Bulldog Bulletin
September 4, 2015
Coming Up Next Week
September 7: No School - Labor Day Holiday
September 8: Staff Collaboration 7:30-Library
TLT 3-4:30
PTO 7:00 Library (5th grade attends)
September 10: Cluster 3:05-4:05
September 11: PTO Picnic
Thank you to.....
Thank you to Shelly, Gina, Christy, Alyssa, and Ellen who generously covered classrooms yesterday so I could meet briefly with grade level teams.
Thank you to Lisa Liras for covering in Lisa Younghans' classroom until the sub arrived.
Thank you to Kurt for getting Ellen and Alyssa's office set up.
Thank you for TOIs for supporting NWEA assessments.
Listening Days
Grapeseed
Field Trip Reminder
TLT News
News from GCS
“It takes each of us to make a difference for all of us.”
– Jackie Mutcheson
Thanks for all that you do for our team and the students of GCS!
Teacher Evaluation Handbook
The evaluation committee met on Tuesday, September 1st and finalized the Teacher Evaluation Handbook for the 2015-16 school year. The revised document is attached, with new language in red, bold font and language that has been eliminated in strikethrough font. This is being provided so that you know (and may share) with your teachers where the changes can be found. If you would like Angela or Alan or Tammy to assist in walking through this document with your teachers, please contact one of them. Rationale for these changes follows in the bulleted list below:
Handbook Revisions:
a. Page 5 & 6 – Changes relate to including the student growth piece in teacher effectiveness ratings (per IN statute) and some of the changes related to the GCS sustainability plan
b. Page 7 – Changes in how an initial practitioner’s license can now be renewed (based upon a new statute that went into effect January 2015)
c. Page 9 – Added a paragraph related to the TAP threshold for a teacher needing an intensive assistance plan. This is a guideline from NIET/ TAP, and it allows for intensive support to a teacher who may have a score lower than a 2.0 in either teacher performance or student results. This is a critical piece to the plan now that student achievement is included in the effectiveness rating.
d. Page 10 –This adds specificity related to how to factor student achievement results into the teacher effectiveness ratings. This reflects the metrics that have been used in GCS to assign bonuses to teachers, and also represents the consensus of the committee after several discussions on this topic.
e. Page 10 – 11 – You will see in the draft that we have not changed the ranges for the effectiveness ratings. Based upon our conversations last year and the fact that we will now be adding the student achievement factor, it is the committee’s desire to keep the ranges the same for this year.
f. Page 11 – The changes under the section ‘Ineffective Teacher’ are required by statute and must be included in our district plan that will be sent to the IDOE.
g. Page 12 – The proposed section related to master teacher evaluations is NEW. This language is an attempt to differentiate the performance evaluations for master teachers, based upon their various roles/responsibilities at different levels. For 2015-16, it allows a master teacher to elect to include cluster observation as a part of their performance evaluation.
h. Appendix – Appendix E is a draft of a new format for Intensive Assistance Plan. The committee believes that this is a better version than the one we have used in the past. The intent is the same, but it provides more clarity.