Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/79154
How will districts grade teachers? ST. LOUIS (MCT) — Hundreds of thou- sands of the nation's teachers will return to class in coming weeks to find their profes- sion moving toward new forms of scrutiny. In a move supported by both key conser- vatives and liberals at the local, state and fed- eral level, schools are rapidly redefining what constitutes an effective educator. Under the changes, teacher performance would be rated not just on qualifications and classroom demeanor, but on cold, hard data of how well students are performing. It's a philosophy viewed as the next nat- ural step toward an increased reliance on stu- dent standardized exams and accountability. And while critics question whether the concept can work, the idea of tying those tests to teacher evaluations has inserted itself deeply into federal policy of the administra- tion of President Barack Obama. Billions of dollars in federal grants — as well as flexibility under the stringent No Child Left Behind Act — have been tied to states rating teachers based on student exams. Meanwhile, a host of states, including Missouri and Illinois, say they were already on board with the concept before the federal push. evaluation law in 2010 that reinvents teacher evaluations, eventually using student perfor- mance as a factor. The Legislature followed up last year with a law that uses the evalua- tions as the basis for defining who gets tenure protection. Some have called the leg- islation a stunning political compromise that could be copied elsewhere. "Other states have called us saying, 'How did you actually accomplish this?' " said Illi- nois Superintendent of Education Christo- pher Koch. Koch said even the nation's education secretary praised Illinois "for the fact that we had broken the logjam on tenure, and that we now had moved forward in a very mean- ingful way." Illinois, in particular, passed a teacher But agreeing to a new teacher evaluation approach may prove easier than actually implementing it. have faced a host of obstacles in connecting student performance to teacher evaluations. Among the hurdles are determining how much weight those scores should have on a teacher's review. Skeptics doubt whether any statistical measure — no matter how intri- cate — can sufficiently zero in on a teacher's true role in a child's test performance. Nationwide, states and school districts Some point out that teachers have differ- ing batches of students each year. As student performance fluctuates, those differences can undermine the credibility of an evalua- tion based on standardized exams. Ann Jarrett, teaching and learning direc- tor of the Missouri National Education Association, said the group generally sup- ports Missouri's plans for new teacher eval- uations, but fears some school districts will fixate too heavily on state exams that were never designed to be used as a yardstick of teacher performance. "They only test a small slice of what teachers are expected to do," she said. And then there are logistical headaches, such as training thousands of school admin- istrators to rate faculty in a new way. All that has Illinois and the federal gov- ernment locking horns over how quickly a plan can be set in place, with Washington pushing for a more accelerated adoption of the evaluations. "It's hard to do things around these artifi- cial time frames that are handed down from the department," Koch said. "It doesn't make sense to rush forward." Yet despite the hurdles, the new evalua- tions have taken hold at select school dis- tricts, with some being rolled out this com- ing school year. Kate Clooney, a second-grade teacher in the Hazelwood School District, knows first- hand what the future of her evaluation may look like. For more than a year, Clooney and other teachers, administrators and school board members have been developing a new sys- tem that will factor in student performance and streamline evaluations for the entire dis- trict. The old system, which focused on tra- ditional models of an annual classroom eval- uation by a principal, had not been updated since 1999 and has been interpreted differ- ently at the 29 schools throughout the dis- trict. a new evaluation, many have seen the change coming. They have helped create the new system, so that has helped ease concerns, Clooney said. And the tailoring of professional devel- opment to focus on an individual teacher's weaknesses is good, she said. While some teachers may have bristled at example, a teacher would have to show evi- dence of "commitment, practice and impact" to progress from new or developing to profi- cient or distinguished. A part of that evidence would come from It places educators into categories. For how much their students learn, or even stu- dent and fellow teacher surveys. Some say the strength of Illinois' approach is that it spells out the teacher eval- uations in statute. That gives the plan more teeth than in states such as Missouri. For example, Illinois sets specific deadlines that all districts must meet as they revamp teacher evaluations. The first piece occurs this year as admin- istrators are trained and tested in their ability to evaluate teachers. Initially, student perfor- mance will not be a factor as teachers are rated as excellent, proficient, needs improve- ment or unsatisfactory. Those ratings will weigh into granting tenure and determining which teacher might be the first to lose a job during layoffs. mandy, plan to sign on to pilot the state edu- cation department's new model for evalua- tions, developed not only for teachers, but also principals and superintendents. Tehama Country Real Estate WESTERN REAL ESTATE Commercial Properties For Sale: MINCH PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 760 Main St. • 530-527-5514 • 455 S. Main St. SALE PENDING . . . . . . . . . . . 2.67 Acres • 840 Main St. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,400 sq/ft • 1870 Montgomery (Indust rial) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Acres • 13545 Saint Marys Ave. (Or lease) . . . . . . . . . . 40,000 sq/ft Commercial Properties For Lease: • 731-741 Main St. (Ups tairs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . various size suites • 955 Main St. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,995 sq/ft • Medical Suite available in St. E campus area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000 sq/ft • 1156 Monroe St. (Roll- up Doors) (Or Sale) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,580 sq/ft • 562 Antelope Blvd. (residence & office) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,200 sq/ft • 726 Pine Street (warehouse with office) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,250 sq/ft Financing terms available Near Shasta Lake! $350,000 2120 Main Street Suite A RED BLUFF PROPERTIES (530) 529-5900 Bank owned, no reasonable offer refused LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Close to I-5, off ramp, near major established restaurants, hotels. Call Red Bluff Properties to preview. 530-529-5900. DRE License #01069956 Bldg. A, Suites 10 & 20, Red Bluff (530) 527-3100 Stromer Realty 590 Antelope Blvd Other districts in Missouri, such as Nor- Saturday, August 18, 2012 – Daily News 3D MCT photo Pottery teacher John Tiemann leads a group of freshman students on a tour of Hazelwood Central High School during orientation. "The right thing to do is to take the time to do it right," he said. "They should be done really thoughtful- ly, based on research and other work people have done elsewhere." wants an evaluation system in place that includes student performance by 2014-15. And federal regulators may have the But the U.S. Department of Education leverage to get their way. For starters, low-performing schools that have accepted federal School Improvement Grant funds are expected to adopt teacher evaluations that use student performance. That applies to half of Chicago public schools this year, and the remaining half next year. By 2014 the state would complete a study on how to incorporate student test scores into the teacher evaluations. The mea- sures would first be used at low-performing schools in 2015, followed by all schools the following year. Illinois Federation of Teach- ers President Dan Montgomery said the teachers union supports the slow approach. More broadly, Illinois may have to speed its teacher evaluations statewide if it wants to be freed from other federal regulations. That's because Illinois, like most states, has sought a waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act, allowing for it to be exempted from the law's more austere provisions in exchange for reforms. Those reforms include overhauling teacher evaluations to include student performance. have already received such waivers. Illinois is still in the application phase, a process that will ultimately settle when the new evaluations must be in place. 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