Rhode Island Model Academy for Personnel Evaluating Teachers

1. Rhode Island Model Academy for Personnel Evaluating Teachers Day Three

2. Academy Agenda

3. RIDE website: http://www.ride.ri.gov/ Evaluation email: EdEval@ride.ri.gov

5. Day Three Agenda

6. Session One

7. Refining Observation: Note Taking • Note what you seeand hearrelated to Professional Practice components: • Bullet statements • Lesson does not have to be scripted • Only evidence should be recorded (Remain self-aware to avoid opinion, interpretation, or bias)

8. Refining Observation: Note Taking 3 Types of Observed Evidence of Practice • Words spoken by the teacher and students • Ex. “Can anyone think of another idea?” • Actions by teacher and students • Ex. “The students took 45 seconds to line up by the door.” • The appearance of the classroom • Ex. “The objective for the class was written on the board.”

9. Calibration Protocol 16 min. 10 min. 15 min. 15 min. Step 1: Watch video and take notes in preferred format Step 2: Independently interpret and score evidence (record on individual sheet) Step 3: Score observation as a small group Step 4: Whole group discussion about scores and rationale

10. Professional Practice Calibration

11. Refining Observation Takeaways How might you work with your colleagues and teachers to remain calibrated this year? What benefits do you see in including teacher leaders in this work? • Observation notes need to focus on the components and do not need to be scripted • Calibration does not happen once • Observers need to continue to calibrate and refine their observational skills • Accurate observations and actionable feedback will move practice

12. Session Two

13. Framing Dylan William, a formative assessment expert, speaking about educator quality at a conference: What is one aspect of Dylan Wiliam’s speech that resonates with you?

14. Session Objectives After completing this session, you should be able to:

15. Feedback Across the State Of those who had received one or more Observations/Site Visits… 85% of teachers and 80% of administrators had received their feedback and scores, compared to 78% and 76% last year. Actionable 66% of teachers and 82% of administrators felt the feedback received was actionable Specific 77% of teachers and 81% of administrators felt the feedback received was specific Helpful 53% of teachers and 77% of administrators felt it would help improve practice 87% of teachers and 96% of administrators made some level of change to their teaching practice as a result of the feedback received, compared with 66% last year.

16. Qualities of Effective Feedback • To be effective, feedback after observations should be: • Prioritized • Specific • Actionable • Have a supportive tone • Be given as soon after an evaluation/assessment as possible

17. Prioritized While it is important that the rationale address all components of the rubric, positive and constructive feedback should be focused. Substantial feedback across all or many components is overwhelming to a teacher and does not indicate what is essential or where they should start. Prioritized feedback hones in on the ideas and strategies that are the most important for the educator to continue or adjust to move forward in their practice. Prioritized • An observation receives 3s on all components of the rubric, but the evaluator highlights the two that are making the biggest impact on student learning. • An observation receives a combination of 1s, 2s, and 3s, but the evaluator prioritizes feedback on the components that should be addressed first, even if it is not the lowest score. Not Prioritized • A teacher gets one sentence of feedback on all components of the rubric. • A teacher gets significant feedback on most or all components of the rubric. Does the feedback reinforce the teacher’s strongest practice areas? Does the feedback focus on one or two areas for improvement? Will the focus of the feedback have the greatest impact on teacher and student performance? Is the feedback appropriate to the context of the classroom?

18. Observation Notes, Rationale, and Feedback How are observation notes, rationale, and feedback different? Feedback Helps the educator improve their practice by identifying strengths (practices that they should continue) and areas for improvement (changes to their practice that they should prioritize). Observation Notes Helps the evaluator capture evidence of the teaching episode to determine scores, write rationale, and craft feedback. The observation notes should focus on the words spoken by the teacher and students, the actions by the teacher and students, and the appearance of the classroom. Rationale Helps the educator understand the reasoning for each component score (1-4) by providing evidence and explanation that aligns with a performance-level descriptor.

