This one goes out to all the human resources directors. For years, the Network for Educator Effectiveness has been your platform for educator evaluation. We help school leaders evaluate teachers, principals, instructional coaches, librarians, counselors, speech-language pathologists, and paraprofessionals. And yet, we haven’t covered everyone.

Over the years, NEE has had requests to develop evaluation tools for non-instructional positions –support staff, directors, coordinators, and other positions that need to be evaluated in schools. Beginning in the fall, we will have a solution for evaluating those positions housed within the NEE Data Tool. We are proud to expand our tool and evaluation offerings. Although it’s still under development, here’s what we can share so far. 

Who can be evaluated with the new tool?

Below is a sampling of school positions that will have an opportunity to be evaluated with the new tool:

Support Staff

  • Teacher assistants
  • Teacher aides
  • Cafeteria staff
  • Custodians
  • Secretaries
  • Bus drivers
  • Specialty secretaries (assistants)
  • Nurses
  • Case managers

Directors

  • Transportation directors
  • Technology directors
  • Special education directors or special services coordinators
  • Communications directors
  • Human resources directors
  • Financial directors
  • Nursing directors
  • Maintenance/facilities directors
  • Athletic directors
  • Activities directors
  • Curriculum coordinators
  • Inclusion, diversity, and equity directors

Other positions

  • Technology technicians
  • Maintenance technicians
  • Central office specialty technicians (accounts receivable, core data, food services, logistics)
  • Head coaches
  • Assistant coaches
  • Psychometricians
  • Substitute teachers

How did NEE develop the evaluation tool to be used by multiple school positions?

Beginning in the Summer of 2022, NEE held focus groups with HR directors and asked them to describe the needs and components for evaluating these positions. We found common performance responsibilities to be included in the evaluations for each position:

  • Job accomplishment
  • Professionalism
  • Time management
  • Growth
  • Leadership

The focus group conversations also led to insights about how the evaluation process should be structured for each position. We learned the evaluation process should include:

  • Consistent and immediate feedback
  • Varied and flexible timelines
  • A tie to district improvement and goals
  • Recognition for time constraints; it shouldn’t take time away from the principal/supervisor
  • The ability to customize the performance responsibilities for each staff position

What can schools expect in the new evaluation tool?

Over the next few months, we will be building this new evaluation tool that will be housed in the NEE Data Tool. Here are five things you can expect:

  1. The process will be flexible to cover a wide array of duties, responsibilities, and job titles.
  2. The process will be modular. Much like NEE’s classroom observation, student survey and instructional coach evaluation processes, school leaders will be able to select the specific components to focus on and measure for each position.
  3. The process will provide prompts for the individual being evaluated to provide evidence of their growth and/or accomplishments, with a place for supervisor comments and scoring.
  4. The process will be built into the Data Tool with your current NEE subscription. It will live in the same space as the other features you use consistently with NEE, and all personnel that are evaluated with NEE will have access to a NEE Data Tool account. (Districts will use the “import people” process to add new accounts for individuals.)
  5. The timing evaluation and benchmarks will be up to each district to decide for each position being evaluated.

We are excited to share more with you and look forward to doing so over the coming months. This process is under construction right now, so we will wait to share out more of the specifics until it is closer to launch. If you have questions, please contact us at nee@missouri.edu.

Tom Hairston is the Managing Director of the Network for Educator Effectiveness and has worked with NEE since 2011. Prior to his work with NEE, he worked as a Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports Consultant for the Heart of Missouri Regional Professional Development Center at the University of Missouri. He began his career in education as a high school special education and language arts teacher and football coach at Moberly High School in Moberly, Mo. Tom received his PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Missouri in 2012.

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.