The Office of Employee Performance directly supports the school system’s commitment to ensure that every student is taught by a highly effective teacher in every class, every year. The primary role of the office is to develop, implement and coordinate the school system’s evaluations for all employee groups.
Our mission is to provide all employees with comprehensive evaluations to inform their professional development and to guide and support career decisions. The initial work focus has been on the system-wide expansion of the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching –based observation evaluation system, initially piloted in the system’s pay for performance (FIRST) schools. The new evaluation system is based on continual improvement of teaching practice and the value a highly effective teacher adds to student growth and achievement.
The Office of Employee Performance’s current focus is on developing highly effective teachers. Read on to learn more about the FIRST (Financial Incentive Rewards for Supervisors & Teachers) program, expansion of the Framework for Teaching observations and Prince George's County's participation in the MSDE pilots for educator effectiveness this year.
FIRST - Financial Incentive Rewards for Supervisors & Teachers
The FIRST (Financial Incentive Rewards for Supervisors & Teachers) program provides financial rewards for teachers and administrators who work hard to staff schools and subject areas, who assist students in meeting achievement standards in tested areas, participate in professional development and utilize a rigorous research-based evaluation process. Teacher participants can earn up to $10,000 and administrators can earn up to $12,000 in incentive pay per year.
Interested in participating? Click here to go to the FIRST website to learn more and register. The participation deadline for 2011-2012 is September 16, 2011.
Framework for Teaching and Teacher Evaluation System Redesign
PGCPS is committed to ensuring that every student has a highly effective teacher in every classroom. To support this goal, we are expanding the use of the research-based classroom observation approach by Charlotte Danielson, known as the Framework for Teaching (FFT). In the 2011-2012 school year, at least 25% of all teachers in each school must be observed using FFT. For more information about the process and resources on FFT, click here.
And while the Framework for Teaching will be an integral part of the teacher evaluation system going forward, there is additional work underway to develop a comprehensive, fair and functional system for the district to assess the effectiveness of our teachers. Our efforts will enable:
- Our most effective teachers to be identified, recognized and strategically placed in front of students with the greatest needs
- Struggling teachers to be developed into effective teachers
- Ineffective teachers to be removed from classrooms when necessary
- All teachers to follow a path of continuous improvement
This work is being developed in partnership with our teacher and supervisor unions -- Prince George’s County Educators Association (PGCEA) & Association of Supervisory and Administrative School Personnel (ASASP) -- via a number of project teams which have been tasked with designing and implementing a new systemic approach to evaluation.
This teacher evaluation system redesign is being funded in part by the Gates Foundation through its “Empowering Effective Teachers” grant. Prince George’s County Public Schools was selected by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as one of ten (10) school systems nationwide to compete for the “deep dive” teacher effectiveness initiative funds and was awarded $2.5M to support the teacher evaluation work. You can learn more about the work to define highly effective teaching for Prince George’s County Public Schools and steps towards improving educator effectiveness by clicking here.
You can also learn more about local, state and national efforts to enhance teacher effectiveness by clicking here:
Maryland's Race to the Top Submission
Gates Foundation Empowering Effective Teachers
MSDE Educator Effectiveness Pilots
PGCPS is one of seven school districts in the state of Maryland participating in pilots for new approaches to teacher and principal evaluations. As a result of the Education Reform Act, passed by the Maryland Legislature in 2010, teacher and principal evaluations will be linked, in part, to student achievement. The state's efforts will occur in three phases:
1) Year One (2011-2012): Seven districts, including PGCPS, will pilot teacher and principal evaluations inclucing student achievement measures.
2) Year Two (2012-2013): Expansion of the pilot to all districts
3) Year Three (2013-2014): Full implementation of the new process
For more information on the MSDE pilots, click here.
If you have other questions about employee performance or the teacher evaluation redesign efforts, email us at teacher.evaluation@pgcps.org or employee.performance@pgcps.org. We'll also update the FAQ page periodically, so be sure to check it often to see if your question has already been answered.
Don't forget to check back often to see what's new in the Office of Employee Performance!
Contacts
Deborah Sullivan, Director
301-952-6037
deborah.sullivan@pgcps.org
Theresa D. Jones, Project Manager
301-952-6396
theresa3.jones@pgcps.org