Teaching Profession

Wis. Proposes ‘Major Shift’ in Teacher Evaluations

By Matthew Defour, The Wisconsin State Journal (MCT) — November 08, 2011 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

State Superintendent Tony Evers outlined Monday a statewide system for evaluating teachers and principals, marking a “major shift for Wisconsin.”

The system would base half of teacher evaluations on classroom practices and the other half on student outcomes, such as test scores, which have not been used before in Wisconsin.

“It’s a big move for the state,” Deputy State Superintendent Mike Thompson said. “It was a big step at the beginning to get some consensus from players around the state as to what a good evaluation system will look like.”

Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, raised two main concerns—the system not being tested and ready until the 2014-15 school year and any attempt to make the system mandatory.

Districts should be allowed to develop systems on two main principles in the framework—basing 50 percent of an evaluation on student outcomes, and the use of national standards for evaluating classroom practices, Olsen said.

“I don’t care if you build a two-story or a ranch or a bungalow, just as long as the foundation is right,” Olsen said. “The two core principles need to be required, but that’s as far as it goes.”

But Christina Brey, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Education Association Council, said educators would be less supportive if the entire framework isn’t adopted.

“Everybody at the table, including us, was very clear that you’re either following the framework or you’re not,” Brey said. “The idea of taking any single piece out of this would not be acceptable.”

The framework released Monday outlines several details, including:

• Half of a teacher’s evaluation would be based on a mix of student outcomes, including improvement on state and local tests over time, achieving student, school and district goals, and school-wide reading scores and graduation rates.

• The other half of a teacher’s evaluation would be based on 10 standards developed by a national consortium of educators and an evaluation model developed by education consultant Charlotte Danielson.

• Based on the evaluation, educators would be categorized as “developing,” “effective” or “exemplary.”

• Teachers evaluated as “developing” for an unspecified period of time would enter an “intervention phase.” If at the end of that period the teacher was still deficient, the district would have a removal option with an appeals process.

• New teachers would be evaluated in each of their first three years, “developing” teachers would be evaluated annually and other teachers would be evaluated once every three years. The evaluation would be based on “multiple observations” of classroom practice.

• Classroom evaluators would be certified through a consistent statewide program. To defray some of the cost of evaluations, interns would cover classes for senior teachers, who could serve as peer evaluators.

• Individual ratings would not be subject to the state’s open records law.

The framework was developed by a task force consisting of teacher unions, school district associations, university officials, academic researchers and the governor’s office. The group had been working since last December on developing the model.

The system would be piloted in some districts next fall and must be in place by 2014-15 in order for Wisconsin to qualify for a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Madison Superintendent Dan Nerad said he expects to discuss with the School Board in coming months about whether the district should be one of the pilot districts.

“What this could create is an opportunity to look at our current system and make changes consistent with these recommendations,” Nerad said.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Wis. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Rethinking STEM Assessment: Strategies for Administrators
School and district leaders will explore strategies to enhance STEM assessment practices across their district, within schools and classrooms.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
Federal Webinar Keeping Up with the Trump Administration's Latest K-12 Moves: Subscriber-Exclusive Quick Hit
EdWeek subscribers, join this 30-minute webinar to find out what the latest federal policy changes mean for K-12 education.
Artificial Intelligence Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: Math & Technology: Finding the Recipe for Student Success
How should we balance AI & math instruction? Join our discussion on preparing future-ready students.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Profession Opinion Larry Ferlazzo's 6 Reasons Why He Stayed at His School
Why leave a high school where the administrators have fostered a supportive environment and made teaching fulfilling?
5 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
Teaching Profession Download Principals, Find Ways to Boost Teacher Morale (DOWNLOADABLE)
Our discussion guide for principals has three key findings about teacher morale. Use them to jump-start your team's PD.
1 min read
collage art of upward arrows, data trends, a magnifying glass, and a teacher with students. Boosting teacher morale.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
Teaching Profession Opinion Larry Ferlazzo: 10 Things I Will (and Won't) Miss When I Retire
After 23 years, I am bidding farewell to my classroom. But I'm far from done with education, he explains.
4 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
Teaching Profession Will a J-1 Visa Freeze Disrupt Teacher Staffing?
A federal pause on appointments for J-1 visas could affect districts, which have used international teachers to fill staffing holes.
5 min read
Eleazar Sepulveda, an educator on a J-1 visa from Chile, teaches kindergarten at Veteran’s Hill Elementary School in Round Rock, Texas.
Eleazar Sepulveda, an educator on a J-1 visa from Chile, teaches kindergarten at Veteran’s Hill Elementary School in Round Rock, Texas, on June 18, 2024. It's unclear whether a recent pause on interviews for the visa will affect districts' attempts to find teachers abroad to fill hard-to-staff positions.
Lauren Santucci/Education Week