Implementing Evaluation Systems
The Colorado Legacy Foundation believes that increased student achievement for all Colorado students requires effective leaders in every school, effective educators in every classroom, and healthy and engaged students who come to school ready to learn.
In order to help districts prepare for and implement new evaluation systems, the Colorado Legacy Foundation worked with three Colorado districts who recently revised their evaluation process. Although these districts implemented their new systems prior to passage of Senate Bill 10-191 (SB 191), the process that each district went through is informative. We hope that highlighting these districts and the lessons they learned along the way will help other districts leverage their success and avoid re-living their most difficult challenges.
Three Case Studies
Brighton 27J – Brighton educators and administration agreed that their evaluation system was a “dog and pony show”. In 2009 they revised their system, with terrific buy-in from the union, to more meaningfully support teachers.
Eagle – Eagle has spent nearly a decade developing their evaluation system and aligning it to instruction, assessment, and professional development.
Harrison – In 2007, Harrison hired a new superintendent who instituted a new evaluation system along with rigorous instructional supports, interim assessments and a pay-for-performance system.
Highlights of Findings from Case Studies
This document is a summarized compilation of the actions each district took to implement new evaluation systems.
District Leader’s Guides
Guide: Preparing Your District to Implement a New Educator Evaluation System
This guide has been developed from the lessons learned from Brighton, Eagle, and Harrison. District leaders should use it in conjunction with the above case studies to prepare the district for a new evaluation system.
Download the PDF.
Guide: Communicating Effectively with Stakeholders
This guide has been developed from the lessons learned from Brighton, Eagle, and Harrison. It provides helpful information to district leaders on effectively communicating with stakeholders when implementing a new educator evaluation system.
Guide: Selecting and Using Multiple Measures to Evaluate Educators
This guide has been developed from the lessons learned from Brighton, Eagle, and Harrison. It provides helpful information to district leaders on selecting and using multiple measures when implementing a new educator evaluation system.
Guide: Determining Levels of Performance for Teachers and Principals
This guide builds on the previous guide on Multiple Measures and explains how districts will place educators into four levels of performance (ineffective, partially effective, effective, and highly effective) based on student growth and observations of professional practice.
Colorado’s New Educator Effectiveness System: Advice from National Experts
On June 9, 2011, Colorado invited experts from across the nation to provide advice about the implementation of S.B. 10-191, the groundbreaking law intended to transform teacher and principal evaluation in the state. The experts were asked to provide insight based on their professional experiences as administrators, consultants, and researchers in the field of educational evaluation.
This report summarizes the conclusions of the experts and is intended to inform the state, school districts, and schools as they seek to implement S.B. 10-191 in the best way possible.
