York Developing New Teacher Evaluation Guidelines

By Amber Lester Kennedy Wednesday, August 10, 2011

For the next year, a committee of York County educators will be drafting new guidelines for teacher evaluation.

At a York County School Board meeting Monday, Director of Elementary Instruction Amy Colley said that changes in the Code of Virginia had pushed the division to revisit its process for the first time in two decades.

The Code of Virginia was amended this year to require teacher evaluations consistent with performance objectives that are included in the state Board of Education’s guidelines approved in April. In addition, the code now requires teachers be partially evaluated based on student academic achievement.

On Aug. 2, a newly formed committee met for the first time to discuss its objectives for creating a new evaluation process. The 36-member committee includes teacher representatives from all 19 York County schools, a representative from the York Education Association, School Board office employees and other stakeholder groups. They decided their objectives will be creating the evaluation instrument; creating evaluations for observation and development purposes; and revising the handbook for licensed employees.

At the Aug. 2 meeting, the committee agreed on a framework of items that will be included in the new teacher evaluations. Teachers will be reviewed for their professional knowledge, instructional planning, instructional delivery, assessment of and for learning, learning environment, professionalism and student achievement progress.

Colley said the final element – student achievement – could count for 40 percent of the evaluation, which concerned Board Chair Mark Medford. He wanted to ensure that evaluations take the students’ age groups into account when evaluating how much progress a teacher has made in a year or a semester. In addition, he said he didn’t want to add to teachers’ anxiety levels. “They’re already asked to do so much with so little,” he said.

Colley responded that at least one teacher said she was excited to see student achievement tied to her evaluation. In the coming year, they’ll explore how to incorporate student achievement, whether they use student growth percentiles based on Standards of Learning test performance or look at goal-setting as an evaluation tool. She said teachers are currently rated as “meets” or “does not meet” standards, so the committee will also have to come up with a rating system.

The division is required to have a new teacher evaluation system by July 1, 2012. While they opted to create a committee-drafted version, the state also offers its own system. Board member Barbara Haywood approved of that decision, saying she did not want to see the state dictate another part of York County education. “I think that would take the uniqueness out of York County,” she said. “We can still exceed what the state says we should do.”