Lincoln schools to pilot one of 4 teacher evaluation models in statewide study
Lincoln Consolidated Schools is one of 14 districts chosen to participate in the state’s yearlong teacher evaluation study.
The Michigan Council on Educator Effectiveness announced its pilot schools and four teacher evaluation methods Thursday morning. The districts were selected based on their geographic location, demographics and size in order to make the pilot study as representative as possible of Michigan’s public schools.
Gov. Rick Snyder created the Council on Educator Effectiveness in 2011 and tasked it with developing a statewide rating and evaluation system for teachers and administrators that was more frequent, measureable and consistent across all districts than the current hodge-podge of methods used now.
Michigan’s effort is part of a national trend to increase the number of times teachers are observed and to link student achievement to educator evaluations, a move that has generated controversy but is supported by the Obama administration.
Part of the purpose behind Michigan’s pilot year is to allow teachers and principals the opportunity to provide “on the ground feedback” and contribute to the decision, MCEE chairwoman and University of Michigan School of Education Dean Deborah Loewenberg Ball said in a release.
“The MCEE takes seriously our charge to ensure the design of a fair, reliable and feasible approach to educator evaluation in our state,” Ball said.
“This pilot is crucial to that work and to the future of Michigan’s K-12 schools because it will allow us to learn about educator evaluation as it takes place in real school settings.”
The pilot program is expected to cost about $4 million and also is intended to help districts identify master teachers who can assess, mentor and develop their peers.
The council said pilot responsibilities will not be tacked on to someone’s existing job.
“A group of educators, analysts and researchers will be assigned to the pilot project intensively, and will have the time necessary to conduct this study effectively,” said a report issued Wednesday. “This will ensure the quality of our investment in the pilot and provide the highest quality data and information to aid in the development of a first-rate educator evaluation system for Michigan.”
The state appeared to bypass districts in large cities when making its selection of pilot schools. The complete list of districts participating in the pilot study is:
5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning: Clare Public Schools (Clare County) Leslie Public Schools (Ingham County) Marshall Public Schools (Calhoun County) Mt. Morris Consolidated Schools (Genesee County)Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching: Garden City Public Schools (Wayne County) Montrose Community Schools (Genesee County) Port Huron Area School District (St. Clair County)
Marzano Teacher Evaluation Model: Big Rapids Public Schools (Mecosta County) Farmington Public Schools (Oakland County) North Branch Area Schools (Lapeer County)
The Thoughtful Classroom: Cassopolis Public Schools (Cass County) Gibraltar School District (Wayne County) Harper Creek Community Schools (Calhoun County) Lincoln Consolidated Schools (Washtenaw County)
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
Comments
Gloria
Sun, Aug 26, 2012 : 10:50 p.m.
Once again, who is evaluating the families???????
LincolnSchoolMom
Fri, Aug 24, 2012 : 2:29 p.m.
I am a Lincoln Mom trying to understand how I can benefit from and contribute to our school. Who does the evaluations? Do the teachers evaluate themselves? Is the staff assigned to the study going to do the evaluations? I think others have commented that the webpage cited gives an overview, but it is hard to understand how any of those areas is measurable? Does the actual rubric evaluate measurable criteria in those ten general areas? Will parents be granted access to their teachers' evaluations? An aggregate for the schools? Or will the information be used only by the MCEE for the purpose of the pilot?
Spyker
Fri, Aug 24, 2012 : 12:07 a.m.
Lincoln Schools, hmmmmm. I am not sure if their participation in a Teacher Evaluation Pilot Study is a good thing or not. As a long term resident of the Lincoln District I have seen the District's mission morph over the past decade from one of providing the best education their meager tax base could support , to a mission of guaranteeing employment for their Teachers and Administrators - regardless of student counts or demonstrated employee abilities. Maybe someone on the Board or in the Head Office is frustrated enough at the recent past practices that they are ready and willing to explore new methods of evaluation to "cull the herd" of the blatant non-performers. Or maybe they just want to be in a position to tweak the new evaluation methods to protect themselves and their cronies after adoption.
xmo
Thu, Aug 23, 2012 : 2:56 p.m.
If President Obama supports it, It must be good! That means that the Teachers Union must support it also! Finally, everyone agrees that we need to do a better job of evaluating our Teachers!
Dog Guy
Thu, Aug 23, 2012 : 2:35 p.m.
Parents and students have their input on teacher evaluations when they decide to stay in the property-tax school systems or to go elsewhere for education.
Mike
Thu, Aug 23, 2012 : 1:42 p.m.
They are all very similar with focus on how to teach, cause and effect, but not really getting to the root of the problem. FEEDBACK FROM THE END USERS/LEARNERS/TAXPAYERS IS NEEDED. If not, this is just another academic exercise. Students learn from teachers they like and those that can engage them. Unfortunately that means there will be teachers who need to find a different profession if they can't engage their students. We pay a lot of maoney in Ann Arbor (over $90K) in may cases and I think that means we, the end users/students, should get to have some feedback. I know that scares the heck out of many teachers, but the last time I looked they they earned their living because we as a community have voluntarily parted with thousands of dollars from our paychecks to insure we have the best teachers we can afford.
Mike
Thu, Aug 23, 2012 : 8:08 p.m.
grye - I understand what you are saying but feedback from the end users will bear out over time who is cutting it and who is not. Then tenure will have to be addressed. The unions run the schools. If you don't think so you are living in fantasy land. I am only proposing we return control of the schools to the rightful owners; the taxpayers.........
grye
Thu, Aug 23, 2012 : 5:04 p.m.
Mike: You are correct that teachers need to engage their stuents. However, even good teachers sometimes can't get some individual students to perform. They may have home issues, personal problems, or they just plain don't care. No amount of interaction or parent involvement changes this. Rating a teacher against standardized scores who may have these issues would be unfair. There needs to be a way to document issue students that will allow their data to be backed-out of the overall assessment, thus giving a truer representation of the teacher's performance. In addition, there are students from special needs that are mainstreamed into the classroom. Although these students may show improvements, the % increases compared to the other students may not be at an acceptable level during the teacher's reviews, yet they will be held accountable. Instances like these need to be addressed, least we begin to lose truly exceptional teachers to standardized ratings.
Mike
Thu, Aug 23, 2012 : 1:32 p.m.
The methodology and criteria are not discussed. How about some more information or a copy of the evaluations so people can comment? If there is no input from stubents and parents this will be a collossal waste of time and money.