Personal Behavior, Building Relationships, Culture of Achievement, and Organizational, Operational, and Resource Management.

The final score will include Leadership Outcomes (70 percent of total points), Superintendent Goals/Objectives (20 percent) and Corporation Accountability on the IDOE’s A-F grading (10 percent).

Plymouth Superintendent Daniel Tyree said, “If the teachers and administrators are being evaluated on a rigorous rubric, then the superintendent should be graded on a rigorous one as well.”

 

Carol Anders Correspondent