1. December 11, 2012 State Conversations: Teacher Evaluation Messaging

2. Webinar Logistics  Everyone is muted  Use the chat function to make a comment or ask a question  You may chat privately with individuals on your team  If you have problems, you may send Naz Rajput a message via the chat function or an email at nazr@ccsso.org 2

3. Using the Chat Function 3

4. Presenters  Mary-Dean Barringer SCEE Educator in Residence, Eastern Region 4

5. Key Points of the Webinar  Getting your messages about teacher evaluation right  Aligning the messages to the most effective strategies and tactics in your communication plan  Illustrating this process with real-life examples from Colorado and Louisiana … and participants who chime in! 5

6. Presenters  Amy Skinner Director of Communications, Colorado Department of Education 6

7.  New Colorado Academic Standards & Assessments  S.B. 08-212: Colorado’s Achievement Plan for Kids (CAP4K)  Governing member of PARCC  New District and School Accountability System and Improvement Planning  S.B. 09-163: Education Accountability Act  New Evaluation System for All Licensed Personnel  S.B. 10-191: Great Teachers and Leaders Act Context: Current Education Reform in Colorado 7

8. Why Messages are Important Messages:  CONNECT the changes  Build awareness and trust through REPETITION  Set the TONE of the conversation  UNITE stakeholders in a common vision 8

9. The power of our education improvement efforts lies in their connection and focus on continuous improvement What do students need to learn to be college and career ready?  Colorado Academic Standards How will we know if students are meeting learning expectations?  Aligned assessments How will we know if instruction is effective?  Meaningful evaluations How will we know if schools/districts are performing?  Performance frameworks Driving Questions 9

10. Developing Messages  Field tested (and adapted) messages  CDE messages created collaboratively with key stakeholders  All-day workshop with “5 C’s”  draft messages  vetted  approved and ‘finalized’  distributed  Repeat key themes:  meaningful feedback ■ continuous improvement  support ■ student learning  Fair ■ student success  professional growth 10

11.  Every child in every community deserves excellent classroom teachers and building leaders.  Every teacher in every school deserves authentic feedback about how their teaching (leadership) impacts student learning.  Colorado is improving teacher and principal evaluation systems to provide educators with more meaningful feedback and support so they can achieve their goal of maximum results with students.  Students have the greatest chance to succeed when educators receive feedback and support to continuously improve their instructional practice.  Ongoing feedback and targeted professional development help educators meet the changing needs of their students. Example Messages 11

12.  Avoid language that sorts or labels teachers… “effective”  Choose language that embodies growth: good  great  excellent  If you must use “effective,” describe the instructional practice vs. the person  “effective teaching” vs. “effective teacher”  Don’t talk about teacher evaluation in isolation—connect it to the larger system  Refrain from “reform”  Tie all messaging to results with kids Communication Tips 12

13. Presenters  Holly Boffy SCEE Educator in Residence, Central Region 13

14. Presenters  Suzi Kahn Co-leader, Communications Work Group, Louisiana Believes Teacher Advisory Committee 14

15. Louisiana Believes Teacher Advisory Committee WHAT: Survey of Department communication practices and preferences WHO: Education Professionals in Louisiana WHEN: November 13-30, 2012 TOTAL RESPONSES: 2,196 DEMOGRAPHICS: 92% classroom teachers, 8% school or district administration 15 Louisiana Believes

16. Current Communication Practice 53% 16 Louisiana Believes

17. “Other” 17 Louisiana Believes

18. Developing your message points  Mary-Dean Barringer SCEE Educator in Residence, Eastern Region 18

19. Why a Message Box or Message Triangle? 1.Helps you plan ahead 2.Gets your key points out 3.Avoids the “vision creep” of sidetracking minor details 4.Promotes consistency 5.Grounds you in what your audience wants to hear as well as what you need to say. 19

