1. Agenda
Overview of evaluation
Timeline
Next steps

2. Supporting Effective Principals and Teachers on Every Campus
Standards
Preparation
Recruitment
Hiring and Induction
Evaluation and Professional Development
Rewards and Retention
Visual shows that overarching attempt to align all parts of an educators career, so that preparation works from the same foundation as evaluation, which works from the same foundation as professional development, etc.
The standards, which are aspirational, is that foundation. They’re a ceiling and something that all educators, no matter how proficient they are in their practice, can look to for goals.

3. Three Keys of Evaluation
Formative
Ongoing
Relationships
Feedback collected from the field and priorities of the steering committees landed on these three things as essential components of the new systems:
Evaluations are formative – the goal is timely feedback that will allow teachers and principals to grow professionally
The necessity of ongoing conversations between appraiser and appraisee – not a one-time visit during the appraisal year, but a continuous dialogue around effective practices
That ongoing nature of evaluation, the delivery of the feedback, and the buy-in of teachers/principals require the development of a relationship between appraisers and appraisee so that both are comfortable with the perspective of the other.

4. New Evaluation Systems
Spring 2014
70 districts volunteer
Steering Committees develop evaluation instruments
Finalize guidelines for pilot
Summer 2014
Train pilot districts
Highlight the work for the steering committees – the teachers and principals of Texas built the rubrics that will be piloted.
Idea with pilot districts is that they will take the baton from the steering committees and will provide feedback to TEA and ESCs on the tools and what additional support and resources they would need to implement the systems.
Training is focused on best practices for evaluation. They’re not about rules and procedures. Those can be done in documents. They’re about how to truly implement evaluation systems that support professional growth for teachers and principals.

5. New Evaluation Systems
Fall 2014
Pilot Texas Evaluation and Support System
Winter
Train-the-Trainer sessions for statewide
Late Spring/Early Summer 2015
Revise evaluation systems based on pilot feedback
Train the trainer for statewide rollout – ESCs identify internal staff and contracted personnel to become experts on the new systems so they can train for statewide rollout.

6. New Evaluation Systems
Summer 2015 (tentative)
Training on new evaluation system for refinement year participants
Fall 2015-Spring 2016 (tentative)
Implement system for refinement year
With the ask for the refinement year, this is the tentative new timeline. We anticipate expanding the number of districts in refinement year. I think 200 would be a good guess, but we’ll have to confirm the resources are there for that.
That leaves statewide rollout in

7. Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System
Rubric
Teacher Self Assessment
Student Growth
Value-add scores
Portfolios
Student Learning Objectives
District Pre and Post tests
Percentages are 70%-10%-20% for those three components.
TEA is still exploring what level of district flexibility there will be in choosing student growth measures. Could districts use SLOs in lieu of VAM? Could districts count a portion of that score from a cumulative/campus score?

8. Four total domains – Planning, Instruction, Learning Environment, Professional Practices and Responsibilities.
16 total indicators
Five performance levels – Improvement Needed through Distinguished.
Idea that, unlike PDAS, the difference between performance levels is more than just someone doing the same practice just more frequently. The difference between and Improvement Needed and an Accomplished is that the Accomplished actually does different things than the Improvement Needed teacher.
Also, feedback is built into the rubric – a teacher can see where they landed on an indicator and look to the level above and see practices they can target to improve.

9. Process timeline is similar to PDAS, but changing the name of “summative conference” to “end-of-year conference”.
Post conference and end of year conference are no longer waivable; can’t be if we’re to preserve the idea that the process is about feedback and that all teachers have things to focus on for improvement.
Student growth data will generally be analyzed at the beginning of the next school year and could lead to a revision of the goals and pd plan.
Teacher will keep the goals and pd plan doc “alive” during the school year to track their progress toward achieving goals.

10. Student Growth Student Learning Objectives Portfolios
District pre- and post-tests
Value-add measure
Student growth data, like observation feedback, is for the purposes of making more informed professional development decisions.
These are the options for districts.
Wouldn’t get into the specifics at this point – each one of these could be another presentation.
That last bullet is the key – the value and purpose of student growth data is in what it tells a teacher about how much she’s reached her students, which students she’s not reaching, and, most importantly, what she needs to work on pedagogically to better reach her students next year.

11. Observation and Self-Assessment Results (80%)
Matrix Approach
Student Growth Results
(20%)
Observation and Self-Assessment Results (80%)
Distinguished
Accomplished
Proficient
Developing
Improvement Needed
Well Above Expectations
Proficient*
Developing *
Above Expectations
At Expectations
Below Expectations
Accomplished*
Well Below Expectations
80%=20% matrix.
This shows that the observation still drives the score – it’s rare that the student growth results move the final score off the observation results, especially for the middle categories.
Asterisks indicate that there is an unsettling discrepancy between the observation results and the student growth results that will require a follow-up. We will work on what that follow-up will need to be next year when we rework the rules.
Important to note that scores should be a little of an afterthought. The value is in the process – the process needs to yield valuable feedback for a teacher so he or she can improve instruction. The scores themselves don’t provide that.

12. Principal Evaluation and Support System
The intended purpose of TPESS is to assess the principal’s performance in relation to the Texas Principal Standards.
Rubric
Goal-Setting and Progress
Student Growth
Campus-level value-add scores
Other measures to be determined
Goal setting and progress on this system is to capture individual, campus and district level goals and initiatives that may not be specifically captured in the rubric.
Student growth has yet to be determined in this system. Campus VAM will be available and, as of now, will count for half of the student growth score. Pilot campuses and districts will assist in building out other possible measures that could be used to capture student growth or progress.
Scoring proportions are:
Experience as principal on particular campus
0 years
70%
30% 0%
1 year
20%
10%
2 or more years
60%

13. Texas Principal Evaluation Support System (TPESS)
A standardized principal evaluation system will:
Serve as measurement of leadership performance
Guide leaders as they reflect upon and improve their effectiveness
Focus the goals and objectives of schools and districts as they support, monitor, and evaluate their principals
Guide professional development for principals
Serve as a tool in developing coaching and mentoring programs for principals, and inform higher education programs in developing the content and requirements of degree programs that prepare future principals.

14. Steps of the TPESS Process
Orientation
Self-assessment and Goal Setting
Pre-evaluation Conference
Data Collection
Mid-Year Evaluation Discussion
Consolidated Performance Assessment
End-of-Year Performance Discussion
Final Evaluation and Goal Setting

15. TPESS Rubric Sample

16. Objectives of the New Systems
Continual improvement of practice
Provide clear, useful and timely feedback that informs professional development
Meaningfully differentiate performance
Use multiple valid measures
Evaluate teachers and principals on a regular basis
Place personnel in the best position to succeed
Just an overview of the goals.