AOS will start new supervision and evaluation process

    LAGRANGE — The schools of AOS 43 are about to embark on a new teacher and principal supervision and evaluation process according to Superintendent of Schools Michael Wright. AOS 43 oversees the districts of SAD 31 and SAD 41 which include the 10 towns of Burlington, Maxfield, Enfield, Edinburg, Passadumkeag, Howland, Milo, Atkinson, LaGrange and Brownville.

    Since last summer administrators from the two districts have been meeting bi-weekly to study the topic of teacher evaluation and professional growth. “Our approach has been to become as knowledgeable as possible about current research. We know that organizationally, we want to change, and that change requires that we first must learn,” Wright said.

    “Over the past several months we as administrators have engaged ourselves in professional reading about evaluation. We have also examined, discussed and presented to each other about various modes of professional growth opportunities. “We feel as though we have prepared ourselves for the next steps toward creating a new and better system. We are very excited about what is ahead for us in this process.”

    An initial “kickoff” meeting was held on Jan. 22 in which teachers from AOS 43 schools were invited to hear an overview of how the two districts planned to respond to the state’s teacher evaluation and professional growth law enacted last summer. Wright said that four teachers, two each from 31 and 41, will join eight administrators and himself beginning Feb. 25 for what will be a series of meetings this year about the topic.

    “We believe that teachers should have an opportunity to grow in a variety of ways, and to be able to demonstrate that growth. We also believe that all of us, in all walks of life, either continue to grow and get better at what we do, or we begin to decline. We don’t just stay in the same place; hence, professional growth is going to be a cornerstone of any new system we embrace.”

    “Like most districts, we realized that our current system was not very meaningful, and this recognition, much more than the new state law, has been our impetus for change,” Wright added.

    “We want professional development to be an everyday occurrence, not just something that takes place on early release or workshop days; and we believe that schools should be ‘learning organizations’ where all people, adults as well as students, come to learn.”  

    “Previous professional development has often been a one shot deal with little or no assurance that the main ideas ever really reach the classroom,” Wright said. “Past efforts have been general and top down. We want to create a system that is more specific, more teacher driven, and that encourages professional conversations about teaching and learning on a daily basis. This reflective practice, we believe, is  central to professional learning. The ultimate goal, of course, is the improvement of student achievement.”

    The state’s timeline for implementation is for development of the system to take place in the next school year, a piloting program to begin in 2014-15, and full implementation to occur by 2015-16. Ultimately, school boards must give final approval to any plan that districts present for implementation.