PEER REVIEW
CEDART
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS OF IOWA
AUGUST 7, 2014
EVALUATION INTENT
Collaborative process to support professional growth
Conversations and reflection focus on Continuous
Improvement
Summative Assessment based on the formal and
other informal observations, quick visits and
walkthroughs, as well as supporting documents or
artifacts
All teachers will be part of a Peer Review Team when
developing their IPDP.
RESEARCH BASED
If practitioners collaborate in a constructive and meaningful way
by:
• Focusing on improving teaching and student learning;
• Meeting regularly with thoughtfully planned agendas, minutes,
and concise follow-up actions;
• Planning lessons, practicing lessons, debriefing lessons; organizing,
analyzing, and summarizing data to plan instruction; solving
problems related to student learning, reading, reflecting, and
sharing articles that support learning goals;
And
• School leaders monitor, support, and participate in the
collaborative process to ensure that efforts are focused on
student learning and on district and building goals;
Then teaching and student learning will improve.
Source: Iowa Department of Education www.educateiowa.gov
RESEARCH BASED
Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional Capital:
Transforming Teaching in Every School. New York, NY: Teachers
College Press.
Harvard Graduate School of Education (n.d). A User’s Guide to
Peer Assistance and Review. Cambridge, MA: Author.
Goldstein, J. (2004). Making Sense of Distributed Leadership: The
Case of Peer Assistance and Review. Educational Evaluation
and Policy Analysis, 26(2), 173-197 (ERIC Journal Number
EJ737147)
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/detail?accno=EJ737147
PEER REVIEW
(ATTACHING MEANING)
Part of Education Reform Legislation Iowa Code 284.6(8)
and 284.8(1)
Extension of PLC work with intent being conversations and
reflection focused on continuous improvement
Collaborative process to support professional growth
Already doing with Individual Professional Development
Plan (IPDP) – now a structured action plan and time to
collaborate
Non evaluative annual review of every teacher, every year,
conducted by other teachers.
Not tied to summative evaluation.
PEER REVIEW TEAM
• All certified
teachers
• 2-6 professional
colleagues
• Common grade
level, content or
certification
• Administrator
helps identify
team if needed
Team
Goals
• Teachers
choose their
own area of
growth aligned
with SIP and IA
Teaching
Standards
• Multiple
authentic
sources of data
such as
classroom visits,
videotaped
lessons, review
of course
materials and
reflective
conversations
Collaborate
CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE
INSTRUCTION
Student Centered Classrooms
Teaching For Understanding
Assessment For Learning
Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum
Teaching for Learner Differences
LINKING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS TO
THE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
LINKING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS TO
THE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Teaching for Learner Differences
LINKING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS TO
THE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
LINKING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS TO
THE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE
INSTRUCTION
Student Centered Classrooms
Teaching For Understanding
Assessment For Learning
Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum
Teaching for Learner Differences
PEER REVIEW FEEDBACK
• Survey of All Teaching Staff – May, 2014
• Monitor implementation
•
•
•
•
•
Providing information about the process - communication
Selecting the team
How did team set goals
Were the goals/action steps revised?
What action steps…. Peer review
• Gather feedback on the benefits and challenges
My administrator
chose my team
Struggled to find a
team
Teamed with job alike
from other buildings
Chose my current
PLC group
Chose building
colleagues not on job
alike team
Chose my building job
alike team – grade
level, certification,
content area
00
When picking my Peer Review team I… (Choose any
that apply)
50
00
Elementary
Middle
50
High
00
Other (ELSC/Off Site)
50
0
Didn't really
understand this
process
Revisited the Action
Steps several times
and modified as
needed
Set realistic timelines
Received support
from building
administrator
deciding on the steps
Added some action
steps of my own
Developed them with
my team
400
To determine the Action Steps in my IPDP I…
(Choose any that apply)
350
300
250
Elementary
200
Middle
High
150
Other (ELSC/Off Site)
100
50
0
Most developed with
Their team and set
Realistic timelines.
Peer Review Team time was
scheduled during some early
dismissal time.
Peer observations/classroom
observations were encouraged
and supported.
Materials and/or funding were
provided as needed.
Support was given when
developing our action plan.
Team meeting time was provided
during contract hours.
Power Point was shared and
discussed.
How was the Peer Review process supported at my building?
(Choose any that apply)
350
300
250
Elementary
200
Middle
150
High
100
Other (ELSC/Off Site)
50
0
The District-prepared
Power Point was shared
and discussed
Team Meeting Time
Peer Observations were
The opportunity for Peer Observations was supported by classroom coverage (Choose any
