When our teachers succeed, our students succeed. That's why CCSD has made supporting and investing in teachers and school leaders our top priority. As part of our commitment to providing educators the support they need to help more students learn, we are working with the state to create a new evaluation system for teachers and school leaders. We want to create a system that represents our community and provides all educators – novices and veterans alike – meaningful support, opportunities for professional growth and recognition for exceptional work.
Nevada's education legislation requires a new evaluation system in every district by 2015 – 16 at the earliest. Some of the changes outlined by the new law include:
These changes are not in effect until further notice, but ultimately, this new system will provide clear, consistent standards for excellent teaching, more collaboration between teachers and school leaders, and more frequent real-time feedback and tailored opportunities for professional growth. The new evaluation system for teachers and school leaders will be based on the Nevada Educator Performance Framework.
Educators have been involved in developing this new system every step of the way. The state established a Teachers and Leaders Council (TLC) of educators and experts, including teachers from right here in Clark County, to formulate recommendations for a consistent statewide system and the new standards. The TLC’s recommendations were approved by the Nevada State Board of Education and incorporated into state law this spring.
In addition to the state TLC, CCSD convened a Teacher Evaluation Committee made up of CCSD teachers, school leaders, and central office administrators to provide input on the district’s strategy and to gather feedback from our teachers through a series of focus groups. We also hosted informational sessions during the 2012 – 13 school year to preview and answer questions about the new system.
A new evaluation system has the potential to dramatically improve teacher performance and student achievement, but it also represents a significant change for our teachers and school leaders. We want to get it right – and so does the state of Nevada. To that end, the state will test and evaluate the various components of the new evaluation system through rigorous validation studies in several districts, including CCSD.
During the 2013 – 14 school year, the state will test the new framework in districts across the state, including CCSD, by working with an external research organization. In CCSD, 44 school will participate in this study. These teachers will be selected from schools across the District to be representative of our overall teacher population, and they will have the opportunity to provide feedback in order to help shape the new system that will eventually be used districtwide. This is a research study, which means that while participating teachers will be involved in testing pieces of the new system, their formal evaluation of record will continue to be conducted on CCSD’s existing CCF-8 form. Administrators in participating schools will also participate in a field study of the new administrator evaluation process, which is intended to make sure that all school leaders in our district are providing the instructional leadership their teachers deserve.
Regardless of the evaluation system that we eventually implement in CCSD, supporting teachers and school leaders is one of our district’s top priorities. We are raising the bar for performance – for our students, our teachers and our school leaders – and we must define adult success in terms of student success. During the 2013 – 14 school year, we will refine our focus on improving instruction and building a more performance-driven culture because better feedback and support for our teachers and school leaders will lead to better outcomes for our students.
When we met with teachers to talk about the new evaluation system, one of the most consistent areas of feedback we received was the importance of comprehensive school leader training on the new observation and feedback cycle. This year, the District is launching the Instructional Leadership Training Series , which will provide school leaders the opportunity to refine their skills related to setting clear expectations, assessing classroom practice and providing actionable feedback.
Through this refined focus, both teachers and school leaders will become accustomed to more frequent conversations about the teaching and learning taking place in the classroom, which will help prepare everyone for success under the new evaluation system. And all of this work will help us give all of our school leaders and teachers – our most important people – the support they need to prepare all of our graduates for college and career.
