Carroll Schools Creating New Teacher Evaluation Process

By Tim Ebner
Capital News Service

Maryland schools are moving closer to overhauling the way that they evaluate teachers, putting more emphasis on student performance and test scores.

The new evaluation system is currently being tested in Baltimore City and six counties, and will be expanded to the rest of the state in June.

Supporters of the new system, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, said the change was necessary because Maryland did not have a statewide teacher evaluation system that took student performance into account.

Under the new system, half of a teacher's evaluation score will depend on student performance and the other half on professional development.

According to Carroll County Public School Superintendent Steve Guthrie, last year Carroll County developed an evaluation process for the professional development half.

"We're looking for instructional methodology consistent with student learning," Guthrie said. "We came up with a more traditional model where we go in the classroom and observe, look for certain things and then have a post teacher conference for discussion and feedback."

It's the other half of the evaluation process--evaluating teachers based on student performance, that is more controversial, Guthrie said.

"It's tied to measuring a student's growth over time," Guthrie said. "There is no single measure we'll be able to use."

In the seven districts where the new evaluation models are being tested--Baltimore city and Baltimore, Charles, Kent, Prince George's, Queen Anne's and St. Mary's counties--supporters said feedback from teachers has been positive.

But teachers' unions said close monitoring of the new program will be needed as it is expanded to other counties at the end of this school year.

While Carroll County can develop its own evaluation model, it must comply with a state law passed in 2010 that sparked a complete overhaul of the system.

Teacher evaluations are used to determine pay increases and promotions.

Right now, the state rates teachers on the basis of principal observation, professional experience and the quality of their course material.

As the changes take effect, continual review will be needed to ensure that each district develops a sound evaluation model, said Betty Weller, vice president of the Maryland State Education Association, the state's largest teachers union.

"I suspect that we are going to learn more things when all 24 districts are piloted," Weller said.

Weller also co-chairs the Maryland Council for Educator Effectiveness, a panel appointed by O'Malley to guide the development of a statewide evaluation system.

Though the MCEE is scheduled to issue its final set of recommendations about the new system in June, Weller said she wants the council's oversight to continue indefinitely.

"My concern is that we don't call this a finished product this year, but that we continue to monitor and watch the new evaluation model for several years," she said.

In 2010, the state won a competitive $250 million grant, known as Race to the Top, awarded to 11 states and the District of Columbia.

Race to the Top funds are being used to revamp the teacher evaluation system, recruit and retain qualified teachers, fix low performing schools and prepare students for college and the workplace.

"People need to understand just how ambitious these timelines are, and how massive the undertaking is," Weller said.

Beginning in June, all local school districts will have approximately a year to develop and test their own model for evaluation on a small group of teachers. In July 2013, all teachers will be evaluated under the new model.

If a county does not create its own model, it will automatically adopt the state's default framework.

But that option is not necessarily a good fit for individual counties, Weller said.

"I tell them [district leaders] that you don't want to take the state model ... it is not going to focus on the specific needs of the district," she said.

Gable said she is confident that district and union leaders will work to develop their own evaluation models.

"This cannot happen without collaboration," she said. "We've come quite a distance in the last six months, and we'll continue to work collaboratively."

Guthrie said Carroll County still has work to do to get a complete system in place.

"We still have a long way to go to get something we believe is workable," Guthrie said. "I don't know if the state model is workable in carroll county."

Westminster Patch local editor Kym Byrnes contributed to this story.