1. Why principal evaluation? Because Leadership Matters!
Why principal evaluation? Because Leadership matters! We know this from our professional experiences as educators and the research confirms it. The McREL's research which has been confirmed and validated by other researchers provides evidence that effective principal leadership has an impact on student learning and achievement. Which we can all agree is the primary responsibility of school leadership. So the question becomes. What makes an effective school leader?

2. McREL’s PRINCIPAL EVALUATION SYSTEM
Balanced Leadership Framework®
It is our pleasure to present to you McREL’s Principal evaluation system. For those of you are not familiar with McREL. McREL stands for Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning. McREL is a non –profit educational research organization that is presently celebrating 40 years of service to educators both nationally and internationally. McREL and EIRC have created a partnership in New Jersey to provide support and service to New Jersey educators. Like several other states,(NC,OK,HA) to name just a few, New Jersey has identified McREL as a qualified research based service provider.

3. McREL’s Mission
Our mission is to make a difference in the quality of education and learning for all through excellence in applied research, product development, and service.
McREL Mission is very simple, they want to make a difference in the quality of education and learning for all students through the use of research. And they want to do that by putting that research in the hands of practitioners so they can use it to enhance education and learning for all students.
SHARED NEW RESEARCH BEING CONDUCTED!

4. McREL's Suite of Services
Principal Evaluation
Teacher Evaluation
Balanced Leadership
Classroom Instruction that Works
Power Walk Through
And more..
McREL’s research has not been confined to School Leadership. Their extensive research has enabled them to provide services not only for Principal’s evaluation but also teacher evaluation, Balanced leadership, Classroom Instruction and Power Walk Through, which are among the many services, offered by McREL. All developed through extensive research

5. Principles Research-based Transparent Focused Growth-Oriented Flexible
The Principles in which the evaluation is grounded are:
That is research based…And it grounded in the research on School Leadership
That it is transparent…Nothing in the evaluation system is a secret, Everyone knows the expectations, and what practices that will be needed to reach those expectations, and the tools that will be used to determine whether or not those expectations have been reached. (what is written throughout the year is shared on a continual basis)..
It is focused on the principals instructional leadership. And is designed to support and promote enhancing effective leadership, to ensure quality teaching and student learning.
Growth Oriented…It’s a growth model! Its directed at being Supportive in enhancing principal leadership…not just noting where a principal is, but what each can do with appropriate support to improve their leadership skills and practices
And Flexible…It is intended to be flexible enough to be fair to school leaders of varying levels of experience and with various school settings…so that appropriate support can be given to each on an ongoing basis..

6. Balanced Leadership Framework®
Purposeful Community
School-Level Leadership
Focus
of Leadership
Managing
Change
McRel’s Principal Evaluation system is grounded in it’s effective school research that was published by ASCD in the book titled School Leadership that Works. There are 4 components to the Balanced Leadership Framework. School-Level Leadership, Focus of Leadership, Managing Change, and Purposeful Community. To better understand the 4 components and the research that grounds them , and to understand how they connect to the principal evaluation ,we are going to take a few moments to highlight each.

7. 21 leadership responsibilities
Affirmation
Involvement with CIA
Change agent
Knowledge of CIA
Communication
Monitor/evaluate
Contingent reward
Optimize
Culture
Order
Discipline
Outreach
Flexibility
Relationships
Focus
Resources
Ideals/beliefs
Situational awareness
Input
Visibility
Intellectual stimulation
These are the 21 responsibilities.. As you review them, you’ll notice that none of them are new to education and leadership. What is important and what makes them effective in enhancing student achievement is how they are intentionally used.

8. McREL Principal Evaluation System
Orientation
Self Assessment
Pre Evaluation
Conference
Meeting
Evaluation
Mid-Year
Consolidated
Performance
Assessment
Discussion
End of year
Final Evaluation Goal Setting
That brings us to the evaluation system. The evaluation system has 7 components. Orientation… Leaders will become acquainted with the evaluation system and the Balanced Leadership Framework. The next step is Self assessment and preliminary goal setting. Principals reflect on their performance. At the Pre-evaluation conference…the evaluator and principal discuss the principal's self evaluation and preliminary goals and collaboratively determine areas for growth
Mid year…Discussion and determination of progress toward reaching goals. Consolidated Performance assessment.. is A Date in which documentation is due to evaluator. End of year performance discussion…is the a Preliminary evaluation discussion, that leads to the …Final evaluation and goal setting …sign off for the year. To accomplish these 7 steps , both the evaluator and Principals have responsibilities that makes this an effective evaluation system.
The evaluators…
Process

