Educator evaluation in New Jersey Three year Review 2013-16 Kristen Brown Chief Talent Officer Carl Blanchard Director, Office of Evaluation Pete Mazzagatti Policy Analyst, Office of Evaluation May 3, 2017

Agenda Evaluation System History and Outlook Teachers School Leaders Recognizing and Supporting Our Top Teachers

Summary Teacher and school leader effectiveness are the most important in-school factors contributing to student success Via the TEACHNJ law and subsequent AchieveNJ regulations, the DOE and school districts have focused substantial effort over the past several years on improving educator effectiveness through evaluation and support On a statewide basis, AchieveNJ has provided educators with a significantly improved educator evaluation system through which: Teachers have shown improved performance Schools have retained effective teachers at high rates Great teachers are being recognized and many are taking on new roles Principals and other administrators are growing as instructional leaders At a local level, the accuracy and value of evaluations continues to vary; the Department reaffirms its commitment to supporting districts in their improvement efforts

Improving Student Achievement Through Better Instruction Educator Effectiveness Aligned Assessment Quality Standards Of all the in-school factors related to student success, the effectiveness of teachers has the biggest impact; leader quality is second only to teacher quality Instruction Recruitment & Preparation Student Achievement Professional Development Certification Evaluation

Educator Evaluation: A Tool for Improving Effectiveness Where We Were Old binary system predicated on satisfactory/unsatisfactory rating provided little information to help educators improve Number of Educators Unsatisfactory Satisfactory Effectiveness

Educator Evaluation: A Tool for Improving Effectiveness Where We Are AchieveNJ provides a more nuanced and informative picture of educator performance Number of Educators 1 4 Effectiveness

Educator Evaluation: A Tool for Improving Effectiveness Where We Are Going Better performance information coupled with the right professional development yields increased effectiveness, and positive results for students Number of Educators 1 4 Effectiveness

Development and Implementation of AchieveNJ AchieveNJ was developed and continues to improve by learning from pilots and continually gathering educator input The Department continues to provide support to districts as they improve their systems Evaluation Pilots Innovation/Principal Pilots Evaluation Pilot Advisory Committee AchieveNJ Advisory Committee Highly Effective Teacher Evaluation/ Principal Committees TEACHNJ and Initial Regulations AchieveNJ Regulations Regulation Updates Direct Support Workshops Resources Communication 13-14 14-15 15-16 12-13 11-12 16-17 Compliance to Quality to Ownership

Teacher Evaluation AchieveNJ has enabled districts to identify the lowest and highest performing teachers, setting the stage for next steps for these educators Teachers at all performance levels are improving 2/3 of teachers identified as less-than-effective have improved their practice through targeted coaching Number of Highly Effective teachers has grown each year over the past three years Districts are retaining and growing their best teachers Each year, 95% of Effective and Highly Effective teachers continue teaching, about 1/3 less-than-effective teachers leave NJ classrooms1 $2M in stipends awarded to 250 Highly Effective educators from 28 school districts to further develop as teacher leaders through the Achievement Coach Program Based on analysis of LEA data submitted 2014-16

Teachers Have Improved For Several Reasons Expectations have been clarified for what good teaching is “Teacher evaluation in New Jersey now has a sharper focus on academic knowledge, teaching practice, student engagement and using student data to differentiate instruction.” ~ Virginia Grossman, 2017 Burlington County Superintendent of the Year, Westampton Township Public Schools Evaluation framework allows for improved conversations and feedback “As a result of AchieveNJ, the Millstone Schools had some of the best conversations about teaching and learning over the course of these last two years EVER.” ~ Scott Feder, Superintendent, Millstone Township School District Student and teacher data is used to improve teacher practice “Teachers are now focused on the objectives as outlined in the SGO requiring the teacher to focus the learning in the classroom and align it to the learning goal.” ~ Lisa Adams, Morris County Teacher of the Year 2014, Morris County Vocational School District “Each elementary school decided on a professional development goal based on observation data analyzed by each school's ScIP teams.” ~ David Heras, Supervisor of Elementary Language Arts, Franklin Township Public Schools

Addressing Challenges in Teacher Evaluation In some districts, evaluations are still only compliance-based and not being used to improve teacher effectiveness Disconnect between evaluation component results suggests improvements in evaluation quality may be needed in some districts Little differentiation in component scores, e.g. observations, reduces usefulness of evaluation for professional development Made regulatory changes in 2016-17 so districts can focus on what matters most Provided evaluation data cards to assist district evaluation improvements Proposed QSAC revisions focus on evaluation and professional development systems

School Leader Evaluation School leaders have made a significant contribution to the success of their teachers and are growing as instructional leaders Survey results show that over half school leaders spend a majority of their time on activities that contribute to teacher efficacy and student learning1 AchieveNJ has provided an opportunity for more frequent conversations around principal practice 1. 462 leaders surveyed by NJDOE/NJPSA instrument in 2016

Addressing Challenges in School Leader Evaluation About 1 in 10 school leaders are not receiving a complete evaluation Retention of school leaders seems unrelated to evaluation performance Challenges in principal observation process decrease value of principal evaluation Proposed QSAC revisions ensure compliance with basic evaluation requirements Regulatory changes in 2016-17 and updated guidance focus on improving evaluation accuracy and value for principals Developing streamlined observation instrument and process for optional district use 2018-19

The Achievement Coaches Program Achievement Coaches are Highly Effective educators who provide high quality professional development to their peers while growing as leaders

Professional Development Purpose The Achievement Coach Program increases the impact of the state’s Highly Effective educators Professional Development Teacher Leadership Cultural Shifts High-quality, job-embedded Informed by evaluation data Created by educators for educators Peer support and leadership Growing school leaders Teachers leading Local ownership of PD District partnerships

Process Achievement Coaches Summer Institute: Weeklong centerpiece of each year in which coaches from the districts who created content trained coaches from other awarded LEAs 300 total coaches then trained educators throughout New Jersey, reaching an estimated 15,000 teachers in over 100 districts through over 350 direct trainings  Achievement Coach Cohorts Home School District Partner Districts

Outcomes Program Impact on Teacher Practice Teachers report that the PD they were provided by Achievement Coaches was high quality and helped their practice Immediately after training, over 90% agreed that… they were satisfied with the professional learning opportunity the Achievement Coach program provided the content and skills they learned from the Achievement Coaches will help them improve as an educator 3-6 months after training, over 80%… are incorporating the skills and information learned in the sessions believe the skills and content learned are impacting their students

Outcomes Teacher Leadership and Cultural Shifts East Brunswick School District Developing a Common Language for Great Teaching Morris County Vocational School District Magnifying the Impact of Teacher Leaders Jackson School District Sustaining the Program

East Brunswick School District: Developing a Common Language for Great Teaching Video recordings Distributed leadership in professional development and embedded coaching Communicating the district’s focus

Morris County Vocational School District: Magnifying the Impact of Teacher Leaders Identifying the need (2009) Achievement Coach Program bolsters teacher-leadership (2015 – 2017) Teacher-leadership moving forward (2017…)

Jackson School District: Sustaining the Program Sustaining the Achievement Coach Program Use Title II funds to support Achievement Coach stipends Design and implement a “homegrown” summer institute Expand our cadre of Coaches to further increase the capacity for teacher leadership First Two Years Provided a platform for highly effective teachers from around the state to share, collaborate, and model great teaching Blueprint for delivery of effective professional learning Creating and fostering “teachers as leaders”

www.nj.gov/education/AchieveNJ educatorevaluation@doe.state.nj.us Find out more: www.nj.gov/education/AchieveNJ educatorevaluation@doe.state.nj.us 609-777-3788