Dist. 204 to start new evaluation process now

For the first time, detailed state-mandated criteria will be used to evaluate Indian Prairie Unit District 204 teachers.

While Illinois school districts must put the evaluation system in place by September 2012 as part of the state Performance Evaluation Reform Act, District 204 teachers and school board members agreed to put the changes in place this year.

Teachers' performance will be rated in one of four categories: excellent, proficient, needs improvement and unsatisfactory. Before, ratings were excellent, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory.

The timing was important to officials because tenured teachers are rated only every two years, which would mean there would be differences in staff evaluations in 2013 when new layoff procedures will be adopted statewide.

“One of the concerns that we shared with the (teachers) association was that we wanted all of our teachers on an equal footing when that happens,” said Karen Sullivan, assistant superintendent of human resources.

In an effort to retain excellent teachers whether or not they have tenure, a new state law requires that layoffs not rely strictly on seniority. In the past, financially strapped districts would lay off the newest teachers first. But now, districts can take a teacher's performance and ability into account with years of service breaking any ties.

A group of six teachers and six administrators worked together to define the new job performance criteria over several days in August.

“I think we had an amazing committee that worked incredibly hard,” said Val Dranias, Indian Prairie Education Association president. “It makes (evaluations) consistent and fair.”

Districts can write their own criteria, but must use the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching rubric as a starting point. The rubric is an effort to have some statewide consistency in evaluations.

In the past, District 204 principals determined teachers' evaluations without any defined measures from the district, Dranias said. Under the new system, trained evaluators will use specific criteria to determine each rating.

Evaluators, who must be trained by the 2012 school year, will have a clear picture of what an excellent teacher or needs improvement teacher looks like. Other changes ahead include a student achievement measurement that will be used to rate teachers in 2016.