20. ACTION SOLUTION VISION PROBLEM The new evaluation process will enable school districts to ensure there are effective leaders at every school and effective teachers in every classroom. Effective and credible evaluations will inspire the respect and public trust teachers deserve.  Our new evaluation process will recognize excellent teaching, support teachers who need help and identify teachers who shouldn’t be in classrooms.  Our new evaluation process will treat teachers fairly based on multiple measures of effectiveness and objective observations.  This system was not designed with the intent to fire teachers, but when we can fairly move ineffective teachers out of the profession, students will benefit, and teachers will have the respect and public trust they deserve. We created an evaluation system with teacher input that now allows districts and schools to provide a full, fair and accurate picture of how teachers are performing to help them grow continuously and to help students learn.  As part of the evaluations, administrators will give teachers prompt feedback to help them improve.  Districts and schools will offer professional training opportunities to teachers based on needs identified in the evaluations. We worked with teachers to create a fair and equitable teacher evaluation process that will continually improve their skills and boost job satisfaction. It puts students at the core to help move them toward graduation, college and careers.  It will measure how far a teacher has moved students over a year.  No single test or observation determines the outcome. The evaluations include multiple measures to offer a full, accurate picture of teacher effectiveness.  The evaluations will help teachers address areas for improvement through timely, meaningful feedback and targeted professional training opportunities.  Trained observers will evaluate classroom practice and other measures objectively..  The evaluation is designed first and foremost to support teachers and identify talents, not fire them. Previously, teacher evaluations haven’t always been meaningful and fair and often haven’t helped our students get where they need to be.  The teacher evaluation process is about helping all teachers improve instruction and learning. It should never be a “gotcha”  Too often, teacher evaluations have look at student test scores at the end of the year. They didn’t identify what teachers needed to do to improve, identify training and support, or consider other measures of student progress. 20

21.  Who’s your audience?  What’s your most important message to get across?  What’s the key challenge you are trying to address?  What action do you want your audience to take?  What outcome are you seeking? Putting the Message Box to Work 21

22. Aligning Message to Strategy and Tactics  Reach teachers and principals  Equip district superintendents with messages  Enlist state chiefs, board of education president, governors, and media to use messages, e.g.: Get state chief to use in speeches to school boards, superintendents, civic groups Get governor to use in state of state address Develop short video of state chief talking about new evaluation process Conduct periodic briefings for media on system (30 minute webinars, conference call, pilot results) 22

23.  No direct channel for reaching teachers? 1.Train others: Must realize value and need for communications 2.Provide Tools: Make communicating easier 3.Follow up: Are tools helping? 4.Adjust: Messages continually evolve as project does Strategies and Tactics 23

24.  In Colorado: Communications Toolkit  Monthly drop-in articles, “101” presentations, talking points, fact sheets  Monthly educator effectiveness e-newsletter  CDE Field Services team  Continuous collaboration, support and improvement Strategies and Tactics 24

25. Preferred Communication Practice 90% 25 Louisiana Believes

26. Additional Support 71% 26 Louisiana Believes

27. Teacher Advisory Committee Recommendations  Teacher-specific and teacher-friendly information  Website redesign and update (in progress)  HCIS tab for information access  State-wide listserv for email  Accountability for leadership of district- and school-level communication  Tech resources/access (in progress w/PARCC)  Feedback option  NTGS support 27 Louisiana Believes

28. Next Steps  December 2012  Present survey findings to state superintendent  Website redesign focus group  January 2013  Louisiana Believes full-committee meeting to compose final Plan-of-Action  Website redesign available early 2013  http://www.doe.state.la.us/ http://www.doe.state.la.us/ 28 Louisiana Believes

29. Contact Info/More Info  Amy Skinner  Skinner_A@cde.state.co.us Skinner_A@cde.state.co.us  Suzi Kahn  sfkahn@lpssonline.com sfkahn@lpssonline.com  Mary-Dean Barringer  marydeanb@ccsso.org marydeanb@ccsso.org  Holly Boffy  holly.boffy@consultant.ccsso.org holly.boffy@consultant.ccsso.org 29

30. Upcoming Events  Monthly SCEE Webinars in 2013  2 nd Tuesday of every month, 2-3 pm EST  First webinar of 2013, January 8  April 9-12, 2013  3rd Annual National Summit on Educator Effectiveness, Louisville, KY 30

31. 30 Minute Live Chat  Type a question or comment into the Chat box To offer an anonymous question or comment privately, send a private chat to Circe Stumbo  For help, send a private chat to Naz Rajput or email her at nazr@ccsso.org nazr@ccsso.org 31

32. Thank you