that apply)
180
160
140
120
Elementary
100
Middle
80
High
60
Other (ELSC/Off Site)
40
20
Didn't choose to do a
peer observation
By a Substitute
No opportunity
provided
By Colleagues
By using own prep
time
By Administrator
0
Did not do a peer observa
By colleagues
By using prep-time
Participation in professional
development courses related to goal
area
Videotaped lessons
Reflective conversations about team
goal area (such as engagement
strategies, differentiation, formative
assessments, etc.)
Peer Observation/Classroom visits
Book Study
PLC discussion topics
What action steps did you use in your peer review? –
(Choose any that apply)
300
250
200
Elementary
150
Middle
High
100
Other (ELSC/Off Site)
50
0
Reflective conversations
PLC Discussion topics
Peer Observations
SURVEY – OPEN ENDED RESPONSES
• Celebrations:
• Gaining new perspectives and practices by
collaborating with colleagues. It’s like our PLC.
• Working toward a common goal has been
wonderful. It gave us a clear focus.
• It has been helpful to watch other teachers teach
the same content as me in a different format. It
changed how I teach.
• Reflective discussion with peers about our teaching,
data analysis
• Meeting with job-alikes from other buildings.
SURVEY – OPEN ENDED RESPONSES
• Challenges:
• We turned it in and it has never been discussed in our
building since.
• I don’t feel that the peer review process was implemented
• Didn’t feel that it was valuable because it wasn’t used as it
could have been.
• We were unable to accomplish this.
The intent of Peer Review is not to add one
more thing but to embed professional
development into what we are already doing.
Working in PLC’s we will continue to refine and
reflect in a more formal manner with supports in
place. As a district, Cedar Rapids continually
strives to be leaders in doing what we know is
best practice and keeping the focus on
impacting student learning.
*What structures have you used in
your district/school to facilitate the
Peer Review Process?
USING COLLABORATIVE LANGUAGE
Celebrate
Validate
Stretch
Differentiated Coaching/Mentoring Framework
(Based on: A Conceptual Framework for Differentiated Coaching from the New Teacher Center)
Instructive
Collaborative
Facilitative
CT
CT
CT
Coaching
Stance
Directs, provides
information, and
suggestions based on
needs and data, connects
to rationale
Coach influences rather than
dominates, coach and
teacher work together to
analyze data and plan
solutions
Coach facilitates process or
discussion framework
through questioning, teacher
does most of the talking and
self-reflection
Coach Question
or Discussion
Example
How will you use ____
strategy with our struggling
learners?
Let’s brainstorm some ______
strategies that will meet the
learning need of our
struggling learners.
What does the data show as
learning needs of our
struggling learners? What are
the instructional
implications?
Provide student work
exemplars, specific
strategies, or policies
Co-analyze student work &
data, co-develop lesson
plans, co-observe and
provide feedback
Use processes and
purposeful questioning to
facilitate, listen to teacher
response
General Flow
Coach Action
Example
COLLABORATIVE LANGUAGE
What would it
look like if…
I’ve noticed
when you…
the students…
How do you
think the
lesson went
and why?
How did you
decide…
What did you
do to make
the lesson so
successful?
I’m curious to
know more
about…
General Conversation and Questioning Stems: A Few
Favorites
(New Teacher Center)
Paraphrase
 What I hear you saying is…
 As I listen to you, I’m hearing…
 I’m hearing many things including…
Clarify
 Would you tell me more about…?
 It would help me understand if I had
an example of…
 Tell me what you mean when you…
Mediational Questions
 What’s another way we might…?
 What would it look like if we…?
 What sort of an impact might there
be if…?
 What might you see happening in
your classroom if…?
Non-Judgmental Responses
 What did you do in the planning and
teaching to see so many students
improve their learning data?
 How did it work when you tried…?
 It sounds like you have a number of
ideas to try. It will be exciting see
what works best for you and the
students.
₪
VIDEO
• What coaching language was used?
• How did it enhance the conversation?
• What are we already doing to support peer review
and collaborative conversations?
• How could we build on the use of collaborative
language in our peer review process?
• NextSteps…
•
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbrITzGgApA
What evidence do we have of the learning?
How do we respond if they don’t learn?
Have already learned?
HOW do we know if they have learned it?
What do we want all Students
To learn, know and be able to do?
Cassandra Erkens, 2008
Anam Cara Consulting, Inc
http://www.anamcaraconsulting.com
Process for Common
Assessments Cycle (C.
Erkens)
Identify the learning target
Conversation and Questioning Stems
(New Teacher Center & Building Teachers’ Capacity for Success)
What do you want your students to know or be able to do?
What does data show as a needed learning target for us to focus?
What will it look like or sound like if a student is proficient with this learning
target?
Let’s consider creating a rubric to clarify proficiency for this learning target.
What are the scaffold skills students need leading to and following the
learning target?





