Analysis of the evaluation and supervision model of licensed staff at the Carver-Scott Educational Cooperative

By Elizabeth Riepe Tech ID 00178357 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Principal and Special Education Director Licensure Minnesota State University, Mankato April 2013

The Carver-Scott Educational Cooperative is a school district in the southwest suburbs of the Twin Cities. This district is currently undergoing a merger with another local educational cooperative. The district will be re-named July 1, 2013, as the Southwest Metro Educational Cooperative. During this period of merging the two districts, licensed staff evaluations has been a hot topic. Currently, evaluations performed in the district are conducted within the guidelines of the Minnesota Statute: 122A.40, probationary teachers, who perform 120 days or more per year, must be evaluated a minimum of three times. Probationary teachers who perform from 60 to 119 days must be evaluated two times per year. Probationary teachers who perform less than 60 days per year must be evaluated once per year. Tenured teachers (on continuing contract) will be evaluated a minimum of once every three years. The district employee handbook also states that administration may utilize the evaluations for the determination of advancement, promotion, transfer of assignment, and future employment. The current evaluation tool was not derived from a specific evaluation model and was rather developed by a single district administrator. This being the case, the district has currently brought together a team of licensed staff and administration to research and develop a more standardized and effective evaluation tool. The current evaluation tool consists of a pre-observation form that is to be completed by the teacher, a teacher performance evaluation or a peer review

form, a teacher self-evaluation tool, and written evaluation report. There is no where in the teacher handbook where the administrator and the teacher need to meet after the evaluation to discuss the report. The written evaluation report will then be put into the teachers personnel file. The teacher evaluation team is now using the Danielson model as a guideline in constructing a new evaluation tool that will be used throughout the district. Several components of the Danielson model are important to administrators and teachers for evaluation. Assuring that high-quality teaching is taking place throughout the district includes defining criteria, providing opportunity for teachers to produce high-quality teaching evidence, and ensuring that all instructional staff are able to access sufficient training to excel in their positions. Currently instructional staff in the district are limited to the amount of trainings they are able to attend due to availability of opportunities and funding. This component of professional learning is currently a highlighted topic in this school district. The organization has recently organized Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) for instructional staff. These PLCs are organized by content subjects taught by staff. The idea is for staff to create comprehensive scope and sequences of instructional content. The team is also waiting to hear back from the state department about legislative changes or guidelines that have been put in place. There is also word that the state is in the works of developing a educational cooperative teacher evaluation. Once all this information has been collected the team will develop a collaborative evaluation. The structure of the evaluation will be based off the

teaching framework from the Charlotte Danielson model. In addition this tool will be brought to the teachers union and agreed upon by the union before its initial implementation next year. The Carver-Scott Educational Cooperative does seem to be putting forth a strong effort to better the learning outcomes of their students. They recognize that great learning is derived from great instructional staff. Past evaluations by the district were done informally and developed by a single administrator. The districts movement to include instructional staff in the development of staff evaluation will instill ownership of this evaluation process.