Educator Evaluation e-Newsletter
May 2014
Inside this issue
 Implementation Spotlight
 New Resources
 Preparing for Formative and
Summative Performance Evaluations
 Update: Student and Staff Feedback
Model Surveys
 What are your S.M.A.R.T. goals?
 Impact Rating Guidance
 Questions from the Field
 Mark Your Calendar
Implementation Spotlight: Educator Evaluation with
Teacher Teams is a Powerful Combination
New Resources
 Rating Educator Impact—The Student
Impact Rating
 DDM Resources for CVTE Educators
 DDMs Implementation Briefs:

Considerations for Special
Education

Considerations for English
Language Learners
Implementation Spotlight: DDM Lessons Learned from
the Career/Vocational Technical Education Community
This month’s spotlight focuses on the work being
done on district-determined measures (DDMs)
in Massachusetts schools and districts with
Career/Vocational Technical Education (CVTE)
programs. For the last several months, ESE, in
partnership with West Ed, has collaborated with
Massachusetts CVTE teachers and leaders
throughout the Commonwealth to put together
a collection of resources designed to help
districts move forward with DDM planning and
implementation.
Engaging Educators: Earlier this year, ESE and
West Ed engaged CVTE educators in the
collection, review, and sharing of CVTE
assessments for possible use as DDMs. A critical
part of this process was convening meetings for
CVTE educators and administrators to facilitate
collaboration on DDMs across CVTE
programs/career clusters, districts, and regions.
Expert educators representing all 11 career
clusters were included. After the meetings, we
conducted follow-up interviews and provided
opportunities for resource-sharing with a
number of CVTE leaders actively engaged in
DDM planning in their districts.
Key Messages: At these meetings and during
follow-up interviews, key messages and
recurring themes emerged. Most notable among
these was the belief that the DDM initiative
afforded the opportunity for educators and
administrators to specify the knowledge and
skills most important for students to learn and
consider how best to measure them. CVTE
educators suggested that they were more
confident about the DDM development and
implementation process after seeing that their
instructional priorities were the foundation
for DDM identification. Dr. Mike Ananis,
Executive Director of the Rindge School of
Technical Arts, took the first step in working
with his educators to develop DDMs by asking
them to focus on their critical content, and
delivered this message: ”I want you to take
your juniors and tell me the most important
things you want your students to know this
year, and then we will work our way
backwards to decide what to include in a pretest and post-test.”
Preparing for Formative and
Summative Performance
Evaluations
CVTE educators also spoke to using the DDM
initiative as an opportunity to improve
teaching practices. Michelle Roche, Vocational
Director at Minuteman Regional Technical
Vocational High School, highlighted this point:
“This high school has embraced the
opportunity to improve teaching and learning
through dialogue across disciplines. In
particular CVTE instructors have appreciated
discussions about student learning with
principals and performance evaluators and
sharing of best practices with colleagues.”
CVTE educators acknowledged having a long
history of using both traditional and nontraditional assessments to measure student
progress. Tom Hickey, SuperintendentDirector of South Shore Vocational-Technical
High School, reminded colleagues to take a
practical approach that builds on the great
work already happening in schools: “Let’s
keep this process simple, draw from our best
assessment practices in CVTE classrooms, and
work together to identify those measures best
suited to move the field forward.”
As districts approach the end of the
2013–14 school year, evaluators will be
conducting summative performance
evaluations for educators at the end of
their evaluation cycle. Educators should
receive ratings on each of the four
performance Standards, as well as an
overall summative performance
rating. The performance rating guidance
published last spring, “Rating Educator
Performance: how to determine
Summative Performance Ratings”
provides basic guidance on how to
determine summative performance
ratings in accordance with the
regulations, as well as a series of
scenario-driven worksheets that give
evaluators an opportunity to familiarize
themselves with the process of
determining Summative Performance
Ratings.