9. Rubrics Categorical Ratings │ Scoring │ Evidence │ Framework
The Balance leadership Rubrics provides the criteria for expectations and connects the Balance leadership Framework with The Principal evaluation System.
Categorical Ratings │ Scoring │ Evidence │ Framework

10. Rubrics and the Framework
Leadership Responsibilities Associated with Purposeful Community
A Purposeful Community is one with the collective efficacy and capability to develop and use assets to accomplish goals that matter to all community members through agreed upon processes.
Affirmation: Recognizes and celebrates school accomplishment and acknowledges failures.
Developing
Proficient
Accomplished
Distinguished
(Comment Required)
Not Demonstrated
Purposeful Community
School-Level Leadership
Focus of
Leadership
Magnitude
Change
Principal Leadership Responsibilities Associated with Focus of Leadership
Focus of Leadership involves accurately and pro-actively targeting appropriate areas for school improvement efforts
Contingent Rewards: Recognizes and rewards individual accomplishments.
Developing
Proficient
Accomplished
Distinguished
(Comment Required)
Not Demonstrated .
Let’s look at how the evaluation rubrics are connected to the Balanced Leadership Framework. There are 3 Rubrics that make up the evaluation document. One for Purposeful Community, one for Focus of leadership, and one for managing change. The 21 responsibilities are Within each rubric , there are 7 leadership responsibilities embedded in each. McREL’s research support specific leadership responsibilities being associated with each of the components of the framework, and they are embedded in the evaluation form. Let’s look at the rubrics more closely. You see the heading Leadership responsibilities associated with Purposeful Community, followed by a description on what Purposeful Community entails…..Then under that you will find the first of 7 leadership responsibilities associated with Purposeful Community. And under each of them you have the headings developing, proficient, accomplished and distinguish and at the far right you have not demonstrated. We are going to look at those ratings and how they are defined and then take a closer look at the rubrics themselves.
Principal Leadership Responsibilities Associated with Managing Change
Managing Change involves understanding the implications of change efforts for stakeholders and adjusting leadership behaviors accordingly
Change Agent: Is willing to and actively challenge the status quo
Developing
Proficient
Accomplished
Distinguished
(Comment Required)
Not Demonstrated .

11. Performance Rating Scale
Developing: Principal demonstrated adequate growth toward achieving standards of performance during the period of performance, but did not demonstrate proficiency.
Proficient: Principal demonstrated basic competence on described standards of performance.
Accomplished: Principal exceeded basic competence on described standards of performance most of the time.
The performance rating: .Developing means the evaluator sees appropriate growth in this area, but the principal has not meet the level of expectation to be considered proficient. Developing is not a bad place to be. Remember this is a growth model, if one is growing appropriately developing is not a bad thing. What one need to do in this situation is continue the appropriate growth, based on the criteria they need to address to become proficient. For a novice principal this is a level of normal expectation. Although developing is not a bad rating, it is not a rating that a principal can continue to stay in. They need to focus on this area until it reaches, at the minimum a level of proficiency.
CONTINUE DEFINTIONS AS WRITTEN
Distinguished: Principal consistently and significantly exceeded basic competence on described standards of performance.

12. Leadership Responsibilities Associated with Purposeful Community
Scoring the rubric
Leadership Responsibilities Associated with Purposeful Community
A Purposeful Community is one with the collective efficacy and capability to develop and use assets to accomplish goals that matter to all community members through agreed upon processes.
Affirmation: Recognizes and celebrates school accomplishment and acknowledges failures.
Developing
Proficient
Accomplished
Distinguished
(Comment Required)
Not Demonstrated
Privately or individually acknowledges successes and failures of:
Students.
Teachers.
Staff.
The school as a whole.
. . . and
Publicly and fairly recognizes the successes and failures of:
Has a plan for systematically and fairly recognizing successes and failures of:
Publicly interprets and communicates:
Failure as temporary and specific.
Success as permanent and pervasive.
Communicates the nature of failures and the need to take action to address them.
Communicates to teachers and staff actions taken and how they contributed to success or failure of school initiatives.
Utilizes the recognition of failure as an opportunity to improve.
Uses successes and failures to increase the belief of teachers and staff in their ability to impact student achievement.
Because this a growth model, when using the rubrics one begins at the developing rating, and them proceeds to proficient and then accomplish to “Hopefully at times” distinguished. So an evaluator would respond to the indicators under developing prior to proceeding to responding to the indicators under proficient and so on. That does not mean that every indicator in a category must be checked prior to moving to the next….Here is an example.

