Blog

If you are reading this, it’s probably because you are looking for a change. It could be that your current teacher evaluation process is taking too much time, doesn’t provide meaningful data, doesn’t support professional growth for your teachers, or any number of other reasons. Whatever led you here, we can help you navigate the change process.

We have helped hundreds of schools work through the process of changing teacher evaluation systems, so in this blog, we’ll take you through the typical steps and highlight the areas where you may need to account for unique considerations at your school.

1. Determine your needs. What is missing from or not effective about your current process? What are you looking for in your next teacher evaluation system?
2. Determine a timeline. When do you want to implement a new system, and how much time do you have to decide? In our experience, most schools commit to a new teacher evaluation system by March or April before implementation begins in August of the next school year.
3. Determine a budget.
4. Determine whether it’s appropriate for a small group or larger committee to be involved in the decision-making process and assemble your group. A key question to ask at this stage is how much time do you have? If you’re looking for a quick change, you’ll likely keep the decision-making team smaller. If you have months before a decision needs to be made, a committee approach is possible. You’ll also need to determine whether your teacher representation group needs to be involved and at what stages.
5. Once you have your group assembled, revisit your needs list from Step 1 and make sure your group is all in agreement. Come up with a common list of needs that represents the group’s viewpoints. What are your must-haves, and what are your like-to-haves?
6. Now, it’s time to research solutions. (Of course, make sure the Network for Educator Effectiveness is one you consider.) You might already have some systems in mind from previous experience or from word-of-mouth among other school leaders. If you are unsure where to start, ask peers in other schools or districts what they use. See if they like it and whether it matches your list of needs. You can also conduct Internet research to learn more about the features of various teacher evaluation systems. Make a list of the solutions you find, notes about whether they fit your needs, and questions you have for each vendor.
7. Based on your research, invite two or three vendors to visit with your decision-making group. In a presentation with your group, ask each vendor to provide an overview of their system and conduct a demonstration of their tool. Ask questions. It can be helpful at this stage to provide a rubric for your decision-making group and ask each member to provide a score and feedback on the key criteria you are seeking. This way, you have a consistent way of ranking each vendor. Consider whether you’d like the vendors to conduct more than one presentation in this phase – one with your decision-making group and one (or more) with groups of teachers. District leaders will also want to collect pricing info from each vendor to make sure the fee is within your specified budget.
8. Collect feedback from your decision-making group and any other group(s) who met with the vendor. Call a few references (other schools or districts) provided by each vendor to check on the vendor’s quality of service and responsiveness to school needs.
9. It’s time to make a decision. If you think you need additional information, you might go back to the vendor to ask additional questions, invite them back for a follow-up presentation, or invite more vendors to present to your group. When making a decision, one point person might ultimately decide, or your group might take a vote to decide which option is best suited to your school’s needs.
10. Secure approval from your board of education and your teacher representation group, if needed. Send any required documents to your state department of education for approval.
11. Notify the vendor that you are ready to move forward with implementation.
12. Hold orientation sessions with teachers so they can become familiar with the new system. NEE recommends holding a brief orientation in the spring before implementation and another session as teachers come back to school in August. This way, they become aware of the change in the spring and they can become better acquainted with the new system and processes in the fall.
13. Complete onboarding steps required by the vendor. For NEE, review our 10 steps to onboard to NEE and get ready for a successful implementation.
14. Follow up with the vendor to ask for any necessary support along the way. As NEE sees it, your success is our success, so we are available to help at any time.

Changing your teacher evaluation system takes time and collaboration. We recognize it’s not easy. However, when you approach the change methodically and involve the right people, you have a much better chance of success. We look forward to the opportunity to talk with you about how we can help!

The Network for Educator Effectiveness (NEE) is a simple yet powerful comprehensive system for educator evaluation that helps educators grow, students learn, and schools improve. Developed by preK-12 practitioners and experts at the University of Missouri, NEE brings together classroom observation, student feedback, teacher curriculum planning, and professional development as measures of effectiveness in a secure online portal designed to promote educator growth and development.