Tuesday, April 17, 2018

System of Professional Growth

For some reason my district prides itself on its System of Professional Growth, which is a fancy term for my evaluation.  It's so complex that you don't just get evaluated; no, you have to attend 1- or 2-day training sessions in order to learn how to participate in your evaluation.

I got the email yesterday saying I have the pleasure of being evaluated next year. They graciously gave me many dates for training, all of which I’ll ignore because they're during the summer--and I don't plan to be home much this summer. Besides, if you need training in how to be evaluated, something is wrong with the evaluation system.

I have an idea. Why don’t they just make one of those stupid training videos for us to watch, like we have to for suicide prevention or web site accessibility or using hand sanitizer? Or, do we have to attend evaluation training in person, rather than online, because evaluations are so much more important than suicide prevention or web site accessibility for the deaf or blind?

*sigh*

1 comment:

Ellen K said...

Our district is also-being a "district of innovation"-creating its own teacher evaluation system. Instead of two observations by an AP-we must set goals. Most of the suggested goals are activities that experienced teachers completed long ago. In fact my AP was hella frustrated when going down the checklist and finding out that nothing offered would fulfill the mythical goals I need to attain. Not content with requiring more observations ( I think it's up to four now), the new system requires documentation, deadlines and "authentic" evidence. My goals were to put on the district show and to implement a writing program for my AP students. Now it's Spring and I'm supposed to come up with two more goals. How about Retiring by January and Not Using Sarcasm As a Weapon?