Educators halfway through a 2-year selfdirected growth plan will receive
formative evaluations. Similar to the
summative performance evaluation,
educators will receive ratings on each of
the four Standards and an overall
performance rating; however, formative
evaluation ratings default to the
educator’s prior summative
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May 2014 ● Educator Evaluation e-Newsletter
CVTE Resource Now Available:
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Engaging in conversations with CVTE educators throughout the state resulted in resources that
provide targeted guidance for schools and districts at each stage of DDM development,
including actual examples from Massachusetts educators during each stage. In-depth profiles
of Attleboro Public Schools, Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical School, and Tri-County
Regional Vocational Technical School are featured to showcase the actual processes these
districts used or are using to develop and/or select their DDMs. In addition, samples of currently
used assessments, submitted by schools and districts with CVTE programs from across the state
that could be used as DDMs are included. While these resources describe work underway in MA
CVTE schools and districts, the recommendations, ideas, and processes will benefit all districts.
performance ratings, unless significant
evidence demonstrates otherwise.
RTTT districts and charter schools will
report summative or formative
evaluation ratings for all educators
through the June EPIMS collection. NonRTTT districts will submit summative or
formative evaluation ratings for at least
50% of educators.
To view these resources, visit http://www.doe.mass.edu/edeval/ddm/cvte-resources.html.
Update: ESE Student and Staff Feedback Model Surveys
As highlighted in the March and April newsletters, beginning next year, teachers and administrators
will start collecting and using feedback about their practice as part of the 5-step cycle of evaluation.
In July 2014, ESE will publish model surveys to assist districts: a student feedback survey for
classroom teachers aligned to the Standards and Indicators of Effective Teaching, and a staff
feedback survey for school-level leaders aligned to the Standards for Effective Administrative
Leadership Practice. The ESE surveys are optional: districts may adopt or adapt these surveys, or
choose to use other feedback instruments. ESE recently completed the second (and final) pilot
administration of student and staff surveys in eight districts and one Collaborative.
ESE has spent the last ten months developing, piloting, and refining the model feedback surveys in
collaboration with educators throughout the state. In addition to rigorous psychometric analyses,
items have been evaluated by a diverse set of stakeholder groups across several forums:
 Teams of educators, including PreK-12 teachers, school administrators, and district
leaders were convened to review and provide feedback on pilot survey items and
feedback guidance.
 Educators in pilot districts provided feedback on survey forms, individual items, and
overall guidance through ESE site-visits and post-administration online feedback forms.
 ESE completed cognitive interviews with students in grades K-12 to ensure that students
understood the meaning and purpose of survey items for their grade levels.
We want YOUR feedback!
There is still an opportunity to play a critical role in shaping the ESE model feedback surveys.
Upcoming engagement opportunities include:
 2 weeks only (May 21-June 3): Complete ESE’s item feedback survey here. The survey
is open to educators across the state to provide input on which items are most
actionable and will best support educators in making changes to their practice.
 Join one of our Expert Review Webinars. Learn about the survey pilot project and
ESE’s upcoming guidance for incorporating feedback into evaluation. The webinars will
include an opportunity to provide feedback on ESE's guidance and give suggestions for
future implementation resources ESE may provide to districts and educators. Register
to attend one of the webinars here.
Impact Rating Guidance
ESE has released a guide for educators and evaluators to use in the determination of Student
Impact Ratings that meet the regulatory requirements, “Rating Educator Impact: The Student
Impact Rating.” In addition to a review of the basic components of a Student Impact Rating, sample
Student Impact Rating scenarios are included in the appendix. While initial Student Impact Ratings
will be determined following the 2015-16 school year, the impact rating guidance offers a preview
of the process and describes how the two ratings that comprise the MA educator evaluation
framework (the Summative Performance Rating and the Student Impact Rating) intersect.
The impact rating guidance is a companion to the performance rating guidance published last
spring to support educators and evaluations in the determination of Summative Performance
Ratings (see sidebar).
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What are your
S.M.A.R.T. goals?