13. Leadership Responsibilities Associated with Purposeful Community
Scoring the rubric
Leadership Responsibilities Associated with Purposeful Community
A Purposeful Community is one with the collective efficacy and capability to develop and use assets to accomplish goals that matter to all community members through agreed upon processes.
Affirmation: Recognizes and celebrates school accomplishment and acknowledges failures.
Developing
Proficient
Accomplished
Distinguished
(Comment Required)
Not Demonstrated
Privately or individually acknowledges successes and failures of:
Students.
Teachers.
Staff.
The school as a whole.
. . . and
Publicly and fairly recognizes the successes and failures of:
Has a plan for systematically and fairly recognizing successes and failures of:
Publicly interprets and communicates:
Failure as temporary and specific.
Success as permanent and pervasive.
Communicates the nature of failures and the need to take action to address them.
Communicates to teachers and staff actions taken and how they contributed to success or failure of school initiatives.
Utilizes the recognition of failure as an opportunity to improve.
Uses successes and failures to increase the belief of teachers and staff in their ability to impact student achievement.
Here is an example…The evaluator has indicated under Developing, that the principal has met the criteria for Developing in every area. They then proceeded to proficient, and they have indicated that the principal has Met all of the criteria with the exception of one (the school as a whole) This clearly gives the principal direction as to what they need to focus more on. Remember this is a growth model and effective feedback is essential to positive professional growth.

14. Artifacts and Evidence
Managing Change
Optimize: Inspires and leads new and challenging innovations.
Not Demonstrated
(Comment Required)
Developing
Proficient
Accomplished
Distinguished
Is not optimistic about the school’s ability to accomplish goals.
Portrays a positive attitude about the ability of teachers and staff to accomplish school goals.
. . . and
Inspires teachers and staff to individually and collectively accomplish school goals
Inspires and motivates teachers and staff to accomplish things they consider to be beyond their grasp.
Promotes perseverance and hope during challenging times.
Comments (At a minimum, raters should explain all “Not Demonstrated” and “Distinguished” ratings. Other comments should provide a rationale for ratings.):
Recommended Actions:
Suggested Evidence or Documentation That May Be Used to Support Rating:
Magnet Evaluation Document
Magnet Brochure/Booklet
EL Monitoring Notebook
Student Monitoring Notebook
Professional Development Plan
Professional Development Notebook
Regular Feedback to Teachers and Staff Regarding Performance
Planning and Leading Professional Development
Single Plan for Student Achievement
Classroom walkthrough data
Monitoring Plan
Artifacts support the principal’s work toward fulfilling individual research-based responsibilities as well as organizational improvement goals. These are some examples of artifacts and can generate rich discussions between the principal and their supervisor.
Artifacts and evidence..What are they and how are they collected ? The evaluation system is designed to be objective. Artifacts are collected throughout the evaluation process. They provide documented support of the principals work toward fulfilling the individual research responsibilities as well as school improvement goals. McREL provides a list to possibly start with, but others can and should be added based on your districts unique setting and expectations. The software allows the principal to forward any documentation/ artifacts directly to the evaluator where they are stored and then used to support the ratings received. Notice also, at the end of each rubric, there is a place for comments. And as you see at a minimum the rater should give comments for Distinguish and Not demonstrated. But they can also comment on any and all ratings. There is also an area in which to write recommended actions, this can be used to assist the principal in enhancing his performance in any area.

