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Schools that are new to the Network for Educator Effectiveness kick-off their membership by selecting the 3-5 indicators they will use to focus their improvement efforts. After using that set of focus indicators for a few years, schools often find they are ready to re-examine their focus and perhaps make a change in the indicators. Whether your school is just getting started with NEE or has years of experience in using our suite of tools, here are a few helpful tips for selecting (or re-selecting) focus indicators.

Schools that are new to NEE are often eager to seek improvement in as many areas as possible. However, they are more likely to be successful if they stick to the recommended 3-5 focus indicators. A smaller number of indicators allows the school team to develop a strong shared understanding of the instructional practices they have selected, form common expectations for their use, and focus professional development on those same practices.

NEE member school districts are in total control of the indicator selection process and have successfully used several approaches. While some districts use the same 3-5 indicators across the district, others allow each building to select their indicators. Some set one or two indicators for district-wide use and allow each building to select an additional indicator or two. A few even allow teachers to select a personal indicator to be included on their classroom observations. Many districts utilize one set for most of their teachers with a few additional indicators used for beginning teachers.

The NEE team believes that it is highly important for the selection process to be a collaborative one. Teachers, building administrators, and district leaders should all participate in this decision for one simple reason: School teams that work collaboratively when selecting their focus indicators are more likely to improve student learning through their use.

We recommend that the collaborative process examine each of the following attributes of the indicators being considered for use:

• The impact the instructional practice can exert on student learning (the effect size for that practice).
• Whether the indicator aligns with the goals contained in the district’s Continuous School Improvement Plan (CSIP).
• Whether the indicator aligns with the goals set by the school building.
• Any other factors that might make one indicator preferable over others.

Some school districts perform a survey of instructional practices to help determine areas of need. When using this strategy, a group of building administrators is designated to visit selected classrooms that represent all grade levels, content areas, and buildings as well as including both new and veteran teachers. This cadre conducts a short observation in each of the sample classrooms focusing on the instructional practices that are evident and how proficient the teachers seem in their use. The cadre does not concentrate on arriving at a score for each teacher on each indicator but on getting a feel for the level of practice on each indicator across the district. The results of the survey can be used as another piece of information in the collaborative selection process. The team might give more consideration to practices that were missing from classroom instruction or that seemed to be low scoring since those could yield large improvements. Conversely, practices that all teachers used but with only mid-level ability might be quickly improved.

The following reports available in the NEE Data Tool provide data on the focus indicators. This information can also contribute to the selection process.

• Indicator Trend Report: This report creates a mean score across all teachers for each indicator from one month to the next in a school year. The filters can be adjusted to look at all teachers in a grade level or specific content area. This can help determine which instructional practices in the current focus have improved, need more improvement, need support in the form of PD, etc.
• Student Survey Summary: The mean for each of the focus indicators from all student surveys within a selected date range is displayed on this report. This allows your team to consider the student perspective on instruction in your selection process.

Regardless of the information consulted and process used, the focus indicators that are selected provide a definition of what effective instruction should look like in the school or across the district. Once the focus indicators have been selected, the building administrators and teachers must develop a shared understanding of the characteristics and attributes represented by each indicator. As the teams work together to examine the indicator rubrics, watch classroom instruction videos, and discuss the expectations for each indicator, it will clarify for everyone what teachers must do to meet the expectations and what supports they will need to do so.

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.