Aligning Evaluation Models to Professional Teacher Standards

Video Transcription

Hi. My name is Ashley, and today's lesson is titled, "Aligning Evaluation Models to Professional Standards."

In today's lesson, we will identify how you can align professional teacher standards to evaluation models. Then we'll look at the best approaches to evaluating alignment.

In today's lesson, we'll evaluate the teacher evaluation model and discover its alignment with the NTACS professional teacher standards. You should always wonder, how do you know if the evaluation model is aligned to professional teacher standards that are used by your school or district? A good practice in evaluating alignment is to put the two models side by side.

On the left side, you'll find the NTACS teaching standards. On the right side is a teacher evaluation model from the Howard County public school system. Let's start with the NTACS standards. There are 10 standards that are divided into four groups-- the learner and learning, content knowledge, instructional practice, and professional responsibility.

If you look on the teacher evaluation model, you can see Domain 1, and this model is also divided into four sections as well. Domain 1 states planning and preparation. This domain sounds like it would be similar to that of the content knowledge. If you look at Domain 1a, it says, demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy, which is the same here-- content knowledge and application of content. Let's look at this a little bit more closely.

So here, where it says "content," it's broken up into two standards, standard 4 and 5, content knowledge and application for content. The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline. Also, right here, where domain is the content pedagogy, where teachers are having to know the understanding of the content knowledge.

Standard 5 is application of content. The teacher understands how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners. If we look here at Domain 1f, Designing Student Assessments, this says, varied assessments. That could also be creating assessments on differing perspectives, as stated right here with standard 5, differing perspectives. If we look at 1e, it says, differentiated materials. So being able to differentiate things based off of our students and engaging learners.

Let's continue down with the next domain. Domain 2, the classroom environment. Now just by looking at the titles here, that looks like that might fall into place right here where it says, the learner and learning. So let's look at that one in a little bit more detail.

Standard 1 is titled Learner Development. This is where the teacher understands how learners grow and develop. Now looking here at the classroom environment, I don't see anything that specifically talks about that. But I do recall seeing something very similar back in Domain 1. Demonstrating knowledge of students-- here is where you see child development, the learning process, student skills. So even though that is not in the same category, it is still available and it's still listed here on this evaluation model.

Also, where it says, learning differences, we stated that in Domain 1, it talks about differentiating, finding different materials. Now Standard 3, learning environments-- this specific standard best meets with Domain 2, where it specifically talks about the classroom environment. Here it says, the teacher works with others to create environments that support individual collaborative learning.

This is establishing a culture for learning so that students are working toward the same goals the importance of the content is a social interaction. So this is creating an environment of respect and rapport, students interacting with other students. So that is where those two would align.

Domain 3, instruction-- I think it's kind of clear that this one will match up with instructional practice. Let's look at this one in a little bit more detail. Instructional practice, Standard 6 is assessment. Right here in Domain 3d, it does say, using assessments and instruction. But if you recall, it also talked about using assessments in Domain 1. So we can definitely tell that the information is here, though it might be in different sections or different categories. It is still a part of the evaluation model.

This one is planning for instruction. What is the process of getting ready to teach those lessons? Once again, I think we saw this in Domain 1. Right here, demonstrating knowledge of resources, unit plans, or lesson plans, evidence of collaboration. So once again, Standard 7 is in Domain 1, but it's still here. Instructional strategies-- the strategies that are used for instruction.

Let's go back to Domain 3, using questioning and discussion techniques. That is a strategy. Engaging students in learning, activities-- certain activities that you use will be strategies for instruction. So Standard 8 is aligned with Domain 3.

And the last one here, professional responsibility-- I think that's also going be pretty clear. This one is professional responsibilities. So Standard 9, professional learning and ethical practice. Standard 10, leadership and collaboration. You will find both of those in Domain 4. Standard 10, the teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, and other school professionals. Here's his relationships with colleagues. Engagement of families and instructional programs.

So this evaluation model from Howard County public schools is aligned with the teacher standards of the NTACS model. Now what if, for some reason, your teacher evaluation model from your school district doesn't meet all of the standards? What do you do? In the case that your teacher evaluation model is missing some information, it's still a good practice to know the professional teaching standards and use them to provide exceptional instruction for your students and continue professional development for your own benefit.

What are the best approaches to evaluating alignment? Mrs. Alexander is a seventh grade teacher at Luther Middle School. She wants to evaluate the alignment of the teacher standards and the chosen teacher evaluation model for her district, like what we just did. The first step in evaluating alignment is to have this discussion with your principal. Your principal may have you create a team or allow you to join an already established team.

Many schools and districts will already have an evaluation team set up. In the case an evaluation team is not already up and running, this process can also be completed with an improvement plan team. The process that we just completed will be the same process that you would complete with the team. So this is where Mrs. Alexander will go through the process with her team members and use the data to decide if adjustments need to be made.

Surveys completed by teachers and administrators will serve as a good tool to get feedback and recommendations to input in the teacher evaluation model. Develop a timeline after changes have been made to revisit and identify the impact of the teacher evaluation model. Reflect on the following questions. What is going well? What is not? What revisions are needed? Understand that this process will need to be revisited often until adjustments have shown to be helpful to the majority of teachers and staff.

Let's recap what we have discussed in today's lesson. We identified how to evaluate the alignment of professional teacher standards and your evaluation model. First, place your rubric and standards side by side. Then review them both as they relate to each other. Next, highlight the standards that are also mentioned on the rubric.

Lastly, discover if there are any standards that are not present in the rubric. We discovered that the best approach to evaluating alignment is, first, by discussing this information with your principal, then joining a team. Next, go through the process of evaluating alignment with your team. You may find that adjustments need to be made. Surveys from teachers and administrators might be a good way to receive feedback.

Is your evaluation model aligned to the Professional Teacher Standards? Now it's your turn to apply what you've learned in this video. The Additional Resources section will be super helpful. This section is designed to help you discover useful ways to apply what you've learned here. Each link includes a brief description, so you can easily target the resources you want.