Round Table
Discussion- Evaluating
Arts Teachers
William Kohut, Principal- Denver School of the Arts
Dr. Mark Hudson- Director of Arts- Denver Public Schools
Jim Palmarini- Director of Educational Policy,
Editor, Teaching Theatre Journal, Educational Theatre
Association
Evaluation and Observations
of Arts Teachers
O How do administrators manage an
observation system that is created for a
general classroom environment, when
observing an arts classroom?
O What is different about an arts teachers
evaluation than an academic teachers
evaluation?
Denver Public SchoolsFramework for Effective Teaching
Observation Rubric
Performance level
Characteristics
Not Meeting



Non-existence / absence of behaviors
Few students
Negative examples
Approaching




Inconsistent / sometimes
Some students
Lacks intentionality
Teacher directed
Effective




Most of the time
Most students
Purposeful / intentional
Teacher facilitated


All students
Student ownership
Distinguished
(In addition to
“Effective”)
LEAP Measures
30%
10%
10%
50%
Appendices
• CTE Skilled
Trades &
Technical
Studies
• CTE STEM,
Design &
Information
Technology
• Interventionists
• PE and Dance
• Music
• Drama
• Visual Arts
7
What to look for in an Arts
Classroom….
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Students make their own connections to the lesson objective
The teacher invites student to collaborative on the learning goals
Multiple ideas and solutions
Atmosphere of exploration
Improvising
Students making choices based on a variety of criteria
Persistence
Self-assessment
Intentionality
Going back and forth between parts and wholes
Observing multiple points of view
Collaboration
A variety of good questions and creative solutions to problems
How do we find the DPS
“LEAP Document”?
http://leap.dpsk12.org/
Educator Evaluation in the Arts: a
Colorado Perspective
Half of the evaluation will be based on the five Quality
Standards that measure professional practice: content
knowledge, establish classroom environment, facilitate
learning, reflect on practice, and demonstrate leadership. The
Quality Standards can be measured using the state-developed
rubric that identifies the practices necessary to achieve the
standards.
The sixth Quality Standard, student growth, will account for the
other half of the evaluation. The standard will be based on
multiple measures of student growth or student learning over
time, not a single assessment. Teachers must have a collective
attribution student growth score and at least one individual
attribution student growth score. If a teacher teaches a subject
that takes the statewide summative exam, it must be used as
one of the multiple measures.
Individual attribution refers to student
learning outcomes on a measure that are
attributed to an individual licensed person
(e.g. reading student learning outcomes for a
1st grade teacher’s students).
Collective attribution refers to student
learning outcomes on a measure that are
attributed to two or more licensed persons
(e.g. 10th grade math TCAP growth– all
secondary math teachers in school).
NOTE: The Collective Attribution piece is receiving the majority of
attention in the non-tested subjects.
*For illustration purposes, this chart reflects sample
weighting only
Student Assessment in Arts Education: Arts
Education Associations and the Colorado
Department of Education – a process
• Colorado Content Collaboratives Project
• Research existing assessments – sources
• Content Collaborative Committees;
Technical Steering Committee
• Assessment Review Tool developed by the
National Center for Assessment in
partnership with CDE
• Assessment Resource Bank
Assessment Review Tool
Assessment Example - Music
Assessment Example - Drama
Assessment Example - Dance
Assessment Example – Visual Arts
Denver Public Schools Peer
Observer Process
•
DPS hires and trains experienced Peer Observers in all
disciplines. Requirements include extensive training and
evaluating in the LEAP process, teaching certification and
endorsement in the subject area, ELA professional
development, a minimum of 5 years teaching experience in an
urban setting, experience with increasing student achievement,
experience in supporting and developing practice of other
teachers, etc.
•
DPS has 1 .5 Peer Observers in Visual Art and 2 in Performing
Arts. Each educator is observed twice during the year, with an
accompanying collaborative feedback session and assigned
ratings. In tandem with the principal’s
observations/evaluations, this becomes the core of the
educator’s yearly evaluation (the 50% Professional Practices).
Finding from the 2012 EdTA-Utah State
Survey of Theatre Education
in United States High Schools
Almost all participating
administrators (99 %) indicated that
teachers were evaluated directly by
the school principal
 Assistant school administrators were
involved with evaluation (39%), as
were department chairs (10%)
 Schools rarely used peer assessment
(3%) or student assessment (2%)

“Is theatre teacher evaluation linked at least in part to test scores or other
assessments of student achievement?
“How well trained do you feel you are in each of the following areas (based on
education and experience)?
College, Career, and Citizenship Readiness Coalition (CCCRC)
Consensus Statement on Teacher Evaluation to Senate HELP Committee
Each student deserves access to highly
effective teachers in every subject. In turn, all
teachers deserve a fair and accurate
assessment of their skills. Teacher
effectiveness is dependent on accurate and
fair evaluations based on multiple measures,
including their students’ performance in the
subjects they teach.
What are your questions?
Here are some to get you started…
What is a Student Learning
Objective (SLO)?
How is teacher evaluation in
an arts classroom different
than in other academic areas?
What kind of differentiated
teacher evaluation tools
should be employed in the
arts?
What kind of evaluation
practices are going on in your
states, districts, and
classrooms?
Who is doing your
evaluation and with what
frequency?
What percentage of your
evaluation is based on
student achievement in
tested subject areas?
What percentage your
evaluation is based on
observation? How much on
student growth measures?
What is the relationship
between SLOs, rubrics, and
standards?
Have you received any
training around newly
mandated evaluations?
Do you think that your
evaluation is a fair assessment
of your teaching?
Has the recent emphasis on
student assessment and its
effect on educator evaluation
caused you to shift your
instructional practices in the
classroom? If so, in what way?
How would you evaluate this
session (just kidding)?
Thank you for listening and
sharing!