Design formative and
summative assessments
How will we assess what students are learning?
What’s another way students can demonstrate what they know,
understand, or are able to do?
How will we use the information from this assessment?



Instruction and ongoing
assessment
Do we foresee any possible learning barriers that we need to proactively
plan for?
How will we plan for students at various readiness levels?
What questions will we ask students throughout the lesson? How will we
plan for deep level thinking questions?
Let’s think about what descriptive feedback may feed students forward in
their learning…




₪
Monitor for learning and
collective results


Tally and review
common assessment
results




Revise curriculum,
instruction, and
assessments



₪
What will it look like and sound like if students are successful
throughout this lesson?
How will assessment procedures, directions, and preparations be the
same or different between classrooms/students?
What patterns can we identify in the student mistakes and what do
they tell us?
What key qualities are present?
Which students are in the “more than one year below standard” or
exceeding standard” category?
What learning needs are present? What experiences do the students
need to further learning?
What instructional strategies were the most effective with the
students and need to be repeated?
In what ways did the instruction succeed or need changes to meet
students’ needs?
What crucial knowledge, skill or content gaps we need to address?
“Quality teaching is not an individual
accomplishment, it is the result of a
collaborative culture that empowers
teachers to team up to improve student
learning beyond what any one of them
can achieve alone.”
Carroll – “The Next Generation of
Learning Teams” - Phi Delta Kappan (2009). P. 13
NEXT STEPS
• District Video to review Evaluation Process
• Focused on peer review
• Shared during pre-service
• Support with collaborative language handout
• Keys to Observation and Feedback
• Scheduled observations.
• Identify the areas for observation (based on goal and
action step/s)
• Effective and timely reflection meeting focused on useful
feedback and implementation in classroom instruction
(through peer review process and model teachers)
NEXT STEPS
• Support for Collaborative Conversations provided
by principals and instructional design strategists
• Use of Steps to Effective Feedback: Leading PostObservation Face-to-Face Meetings: (p. 103-104)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Praise
Probe
Identify problem and action step
Practice
Plan ahead
Set timeline for follow up
“The most powerful form of learning, the most
sophisticated form of staff development,
comes not from listening to the good works of
others but from sharing what we know with
others… By reflecting on what we know with
others…By reflecting on what we do, by
giving it coherence, and by sharing and
articulating our craft knowledge, we make
meaning, we learn.” – Roland Barth