Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/195036
Understanding Your Evaluation "You are your best advocate!" f you learn nothing else, please understand that you are your best advocate when it comes to an effective evaluation," says Debbie Stevens, DSEA's director of Instructional Advocacy, at the recent Component 5 workshops. "Know your rights," she urges members. "Stand up and advocate for the process to work." Understanding Component 5 – Part I gives participants a chance to see exactly how DPASII-Revised, especially the fifth component, student progress, is supposed to work, per state regulations. Members also had a chance to express their frustrations, see how the process is changing this year compared to last year, and to ask questions about their particular situations. They also heard from people who had challenged evaluators who had misused the process. This Part I workshop concentrated on preparing for the Fall Conference, understanding what Group you are in, what student "I measures are available to you, whether or not you are the Teacher of Record for students, and what to consider in order to determine SMART targets. Part II of Understanding Component 5 will be given in the spring and will focus on roster verification, planning for an effective spring conference, deriving your Component 5 rating and your overall Summative rating for DPASIIRevised. The dates are: April 15 in New Castle County; April 17 in Dover; and April 29 in Sussex County Watch for sign-up . information early next year. If you have any questions or concerns about how your evaluator is implementing Component 5, please contact Debbie Stevens at Deborah.Stevens@dsea.org or tollfree at 1-866-734-5834. From left are: Carmen Melendez (standing) and Kim Davies of Milford; John Link (right), Polytech; and Charles Cooper of Appoquinimink (left). Valerie Kaufman (right), an art teacher at William Henry Middle School in Capital, asks about being evaluated on student progress when she has students for only four weeks, not an entire year! Q&A on DPASII- Revised, Component 5 Q: Help! I'm confused about the changes I've heard about regarding DPASII for this year. Where do I start? A: Download the new guides for DPASII-Revised. The classroom teacher and specialist guides are on the Dept. of Education web site at www.doe.k12.de.us/dpasii. And they do include the changes to the process made by the State Board this past summer. For an overview of the changes, check out the September issue of this publication, page 5, or the DPASII web site on www.dsea.org. Q: How do I determine if I am the Teacher of Record? A: As defined in the DPASII Guides, "The Teacher of Record is a full-time teacher who has been assigned the primary responsibility for a student's learning in a course/class, provided the student has been in attendance at least 85% of the time that the class is in session." As you know, just because a student may be "in attendance" at school on a particular day, doesn't mean that he/she attended your class. We urge you to keep your own attendance records to use during the roster identification process. Q: What about Special Education/TAM classrooms? A: It depends on who the Teacher of Record is. Which teacher gives the student a grade? Q: Can one child be assigned to more than one teacher? A: Yes. For example, a student in a middle school or high school setting may be tested in a number of content areas as a result of content area teachers administering Measure B pre-tests and post-tests to their identified student cohorts. 6 October 2013 DSEA ACTION! Q: I am a DCAS teacher (teacher of reading and/or mathematics). How are my students' growth targets set? A: Student DCAS growth targets are determined by the Dept. of Education and are available through the IMS system. There is a change this year for students who achieve a PL4 rating on the fall test. For 2013-2014 DOE has ensured that all students will have instructional scale score growth targets. Thus, instead of higher-performing students having the broad, non-personalized target of remaining within a large achievement band (PL4), DOE identified targets for each individual student based upon their data models which now include three years of data. Q: Something just doesn't seem right about my evaluation. Should I let it go, or do something? A: If something doesn't seem right to you in how you are being evaluated, speak up! Describe the situation to your Association Representative (AR) or DSEA UniServ director. There are strict timelines that often must be observed if you are to preserve your right to grieve, challenge and/or rebut your evaluation, so don't wait. Q: My evaluator says we don't need a conference because he/she already has the student assessment measures determined, as well as growth expectations. What can I do? A: It's time to advocate for your rights. The fall conference is an essential and required part of the Component 5 process. During the conference, the educator and the evaluator should discuss the baseline data to be used when setting the growth goals for the educator's identified students and will www.dsea.org