15. Evaluator Responsibilities
Know and understand the Principal Leadership Responsibilities.
Participate in training to understand and implement McREL’s Principal Evaluation System.
Supervise the process and ensure that all steps are conducted according to McREL’s Principal Evaluation System.
Identify the principal’s strengths and areas for improvement and make recommendations for improving performance.
Ensure the principal’s Summary Evaluation Rating Form contains accurate information and accurately reflects the principal’s performance.
Assist in the development of and supervise the implementation of professional development plans.
The evaluator responsibilities are…

16. Principal Responsibilities
Know and understand the Principal Leadership Responsibilities.
Understand McREL’s Principal Evaluation System
Prepare for and fully participate in each component of McREL’s Principal Evaluation System.
Gather data, artifacts, and/or evidence to demonstrate performance in relation to leadership responsibilities and progress in attaining goals.
Develop and implement strategies to improve personal performance/attain goals in areas individually or collaboratively identified.
And the principal’s responsibilities begin with the Principal ... Read responsibilities
What is vitally important is that Principal’s and Evaluators know what their responsibilities are for the system to be implemented with Fidelity and to accomplish it’s purpose as a growth model.

17. McREL Principal Evaluation System
Orientation
Self Assessment
Pre Evaluation
Conference
Meeting
Evaluation
Mid-Year
Consolidated
Performance
Assessment
Discussion
End of year
Final Evaluation
Goal Setting
At the orientation, both the principals and evaluators become knowledgeable of the system itself, the components of the Balance Leadership Framework, the rubrics.
The next component is the self evaluation and preliminary goal setting. Followed by the pre-evaluation conference
Process

18. Leadership Responsibilities Associated with Purposeful Community
Scoring the rubric
Leadership Responsibilities Associated with Purposeful Community
A Purposeful Community is one with the collective efficacy and capability to develop and use assets to accomplish goals that matter to all community members through agreed upon processes.
Affirmation: Recognizes and celebrates school accomplishment and acknowledges failures.
Developing
Proficient
Accomplished
Distinguished
(Comment Required)
Not Demonstrated
Privately or individually acknowledges successes and failures of:
Students.
Teachers.
Staff.
The school as a whole.
. . . and
Publicly and fairly recognizes the successes and failures of:
Has a plan for systematically and fairly recognizing successes and failures of:
Publicly interprets and communicates:
Failure as temporary and specific.
Success as permanent and pervasive.
Communicates the nature of failures and the need to take action to address them.
Communicates to teachers and staff actions taken and how they contributed to success or failure of school initiatives.
Utilizes the recognition of failure as an opportunity to improve.
Uses successes and failures to increase the belief of teachers and staff in their ability to impact student achievement.
A principal uses the same rubrics for their self –assessment that is used for both observations and evaluations. .

19. Preliminary Performance Goal Setting Form
From their personal reflects and completion of the self assessment they will determine professional goals for enhancing their practices that will be observable as they address their school or district goals.
Principal Signature:___________________________________ Date:_______________
Supervisor Signature:__________________________________ Date:_______________

20. Mid-year Progress
Using the mid year progress form which is in the software, indicate “P” for progress, (which means moving in the right direction)or “NP” not progressing ( which means that at this mid-point, You are not at the level of progress- deemed adequate enough to earnestly say you are progressing) Or they may mark “NA” which indicates “NO GOAL” was established for this framework component.
At this time, if additional support is needed on the form , the evaluator will indicate what the additional support needed will be, and how it will be given….or what additional evidence is needed…indicate based on your individual situation another goal is needs to be added, or one of your original goals needs to be modified.
** there is a place on the form for each goal and a place for comments or revision

21. Principal Evaluation Home Mapping
Step # 2
Data collection & feedback
Step # 3
Step #6

22. Annual Evaluation Process
#1 Orientation
#2 Self Assessment & Goal Setting
#3 Pre-evaluation Meeting
#4 Mid-Year progress
#5 Consolidated performance assessment
#6 End of Year performance discussion
#7 Final evaluation and goal setting
This slide indicates what needs to be completed at phase of the evaluation process.
The consolidated performance assessment is actually a date set at the very beginning of the process that indicates when all artifacts/documents should be into the evaluator. If for any reason a document that would support the principals efforts and accomplishments are not available until after that date that will be noted and retrieval of that information can be received later.

23. The data tab will provide access to progress and summary reports
Analytics & Reporting
The data tab will provide access to progress and summary reports
Once enabled the system will provide a list of standard reports. Once a report is selected the user will be prompted for parameters. The system will generate PDF, CSV, or RTF reports

24. Questions

25. tschulte@eirc.org or call 856-582-7000
For more information please contact Mr. Thomas Schulte,
Assistant Director of PD at EIRC at:
or call
Thank You