Twenty-five West Virginia schools will pilot a new teacher evaluation program this year that will probably replace the current evaluation system eventually.
Similarities between the Pilot and the Current Model
Like the current teacher evaluation model, the new pilot divides teachers up into beginning (or initial) teachers with less than three years of teaching experience, intermediate teachers in the fourth and fifth years of professional life, and advanced teachers with more than five years of teaching experience. Observations and evaluations decrease in frequency as teachers gain experience in the classroom. Both the existing teacher evaluation model and the pilot evaluation are also based largely on standards that describe professional practice for an educator, and both evaluations include some form of student classroom progress as an evaluation criterion. There are, however, significant differences between the existing evaluation system and the one being piloted by the state's department of education.
Differences between the Pilot and the Current Model
Five primary differences stand out between the teacher evaluation model in place now in West Virginia and the pilot model being introduced.
- The first is that the present system is observation based, while the pilot relies more heavily on evidence, documented in the form of artifacts from the teacher’s practice. Observations still occur in the pilot, but evidence seems to play a larger role.
- Second, the current evaluation system is in a sense binary: teachers either meet the standards or they don’t. A rating on an evaluation that reflects failure to meet any particular standard usually results in a plan of improvement for the teacher. Teachers generally respond by fleeing to another school and hoping that the tedious monitoring and paperwork required of administrators in the improvement plan process will result in their new school simply starting the evaluation process over (and perhaps coming to a different conclusion than their old school). By comparison, the pilot evaluation focuses more on professional development in a manner less likely to contribute to the already high rates at which teachers leave the profession in West Virginia.
- Under the existing evaluation model there is no requirement that teachers with five or more years of experience be evaluated at all. Evaluations for these advanced teachers are often described as occurring at the principal’s discretion; but WV Code requires that there be a demonstrated need to evaluate these teachers. Under the pilot program all teachers will be evaluated every year, regardless of experience. That is probably an effort to comply with federal requirements attached to various grant funding.
- Student test scores enter into a teacher’s evaluation under the pilot model. While they are weighted at only five percent of the pilot evaluation process, using student test scores is controversial. That is also probably an effort to comply with federal requirements for grant funding.
- Finally, it becomes much easier under the pilot model for a teacher to reach the highest level of achievement on the evaluation. Under the existing system, a teacher who wants to be rated as “exemplary” has to meet some difficult requirements – including being a presenter at a national education conference. The requirements to become a distinguished teacher under the pilot model are more reasonable – and more focus on actual teaching.
Where the Pilot Will be Used
Twenty-five West Virginia schools will implement the new pilot evaluation this year. Twenty of those schools are recipients of federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) funding. Using the pilot satisfies some of that grant’s requirements. Five additional schools will also implement the pilot evaluation. They will serve to some extent as controls so that as the state monitors what happens in the low performing SIG grant schools it can compare that to what takes place in the five additional schools.
While West Virginia is about middle of the pack in student performance and teacher pay (common political measurse of educational health), its focus on 21st Century skills has won broad praise for technology integration and instructional practices. The state recently produced a new set of Professional Teaching Standards; that all but ensures some new form of teacher evaluation. This pilot evaluation is a first step in that process. Unlike other places (Wisconsin, for example) where education reform has become a bitter and contentious process, West Virginia seems to be working closely with its teacher unions on this process.
Resources
West Virginia Task Force on Professional Teaching Standards
Educator Evaluation Pilot Webinar, West Virginia Department of Education
Greg Cruey, What is a School Improvement Grant? Suire 101
Greg Cruey - Greg Cruey is an educator and journalist. He works as an educational interventionist specializing in a small, rural school in Central ...
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