Goal at BASD is to retain the best educators
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
With Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair act, school districts across Wisconsin are facing a new challenge – how to fairly evaluate teachers and their place in their respective districts.
Since collective bargaining is now limited to wages-only, districts around the state will have to develop procedures to issue layoff notices when needed – for reasons other than seniority.
Proponents of the change say it gives districts the ability to retain the best teachers regardless of tenure. But critics have worried that districts could unfairly use subjective evaluations to eliminate high-paid staff members for budgetary reasons.
“Districts have always evaluated teachers,” said Burlington Area School District Superintendent David Moyer said. “(But) seniority no longer exists.
“When it was purely from a layoff standpoint, you were required to follow the contract – and the contract always bargained tenure and seniority.
“(Now) you have to make decisions based on whoever your top teachers are – whatever your criteria,” Moyer added.
Moyer said factors that could be considered include a teacher’s specialty areas, or needs within a specific district. But one thing can’t be done: districts can no longer default to the low man on the totem pole.
“In the past, people had tenure and seniority,” Moyer said. “It was always the least senior person was laid off.
“Now you have to consider their job performance,” he added.
Currently, Moyer said the district will continue to evaluate teachers at least every three years. But because new regulations from the state are still in the developmental stage, the district is working on its employee handbook, including termination and layoff procedures, without a great deal of clear input from the state.
“Some of that is being specified in our employee handbook,” Moyer said. “When the new evaluation is determined, we’ll have the opportunity to restructure our evaluation plan.
“I think it’ll be an improvement,” he added.
Moyer said the district is in limbo because the state is delayed in its process. Originally, he had expected to hear in October about state regulations in terms of how to evaluate teachers.
“They’re going to have a teacher effectiveness bill,” Moyer said. “Fifty perfect of a teacher’s evaluation will be based on models of practice … and the other 50 percent will be based on a student achievement component.”
The student achievement part of the evaluation will likely include standardized testing, Moyer said. But the system will also need to address teachers who sometimes interact more or less often with a student, or do so in classes such as art or music performance.
As for the models of practice, Moyer said the state will be using the Charlotte Danielson model – a system that stresses four domains: planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction and professional responsibility.
“Each domain has a subcomponent,” Moyer said. “Each one is broken down, and there are a total of 22 sub-components.
“In each of the areas, there are four ratings,” he added, saying they ranged from unsatisfactory to distinguished. Moyer said the model gives districts the ability to evaluate teachers on a common scale.
“It works on a lot of different levels,” Moyer said.
One thing is for certain – BASD is playing a waiting game. Once the evaluation process is in place, then there will be further discussions on how, for example, teachers get compensated based on those evaluations.
“We don’t know when we’re going to get that information,” Moyer said.
“It’s going to be an ongoing thing,” he added. “To do that and be fair is going to be very complicated.”
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