Joint Educator Evaluation Committee

The JEEC met today to review the outcomes of JPAS for the 2012-13 year and approve changes to the administrator and licensed evaluations to meet new state law.  You were well represented by Marilyn Kurt from Joel P. Jensen Middle, Paul Noble from Copper Hills, and Debbie Atwood from Falcon Ridge.  Laura Black and I were also in attendance.

Of the 1823 evaluations done this year, 1% were Not Effective, 5% were Minimally Effective, 55% were Effective, and 39% were Highly Effective.  Excellent teachers work in Jordan District!

For the new administrator evaluation, Jordan District is using the state model based on the Utah Educational Leadership Standards.  There are six standards.  The components of the evaluation are setting goals, providing evidence of progress toward goals, observations by Administrators of Schools, student growth, and stakeholder input.  This new system is more valid than the current administrator evaluation.

For licensed employees, the observation portion of JPAS, Domains 1-3, will remain the same.  Domains 4 and 5 will be changing to match the Utah Effective Teaching Standards (UETS).  It will be more reflective and will be called the UETS-based JPAS.  Some of the indicators will remain the same, but others have been modified or added.  These indicators have previously been "yes" or "no".  In the UETS-based JPAS, these indicators will have four levels similar to the rubrics shown in the UETS document link:  "not effective", "minimally effective", "effective", and "highly effective".  The outcome of these two Domains in the past has been "Met Standard" or "Did Not Meet Standard".  In the UETS-based JPAS, these Domains will have the bars just as the other three Domains do showing a level of effectiveness.  To earn "highly effective" for Domains 4 and 5 will not be easy.  This could cause overall JPAS scores to go down.

There is a timeline for the changes as directed by the state.  In the 2013-14 school year, districts are to pilot the new evaluation and have the system normed for statistical validity and reliability.  In order to do that, approximately 1/3 of schools in Jordan District will pilot these changes in the coming school year.  The number and names of those schools is yet to be determined.  The district is going to provide an optional 2-hour professional development paid at inservice rate to all teachers wishing to learn more about the changes and how best to prepare.  In the 2014-15 school year, all schools will be implementing the changes.  Districts are allowed to modify the evaluation between 2013-14 and 2014-15 as needed based on data from the pilot.  In the pilot year, teachers who have a full JPAS will be given a traditional JPAS evaluation report and information on the new portions.  The evaluation report will not change until the 2014-15 school year.

The Interim JPAS on the other years will remain formative and reflective, but the checklist will change to match the UETS.

The one change that teachers need to be prepared for is that you will NOT be given 24 hours to collect documentation you do not have when you go to the interview after the two observations.  This is because there are now four rating categories, so you will be in the "not effective" category if you do not show documentation for one of the indicators.  UEA has an Evaluation Organizing Project underway, and several JEA members will be trained by UEA at Leadership Academy next week on the changes to evaluations.  JEA will be assisting you to be prepared for the interview and be able to support your work within each indicator.

Two other portions that must be included in the evaluation system by 2014-15 are student growth and stakeholder input.  USOE is still working on how much weight these will have in combination with the UETS-based JPAS to arrive at a final evaluation rating.  Once more information is available on these topics, it will be posted.