Pilot Teacher Evaluation Program Puts Stress on District

By most accounts, the pilot teacher evaluation program employed in Red Bank public schools has been a success. In the in the district, administrators are getting a better sense of how individual classrooms operate. Teachers have also bought into the program, using the opportunity to highlight successes and develop strategies to combat struggles not easily identified by more traditional, and less personal, methods.

A reason for the success is the amount of time spent analyzing teacher practices and student performances, conducting interviews, holding classroom observations, and upping the number of intimate evaluations teachers both with and without tenure receive each school year.

But, the thoroughness of the program comes at a price: time. At a recent board of education meeting, program administrators said they worry about the sustainability of a model that demands so much attention to detail but fails to offer much in the way of advice when it comes to fitting it all in.

“(We’re) looking to streamline the process,” Superintendent Laura Morana told the board in her regular address. “We’re going to talk about what we have learned so far, what we can do differently.

“When you are implementing something like this you need to make adjustments along the way. The State Department of Education will be looking to us to see how we’ve implemented the program.”

Red Bank is one of 11 school districts in New Jersey participating in the new teacher evaluation program. The program could be rolled out, state wide, as soon as next year. For its efforts, Red Bank received $57,000 and has the opportunity to help shape and influence the still fledgling program by providing the guide that other districts will follow.

Even in Red Bank, however, which has a relatively small school district compared to those in many towns and cities throughout the state, the evaluation process takes up significant amounts of time. Starting in January, Morana said administrators will be conducting two teacher observations each week. That’s just one step of a much longer, time-consuming process.

“We have made it a top priority,” Morana said. “That requires a great deal on everyone’s part. We would love to have additional supervisors to share our responsibilities.

“We want to do the job well so we want to make sure we dedicate the appropriate amount of time to the process. If you do it well, it takes time. If you want to be fair to the teachers, it will take time. If you want to cut corners, it’s not going to work.”

Time constraints aside, reviews of the program have been good. Board member Carrie Ludwikowski sat in on some of the observations and reported that teachers have embraced the program, turning what could have been construed as a threatening “us versus them” evaluation system into true collaboration.

“You see how much the teachers put in to these lesson plans, the focus on how much they have to change things, not day by day, but moment by moment. They are coming (to evaluation interviews) with binders and binders of information,” she said. “I think we’re all aware that our teachers have their hands full. It’s impressive what they do.”

The evaluation program is partly the result of Gov. Chris Christie’s promise to reform the state public education system, holding all teachers accountable for both their successes and their failures. The State Department of Education provided the outline for the program but put it all on the participating pilot districts to make it work.

The ultimate goal, ideally, is an evaluation program that is fair to educators in all districts. Teachers won’t simply be judged on test scores, which in a district like Red Bank can be deceptive, but on their methods and signs of positive progress. Another hope is that the pilot program will help determine how teachers in subjects without traditional testing measures should be evaluated.

Principal Maria Iozzi said the process has been a rewarding one. She too worries about its sustainability, however.

“It is working out well but it is time consuming,” Iozzi said. “The number of elements is very specific and the concern is making it work long term. If we’re struggling in a district that’s small, how is a district the size of a Jersey City going to make it work?”