In response to feedback from
educators across the Commonwealth,
ESE is developing resources to
support the development of
S.M.A.R.T. student learning and
professional practice goals for
teachers, specialized instructional
support personnel (SISP), and
administrators. We need your help!
ESE would like to showcase goals
developed and refined by MA
educators. We are collecting
S.M.A.R.T. goal examples and
information about the goal
development process from teachers,
SISP, and administrators across the
Commonwealth to inform the
development of S.M.A.R.T. goal
resources. In addition to sharing the
goal statement, educators will also
have the opportunity to share why
they selected and developed the
particular goal, what types of
evidence they used to demonstrate
progress toward the goal, how they
demonstrated that they achieved the
goal, and how they might revise the
goal moving forward. The Educator
Evaluation Team will review the
submissions and follow-up with
educators for additional information
as needed.
We encourage you to submit your
student learning goals and/or
professional practice goals by
visiting this link.
May 2014 ● Educator Evaluation e-Newsletter
Mark Your Calendar
Student and Staff Feedback,
Expert Review Webinars
June 4th from 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
June 5th from 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
June 9th from 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sign up for one of the webinars
here.
Questions from the Field
1. What educator evaluation data is required to be reported to ESE through the Education
Personnel Information Management System (EPIMS) end-of-year collection?
ESE will collect educator evaluation data through the EPIMS beginning in June. RTTT districts and
charter schools are expected to report rating data for 100% of educators. Non-RTTT districts are
expected to report for 50% of educators. Non-RTTT Commonwealth charter schools are not required
to submit educator evaluation rating data and may only do so if the school has implemented an
evaluation system that is consistent with the evaluation regulations.
For more information on what is required to be reported and how districts will report each data
point, please see the updated Quick Reference Guide on Data Collection.
2. What is required to include in the June 1st submission?
DDMs “Office Hours”
March – July
Hosted across the state.
See the full schedule here.
By June 1st districts are required to submit their DDM Implementation Plans, which include a list of
DDMs that will be implemented in the 2014-2015 school year. The implementation plan template
asks districts to identify the DDM name, grades and subjects covered by the measure, the type of
assessment and the number of educators that will use the measure. You can download the template
for the submission here.
The plan districts will submit by June 1st, should represent the district’s work to date. ESE
understands that some districts will continue to revise and update their plans before the beginning of
the 2014-2015 school year. Along with the implementation plan, districts may use the submission
template to request an extension for specific grades and subject areas for which they are not
prepared to implement DDMs. Extension requests must include a plan that identifies key personnel,
timelines, and resources the district will allocate to identify two measures for every licensed
educator. For more information about June 1st submission and the extension request process, read
the Commissioner’s memorandum, dated 3/18/14, here.
Questions or Comments are always welcome at
EducatorEvaluation@doe.mass.edu
Contact the Educator Evaluation Team
Claire Abbott, Evaluation Training Program, Implementation Support, Student and Staff Feedback
Susan Berglund, Evaluation Liaison to Level 3 and Level 4 Districts
Kate Ducharme, Implementation Support, Student and Staff Feedback
Kat Johnston, Communications, Peer Assistance & Review, Implementation Support
Simone Lynch, Assistant Director, Office of Educator Policy, Preparation and Leadership
Ron Noble, Evaluation Project Lead, District-Determined Measures, Student & Staff Feedback
Craig Waterman, Assessment Coordinator, District-Determined Measures
The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is committed to preparing all students for success in the world that awaits them
after high school. Whether you are a student, parent, educator, community leader, taxpayer, or other stakeholder interested in education,
we invite you to join us in this endeavor.
"To strengthen the Commonwealth's public education system so that every student is prepared to succeed in postsecondary education,
compete in the global economy, and understand the rights and responsibilities of American citizens, and in so doing, to close all
proficiency gaps."
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Strengthen curriculum, instruction, and assessment
Improve educator effectiveness
Turn around the lowest performing districts and schools
Use data and technology to support student performance
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May 2014 ● Educator Evaluation e-Newsletter