TEACHER EVALUATIONS - THE SAGA CONTINUES
Recently we wrote about the dustup revolving around the McRel audit (or desk report) on a sample of 2014-15 educator evaluations, in which two elements that were not required in 2014-15 were used as part of the analysis, causing 99% of the evals to be judged as incomplete or inaccurate.
Well, the resulting furor has caused confusion among legislators and State Board members, and unnecessarily made the long-term future of the Career Ladder a bit murky. It's also resulted in a huge imposition upon districts around the state, as the State Department of Education and the State Board of Education have now both requested educator evaluation information.
The SBOE has requested a sampling of 2015-16 evaluation documents for particular administrators, in order to do an audit of those evals. The SDE has requested information with respect to all evaluations done in 2015-16.
In this post we will focus on the SDE request, which once again includes elements not required for some 2015-16 evaluations. This time, the "student success indicators" and "professional learning plans" are listed as elements that school districts must report for all Pupil Personnel Certificate holders.
However, when the Career Ladder first became a law, "Pupil Services" personnel (such as counselors, school psychologists, nurses, speech and language pathologists, social workers, and audiologists) were not a part of it because suitable measures of student success as required by the law had not yet been developed. These pupil services personnel became a part of the Career Ladder in the current school year (2016-17).
When the data were submitted to the SDE for 2015-16 evals, districts were required to answer "No" for the areas of submission required for Pupil Services employees. But those elements were not required for these employees because they had not yet been placed on the Career Ladder.
As you can see, some educators did not receive an evaluation because of extenuating circumstances. When teachers retire, resign, or are on leave, we typically do not complete and evaluation. When they are hired late in the year, we normally conduct their first evaluation the following year. In any event, the total number of educator evals conducted was 1783.
There has been some confusion across the state as to which employees in "support" roles should be included on the Career Ladder (Athletic Directors, Librarians, etc.). Here's a recounting of those evals compared to the total number of evaluations. Note that if all "incomplete" evals were counted against us, our percentage of "accurate" and "complete" evals would have been 1640 out of 1784, or 86%.
However, as you can see in the chart above, fully 197 staff were missing components that were not required for them in 2015-16. That leaves 44 employees, 17 of whom likely should have been on the Career Ladder, but for whom the District was awaiting guidance, and 27 others whose evaluations were truly not complete.
So even if the misclassified employees are included as incomplete, just 44 of 1783 evals were not done correctly, meaning that 1739, or 97.4% were "complete" and "accurate". Though we'd like to be at 100%, and will work toward that goal, 97% is a good start.
Incidentally, of the 1784 educator evals completed, 1764 were rated as "Proficient", and 19 were rated as "Basic" or Unsatisfactory". We have written previously that we know the vast majority of District teachers are doing a great job in the classroom. The "probationary" period for teachers is in the first 3 years, and especially in the first year, when 5% - 8% of teachers opt out of the profession or are counseled not to return for the following year.
However, when the Career Ladder first became a law, "Pupil Services" personnel (such as counselors, school psychologists, nurses, speech and language pathologists, social workers, and audiologists) were not a part of it because suitable measures of student success as required by the law had not yet been developed. These pupil services personnel became a part of the Career Ladder in the current school year (2016-17).
When the data were submitted to the SDE for 2015-16 evals, districts were required to answer "No" for the areas of submission required for Pupil Services employees. But those elements were not required for these employees because they had not yet been placed on the Career Ladder.
As you can see, some educators did not receive an evaluation because of extenuating circumstances. When teachers retire, resign, or are on leave, we typically do not complete and evaluation. When they are hired late in the year, we normally conduct their first evaluation the following year. In any event, the total number of educator evals conducted was 1783.
There has been some confusion across the state as to which employees in "support" roles should be included on the Career Ladder (Athletic Directors, Librarians, etc.). Here's a recounting of those evals compared to the total number of evaluations. Note that if all "incomplete" evals were counted against us, our percentage of "accurate" and "complete" evals would have been 1640 out of 1784, or 86%.
However, as you can see in the chart above, fully 197 staff were missing components that were not required for them in 2015-16. That leaves 44 employees, 17 of whom likely should have been on the Career Ladder, but for whom the District was awaiting guidance, and 27 others whose evaluations were truly not complete.
So even if the misclassified employees are included as incomplete, just 44 of 1783 evals were not done correctly, meaning that 1739, or 97.4% were "complete" and "accurate". Though we'd like to be at 100%, and will work toward that goal, 97% is a good start.
Incidentally, of the 1784 educator evals completed, 1764 were rated as "Proficient", and 19 were rated as "Basic" or Unsatisfactory". We have written previously that we know the vast majority of District teachers are doing a great job in the classroom. The "probationary" period for teachers is in the first 3 years, and especially in the first year, when 5% - 8% of teachers opt out of the profession or are counseled not to return for the following year.