19. Specific Feedback should be clear, precise, and cite specific examples from the observation. The feedback should directly support the teacher’s practice in the rubric components. Specific • “You have an effective routine in place so that students know what to do when they finish work early…” Not Specific • “You have great classroom management…” Are specific examples from the observation cited throughout the feedback? Is the feedback aligned to the practice rubric?

20. Actionable Effective feedback includes actionable next steps that the teacher may use to improve their practice in the immediate future. Actionable feedback provides resources or strategies to implement into practice and offers the teacher a clear picture of what this would look like in his/her classroom. Actionable • In this lesson, it was unclear if students knew the purpose of the lesson based on the questions they were asking. Identify and communicate a clear lesson objective for students stating what they will be learning and why. Post the objective on the board so students can see it, introduce the objective at the beginning of the lesson, and refer to it throughout. Make sure that each activity helps students reach the objective. Not Actionable • In this lesson students didn’t know the purpose of the lesson based on the questions they were asking. Make sure the objective is clear to students. Does the feedback include action steps that offer the teacher a clear picture of what this would look like in his/her classroom? Is the feedback feasible to implement successfully in the near future? Does the feedback include resources or strategies the teacher can utilize?

21. Feedback Model • Rationale • Feedback • Open with positive reinforcement • Target 2-4 specific areas of the teaching episode that you want to encourage the teacher to continue in their practice. • Be specific and reference examples from the rationale to make the feedback concrete. • Then offer constructive feedback • Hone in on 1 or 2 areas to give prioritized and actionable feedback. • Explain why this is a priority to focus on and suggest strategies or resources the teacher could employ moving forward. Each component has a couple sentence description with specific evidence from the observation explaining the rationale for each score. The language clearly connects back to the rubric performance level descriptors.

22. Feedback Model Prioritizes one area. Constructive Feedback: During your lesson  most questions asked were either knowledge or comprehension questions, students were not challenged to explain their thinking and had very little opportunity to discuss their ideas with each other. Challenge students to think critically and engage in discussion with their peers throughout the lesson . In order to do this  you should prepare questions that require higher-order thinking such as analyzing, synthesizing or evaluating when prepping your lesson. In addition, have students explain their answers when appropriate and allow students to challenge each other’s responses in order to promote student dialogue. Attached is a link  to several resources on Bloom’s Taxonomy that could help you to create your questions: http://www.bloomstaxonomy.org/ Ask yourself:  “How do I create opportunities for students to think critically and challenge each other’s thinking?” Identifies the aspect that can be improved. Articulates what this aspect should look or sound like instead. Connects the teacher with a resource that could help them in their action step. Offers action steps for the teacher to achieve the desired outcome. Ends the feedback with a guiding question for the teacher to use as a frame for their development.

23. Feedback Model Identifies three areas with specific examples where the practice is strongest and the teacher should continue. All relate to rubric components. • Positive Reinforcement: • This lesson shows you have established a positive culture for learning. Your students demonstrated a strong effort and consistent commitment to learning the material. Additionally, your enthusiasm for the content, and insistence that all students learn the key concepts added to the positive culture (2b). • In this lesson classroom procedures and routines were executed consistently by students which helped to maximize instructional time. It was clear that students knew what was expected of them. Transitions were smooth and you were able to call students quickly back to attention when transitioning between activities with your verbal cue (2c). • In this lesson you use voice and presence to maintain authority and convey caring for students. Students were well behaved throughout the lesson. Students followed directions the first time and demonstrated a clear understanding of behavioral expectations and rules through their actions throughout the class. Interactions in the classroom were positive throughout the lesson (2d).

24. Using the Feedback Quality Review Tool

25. Think-Pair-Share “If we want students to learn more, teachers must become students of their own teaching. They need to see their own teaching in a new light. Public school systems across the country have been rethinking how they describe instructional excellence and let teachers know when they have achieved it. This is not about accountability. It’s about providing the feedback every professional needs to strive toward excellence.” -Tom Kane, MET Project

26. RIDE Resources

27. Session Three

28. Session Objectives After completing this session, you should be able to:

29. Professional Responsibilities Evaluation Criteria

30. Thinking Behind the Rating Differences between Professional Practice and Professional Responsibilities • Professional Practice • Evidence collected during classroom observations • Scored during classroom observations • Professional Responsibilities • Scored based on evidence collected throughout the year. • A few components may benefit from artifact review

