DPS will have a new teacher appraisal system starting next year that will change the way teachers are evaluated.
Photo by Ed Gloor
Starting off the 2011-2012 school year, TJ will be a part of the new statewide teacher appraisal system called LEAP (Leading Effective Academic Practice), in order to evaluate each teacher on a more detailed level. TJ Assistant Principal Scott Lessard stated, “This new system is being implemented at schools all over Colorado, not just TJ. State officials decided LEAP would be a more efficient way to standardize teacher reviews.”
The Denver Plan or DPS vision states the district’s commitment to having a highly effective teacher in every classroom, and building strategies to support this commitment. LEAP focuses on two strategies within the Denver Plan: great people to drive better outcomes for students, and focusing on the instructional core. TJ English Teacher Jeffrey Almond commented, “LEAP seems like it outlines elements of effective teaching, in a useful manner, and lays out guidelines and specific criteria for evaluating teachers. These are indicators that allow teachers more structure and focus for improvement.”
To determine high quality teachers who will encourage students to do better, the performance evaluation system is now 50% based on students. Lessard said, “LEAP puts more emphasis on the students, and there’s even a student survey to hear what they have to say about the teacher. Each teacher will be observed five times per year, and the appraisal used to be based on 100% administration’s observations, but now our part has been cut to 25%, to allow the students to be a bigger part. If students do poorly on the ACT, CSAP, or any standardized test, it reflects upon teachers on the appraisals.”
According to the DPS website, focusing on the instructional core means to, “Create conditions to ensure educator effectiveness. This will require us to develop a shared definition of effective teaching (DPS Framework for Effective Teaching); do more to support teachers in becoming effective teachers; and continue to develop principals to be effective leaders.” DPS believes that this looks like a culture of high expectations, service, empowerment, and responsibility, bounded with strategies from great people, family and community engagement, as well as strategic management of resources. The instructional core is a three-way street of communication and team effort between students, teachers, and the content being learned, according to DPS Central Administration.
Despite the progress that the district has already made, there is still room for improvement in the areas that are still struggling in schools such as, too few DPS students are proficient on the state’s reading, mathematics and writing measures and not enough students are graduating from high school. LEAP has been implemented to accelerate the rate of improvement in these problem areas and put more students on the path to graduation and success in college and careers.
Studies have made it clear that the most important factor in closing the achievement gap is the quality of teaching. The Colorado Legislature believes that students deserve the best and they think LEAP will ensure that high quality teachers remain in Denver Public Schools. DPS says it is committed to supporting all teachers in their quest to continually improve, yet the DPS Administration thinks that the current teacher evaluation system is simply not good enough. Lessard said, “The current system is basically just each administrator has their own subject that they regulate. We go in, fill out a simple chart about the teaching environment, the methods, and just basic performance categories.” According to the DPS website, teacher evaluation before LEAP was considered unhelpful, as evaluations for most teachers don’t provide meaningful feedback or identify growth opportunities. The district finds this process to be ineffective because only 38% of DPS teachers think the evaluation process provides an accurate assessment of performance, and finds it to be undifferentiated because 99% of non-probationary evaluations produce a rating of “satisfactory,” which they believe means that both excellence and underperformance often go unrecognized.
The district also find this to be untimely because most teachers aren’t evaluated every year; they often go years without meaningful feedback on their performance. The goal of LEAP is to provide meaningful feedback that will empower teachers to reflect upon and enhance their instruction so that every child in Denver has the opportunity to achieve at high levels.
DPS has come up with a program called Empowering Excellent Educators (EEE), which is a comprehensive set of initiatives rooted in a commitment to consistently develop, recognize, reward, recruit and retain great teachers and principals. LEAP is part of the commitment from DPS to Empowering Excellent Educators. According to the district, the specific set of goals established by EEE (and LEAP) are to reward and retain: to foster a supporting environment for all DPS teachers to grow professionally, recognize and reward the best teachers as an invaluable resource, provide opportunities for leadership and advancement for highly effective teachers, build sustainable training structures, and provide coaching to new teachers.
Their next goal is recruitment: attracting excellent, new and experienced teachers, recruit diverse teachers who reflect the diverse student population, complete early hiring cycles to secure the best available talent, and train principals on how to successfully identify and bring new teachers onboard who fit the school culture.
The third goal is evaluation: to provide evaluations that are transparent, objective and complete, use multiple measures, including peer observation and student achievement data, and link to differentiated professional development.
The last goal of EEE and LEAP is professional development and support: to provide meaningful professional development, link professional development to identified needs, create a structure of feedback and support, and provide teachers with the online tools and resources they need for success, including online assessment tools and easily accessible curricular resources. Science Teacher Sharon Colbath said, “I think LEAP will help all teachers be more successful with the students.”
In response to the statewide changes of educational structure, every Denver Public School is relying on the students to guide them to success. Principal Sandra Just said, “Every component of Empowering Excellent Educators is built on the respect for the central role of educators in raising student achievement in the district. The essential DPS goal is that Empowering Excellent Educators and Leading Effective Academic Practice will elevate the teaching profession within DPS and the community, and shine a national spotlight on the far-reaching and profound impact we know teachers have on their students, and lead to the success of more of our students.”
LEAP will take in effect starting August of 2011.
