Positive Signs for Teacher Evaluation Progress

Although MBAE has expressed skepticism about the cumbersome new model system that Massachusetts has developed to implement new teacher evaluation regulations, recent news from the state’s two largest districts – Boston and Springfield – give us reason to be cautiously optimistic that we were wrong.

SPRINGFIELD – In October 2011, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released a study that found all but  0.6 of Springfield’s teachers were evaluated as satisfactory or above.  As in most districts, student achievement was not a factor in these evaluations and most teachers were granted tenure almost automatically.   This situation, however, was about to change as the district implemented a new evaluation system – known as SEEDS (Springfield Effective Educator Development System) – as part of its Race to the Top program.

Last fall, Superintendent Dan Warwick briefed Springfield Business Leaders for Education (SBLE) about the new system and these employers were impressed.  SBLE co-chairs John Davis and Nick Fyntrilakis commended the district in an op-ed in The Republican, saying “SEEDS departs from past approaches to educator evaluations that were compliance-oriented and often counterproductive. Instead, SEEDS encourages development and continuous improvement by aligning with and reinforcing an educator’s own goals.”

We’ll look forward to hearing more about how the system is working, but it seems to be a major improvement over past practice and having a significant impact already.

BOSTON – MBAE had also worked with NCTQ in 2010 on a study of human capital in the Boston Public Schools.   Concluding that the district’s evaluation system was “dysfunctional”, the report found that around half of the city’s approximately 5,000 teachers had not received an evaluation in the past two years, and a quarter of the city’s 135 schools had not conducted evaluations during that period.

Today’s newsletter from the Boston Public Schools, BPS This Week, acknowledged this situation, but reported that this has changed, with 95% of teachers having completed self-assessments for performance evaluations!  (Subscribe here)

From the Newsletter:  “We are wrapping up the first full year of our new performance evaluation process for educators. So far this year our educators and evaluators have collected more than 42,844 separate pieces of evidence toward the four standards and educators’ goals represented within the new system. More than 9,404 observations have taken place, which represents more than 8,028 total hours spent observing and providing feedback to educators.

This past fall, 95 percent of educators completed self-assessments in which they were able to communicate their strengths and desired areas for growth. From the data collected by the online system, we can report that a large number of educators want more support with developing well-structured lessons (such as implementation of Common Core), meeting the needs of diverse learners, adjustments to practice (using data to inform instruction) andparent and family engagement.”

The district is responding with a variety of professional development tools and opportunities for teachers to address these needs.  BPS is also looking at trends that may be emerging from the evaluation data to ensure the performance evaluation system is fair and being applied consistently across schools and classrooms.  Looks like the system is working!

And, MBAE appreciates the district’s reference to the 2010 report, as follows:

“It is also worth remembering why we created this new professional development system in the first place. Four years ago we commissioned a study to take an honest look at our development of human capital. The 2010 report, “Rethinking how to Attract, Develop and Retain Effective Teachers,” raised many issues that we have worked hard to resolve in the last three years (and, in some cases, continue to struggle to address). One of the most revealing conclusions was that “Boston principals do not appear to be evaluating teachers as required by state law. One in four schools has not turned in a single evaluation for any teacher in the past two years.”

“We are pleased to report that this year, for the first time since we can remember, every school has submitted evaluations — with most on track for full compliance by the end of this year. We continue to work closely with schools and evaluators to support this work.”

Hooray! Congratulations to both districts! We’ll look forward to hearing more – and learning how these new systems improve teacher effectiveness for children in Springfield and Boston!