31. Professional Responsibilities

32. Professional Responsibilities Architecture: Rubric Structure Domain and Component Component Description Elements and Indicators Performance Level Descriptions Critical Attributes Possible Examples

33. Analysis of One Component 15 min. 20 min. With a partner(s), you will analyze one component of the full rubric, and be prepared to report out on the following to the whole group: • The title of the component • The elements of this component • Critical attributes – the type of evidence that will be noted for this component • Possible examplesor artifacts– generate a list of potential evidence that aligns with this component

34. Scoring Part 1: Case Study Teacher Profile A • Objective • Align evidence with components • Based on evidence collected, assign component ratings 10 min. 10 min.

35. Scoring Part 2: Case Study Teacher Profile A

36. Session Four

37. Support and Development The Rhode Island Model is designed to support teacher development by: • Outlining high expectations that are clear and aligned to school, district, and state priorities; • Establishing a common vocabulary for meeting expectations; • Encouraging student-focused conversations to share best practices, and address common challenges; • Grounding teacher professional development in data-driven collaboration, conferencing, observation, and feedback to meet shared goals for student achievement; and • Providing a reliable process for educators tofocus practice and drive student learning.

38. Support and Development Three Evaluation Conferences • Beginning, Middle, and End-of-Year Self assessment (optional) • optional reflective process • use prior evaluation data to analyze and identify priorities for professional growth plan

39. Support and Development Flexibility Factor: Schools and districts may determine that a school-wide approach for one professional growth goal is preferable Professional Growth Planor Performance Improvement Plan • One professional growth goal required (minimum) –FULL EVALUATION- • Goal(s) within a plan can span more than one school year, however, the activities and benchmarks for the goal should be identified for each year • Clear action steps and benchmarks for meeting goal • Aligned to the components within the teacher professional practice or professional foundations rubric • Mid-Year Conference provides a formal opportunity for the teacher and evaluator to review the Professional Growth Plan and make adjustments, if necessary Performance Improvement Plan • for teachers rated as Developing or Ineffective, or who are in need of targeted support anytime during the school year • EPSS facilitates the conferencing and goal setting processes, and enables users to upload evidence related to professional growth plan

40. Support and Development Professional Growth Plans are one way professional development initiatives can be integrated with educator evaluation. • State, district, school initiatives include: • Transition to Common Core • Secondary Reform Work • Comprehensive Assessment System (CAS) • Instructional Support System • Response to Intervention (RtI) • Data systems and data analysis • STEM curriculum and assessment • Effective common planning time protocols

41. Support and Development Performance Improvement Plans – Targeted Support • Educators who: • Receive a final effectiveness rating of Developing or Ineffective or • Are determined to be in need of targeted support during the year will work with their evaluator to develop a Performance Improvement Plan. • Performance Improvement Plans detail the more intensive support an educator will access to improve their practice. • Based on expectations established within RI Educator Evaluation System Standards, these educators will: • Work with an improvement team. • Require more frequent benchmarks and greater monitoring. • Districts have flexibility to include additional requirements and expectations beyond RI Model minimum guidelines.

42. Reflect

43. Session Five

44. Session Objectives After completing this session, you should be able to:

45. Final Effectiveness Rating Evaluation Criteria

46. Turn and Talk • What questions do you have about how to calculate a final effectiveness rating?

47. Professional Practice Rating Professional Responsibilities Rating Student Learning Objective Rating RI Growth Model Rating (when applicable) Student Learning Score PP and PR Score Final Rating Calculating a Final Effectiveness Rating • Educators will receive one of four Final Effectiveness Ratings: Highly Effective, Effective, Developing, or Ineffective

48. Calculating a Final Effectiveness Rating and EPSS

49. Professional Practice Rating Professional Responsibilities Rating Student Learning Objective Rating RI Growth Model Rating (when applicable) Student Learning Score PP and PR Score Final Rating Step 1: Calculate a Professional Practice Rating

50. Professional Practice Rating Example