The Massachusetts educator evaluation system, adopted in 2011 by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, establishes standards and requirements for teachers and administrators. In 2017, the board made a major change to the evaluation system — eliminating a separate Student Impact Rating based on District-Determined Measures and instead requiring that student learning measures be included in the Summative Evaluation.
The core of the evaluation system is a five-step cycle.
The educator evaluation system establishes standards for teachers and administrators and requires the following steps.
The entry point of the evaluation cycle is the self-assessment using the standards and indicators of effective professional practice from the appropriate rubric.
The focus of the self-assessment should include:
The educator uses the appropriate rubric to assess his/her performance against the four standards and indicators to determine areas of strength and areas needing improvement and/or enhancement.
The educator considers evidence related to four standards and assesses his or her practice using the appropriate professional practice rubric.
| Teacher, Specialized Instructional Support Personnel/Caseload Educator | Administrator |
|---|---|
| Curriculum, Planning and Assessment | Instructional Leadership |
| Teaching All Students | Management & Operations |
| Family & Community Engagement | Family & Community Engagement |
| Professional Culture | Professional Culture |
Goals may be developed by an individual educator or a team of educators who teach the same grade or the same subject or have the same or similar position in the school. Together they share area(s) of practice and student learning they would like to improve and draft SMART-ER goals that will be the basis for their educator plans.
MEET: The educator and colleagues meet with their supervisor to review the two goals they have developed. The supervisor/evaluator has final authority over the goals in the educator’s plan.
DEVELOP A PLAN: The educator or team then develops an Educator Plan for each goal that identifies professional development activities, work products, student work products and the support needed to attain the goals.
CONSIDER AVAILABLE RESOURCES: The educator shares their plan with the supervisor to determine resources that will be available to them. The plan may need adjusting if the school/district does not have the resources to support their work.
Student learning goals should be straightforward statements of what students should know or be able to do as a result of an educator's work during a specific instructional period.
Developing Educator Plan: For educators in their first three years of practice.
Self-Directed Plan: For educators who receive a proficient or exemplary rating.
Directed Growth Plan: Educators who receive a needs improvement rating are placed on this plan for up to one year.
Improvement Plan: Educators who received an unsatisfactory rating are placed on this plan is for up to 12 months.
Now the educator should complete activities and collect evidence during the agreed-upon timeframe. The supervisor conducts a series of unannounced – and announced – observations where he or she is expected to review both the educator's work products and the work of his/her students as well as interactions with students.
Now the educator should complete activities and collect evidence during the agreed-upon timeframe. The supervisor conducts a series of unannounced – and announced – observations where he or she is expected to review both the educator's work products and the work of his/her students as well as interactions with students.
What is an unannounced observation?
The supervisor observes the educator through a series of mandatory unannounced visits. The educator must receive actionable feedback – both verbal and written – from the supervisor to help with the improvement or enhancement of practice and student learning.
Announced observations may also be part of the district’s plan.
Are unannounced observations required?
Observations of professional practice are required by statute and regulation.
The regulations indicate that a critical element of the observation protocol is the actionable feedback that the observer provides to the educators. This should result in either improved or enhanced practice and/or student outcomes.
Educators in their first year of practice, administrators in their first year in a new role, and educators on improvement plans should have both unannounced and announced observations.
How long should an unannounced observation last
For the most part, an unannounced observation should last about 10 minutes. This should provide the observer with enough information to write a description of what he or she observed. The observation is not evidence. The notes, feedback and ratings resulting from the observation constitute evidence.
Observations must result in measurable and actionable feedback to help guide educator practice.
The observer talks with the educator for three to five minutes at a convenient time, away from students and colleagues and not during lunch.
The observer should determine the appropriate evidence rating on the indicator elements and/or educator goals using the following measures.
The educator(s) keeps track of the work that is done to attain the plan’s goals and to document evidence of work related to the Professional Practice standards. Logs might include information and evidence related to teaching and learning, instructional leadership, school/district management & operations, professional development, parent/family engagement, professional responsibilities, and community engagement.
There has been an enormous amount of misinformation about the evidence requirement:
The goal is for educator practice to be rated as proficient. Educator performance on standards, indicators and overall will use the four regulatory ratings.
EXEMPLARY: The educator’s performance consistently and significantly exceeds the requirements of a standard or overall.
The educator demonstrates an extensive knowledge and skills defined in the standard and indicators and should be considered a “master” in this area. The educator should be modeling his/her practice for others; teaching others in professional development; coaching other practitioners.
PROFICIENT: The educator’s performanceeducator’s performance fully and consistently meets the requirements of a standard or overall. The educator demonstrates a solid understanding of the knowledge, content and skills defined in the standard and indicators. The educator’s performance consistently fulfills the position responsibilities, resulting in quality work that impacts student learning or behavior in a positive manner. A proficient rating is a high performance criteria expected of all educators.
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT: The educator’s performance on a standard or indicators is below the requirements for proficiency, but is not considered to be unsatisfactory at this time. Improvement is necessary and expected. The educator inconsistently meets responsibilities, resulting in less than quality work performance and poor student learning or behavior.
UNSATISFACTORY: The educator’s performance has not significantly improved following a rating of needs improvement, or the educator’s performance is consistently below the requirements for proficiency, is considered inadequate, or both. The educator does not adequately fulfill responsibilities, resulting in inferior work performance and negatively impacting student learning or behavior.
The supervisor periodically provides feedback to the educator about his/her performance in either a Formative Assessment or a Formative Evaluation.
The five-step evaluation cycle results in a summative evaluation of the educator’s practice. The evaluator compiles evidence from multiple sources including observations and examination of work products as well as other relevant evidence for each of the four standards of professional practice as well as the Professional Practice and Student Learning Goals The educator should also provide evidence related to standards and goals. At the end of the cycle, the evaluator conducts a Summative Evaluation.
The Overall Performance Rating for all educators and administrators is informed by these six ratings:
