Speech therapist working with a young girl at a clinic

The Network for Educator Effectiveness provides schools with a comprehensive system for educator evaluation. The NEE system includes four independent measures for teacher evaluation and four independent measures for principal evaluation.

In addition, NEE provides unique tools to evaluate several school specialist positions, including:

For other positions, the NEE Professional Responsibility tool provides a flexible template that allows school leaders to evaluate additional school staff.

This blog will provide an overview of NEE’s speech language pathologist evaluation tool. For more on evaluating other positions, click the links in the list above.

Speech Language Pathologist Standards

The NEE Speech Language Pathologist evaluation includes 8 elements aligned to the Performance Assessment of Contributions of Effectiveness of Speech Language Pathologists (PACE) standards, produced by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). The elements are summarized as:

  • Demonstrates professional knowledge
  • Complies with state and federal regulations concerning IEPs
  • Conducts comprehensive evaluations
  • Provides appropriate and educationally relevant services
  • Collaborates with teachers and other professionals
  • Collaborates with families
  • Contributes to school and district initiatives
  • Documents contribution to student learning

School districts typically focus on three to five elements of the SLP evaluation organizer rather than completing all parts. This focused approach allows SLPs to select the areas that best reflect their responsibilities and represent opportunities for growth.

When to Use the NEE SLP Evaluation Tool

The NEE SLP tool can be used with school employees who are licensed SLPs, SLP assistants, or speech implementers.

In some cases, school districts might contract with an independently licensed SLP to deliver services. In these cases, using the NEE tool likely would not be appropriate as the contract should specify evaluation procedures.

Evaluating SLPs Online

The NEE SLP evaluation tool comes together in the NEE Data Tool online evaluation platform. To get started, individuals will need to be designated as a Speech Language Pathologist on their profile page, under the “Positions” section. Then, the SLP Evaluation organizer will be available by clicking “My Organizers” on the left-side menu.

SLP Evaluation Timeline

SLP evaluation will begin early in the school year. SLPs will work with their supervisor to select the three to five elements that will be included. Midway through the school year, the SLP can open the organizer to provide evidence and documentation on how they have addressed the selected elements up to that point and submit the organizer for mid-year review. Supervisors can also provide mid-year comments.

Toward the end of the school year, SLPs will finish the organizer by providing additional evidence and documentation and will submit it for final review. The supervisor will use the accompanying scoring rubric to score the SLP elements and provide final comments.

Additional Evaluation Measures for SLPs

SLP evaluation might also include observations, if the individual provides pull-out services to students. NEE also strongly recommends SLPs complete the NEE Teacher Professional Development Plan to document their personal professional growth. The NEE Student Survey likely will not be used with SLPs because they typically work with a small number of students. A summative report in the NEE Data Tool will bring together data from the SLP evaluation organizer as well as any other measures that have been scored.

Additional Resources for SLP Evaluation

Additional training and step-by-step guides are available in NEE’s EdHub Library, under the NEE Training Materials topic. NEE schools can also contact the NEE Help Desk or their Member Services representative for additional information and training.

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.