This profile summarizes the efforts made by states and districts to implement evaluation and feedback systems, including the SREB Elements of Evaluation—basic information about the state evaluation framework.  The sections below correspond to the three sections of the State Actions to Advance Teacher Evaluation report released in February 2016.

SREB Elements of Evaluation

Design of State Evaluation Models

Credentialed observers use the DPAS II Rubric to generate professional practice ratings for educators. The state department provides a handbook that defines the evidence that administrators may use as rationale for the professional practice component rating.

The state education agency organizes student growth measures into three buckets: statewide assessments (Measure A), local or external assessments (Measure B) and professional growth goals that resemble student learning objectives (Measure C). The combination of measures varies based on the teacher’s grade, subject and the availability of assessments.

All teachers develop annual student growth goals using two or more measures. They discuss their goals and professional development plans with their evaluator at the fall conference. Teachers and evaluators refine the professional development plan based on the summative evaluation results.

Implementation of District Evaluation Systems

State Board rules require observers to complete rater training before evaluating teachers. Credentials are valid for five years and renewable upon completion of professional development and retraining. Training includes the review of observation techniques and role-play exercises to practice feedback and conferencing techniques.

Districts and teachers may develop local assessments to measure growth in student learning. The state department provides a handbook for how to use these assessments for evaluation purposes. State rules allow principals to designate administrators, instructional coaches and peer teachers as observers, as long as they have passed a proficiency test.

The state department provides an annual “Base Camp” training. The training emphasizes conducting formal observations with minimum bias and providing honest and actionable feedback to motivate teacher improvement.

Transformation of Professional Learning

The state department commissions an annual review of the evaluation system, which summarizes the results of a statewide teacher survey and focus groups with educators and credentialed observers.

The annual survey contains specific items related to the quality of training and observation feedback, the fairness of summative ratings, and the timing of key communications.

The state department warehouses evaluation data in the online platform, BloomBoard.