CINCINNATI - Ronna Edwards has taught for 14 years, but is as excited as ever for the start of classes this fall at Roberts Academy in Price Hill.
She’s expecting 25 first-graders for the first day of school and is busy getting her room ready for them.
There are bulletin boards to decorate, computers to set up, books to organize and lessons to plan.
“We’ve got a new reading program going on,” she said. “We’ve kind of reorganized some things here at our school, so I’ll be working with a new team this year.”
There’s another big change on the horizon – a new pay-for-performance teacher evaluation pilot program for the Cincinnati Public Schools – the first of its kind in Ohio.
Stellar student achievement may let the district’s 2,400 teachers earn stipends of $8,000 over a four or five year period. Scores on standardized tests won’t be the only measurement used in the process.
“It will take some adjusting with new expectations for people and that’s always a little scary,” she said. “But, I’m thinking that once the kinks work out and people understand what is expected of them, I don’t think it will be a real problem.”
District leaders and the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers agreed in May to the one-year test that links teacher pay and advancement to student achievement for the first time.
“It’s not designed to weed out and fire people,” said Roberts Academy Principal Vera Brooks. “It’s designed to help and collaborate together for professional growth to then improve the academics of our students.”
Training began Tuesday at the Mayerson Academy in Corryville for administrations and building representatives who will teach intricacies of the system to their colleagues.
“I don’t want to wait four years down the road when you actually have to have something in place,” said Katie Hoffman, Lead Teacher for the district’s Office of Innovation. “We’ve got it in place now so that I think we can learn from this.”
That’s a reference to Ohio Governor John Kasich’s effort to create a statewide teacher merit pay system.
A steering committee of 12 educators is holding meetings across the state to gather input on the plan. Teachers have sent 1,200 e-mails as well with suggestions.
The Governor wants to have a model program ready for the 2013 – 2014 school year, but doesn’t want to rush the process.
Cincinnati’s program has three components
1. ANNUAL EVALUATION – Occurs annually, except when Performance Review Evaluations are done. It includes a principal/teacher conference where student growth and achievement goals are developed. A checklist of professional responsibilities is also reviewed.
2. PERFORMANCE REVIEW EVALUATION (PRE) – This is a new evaluation tied to 11 performance levels in a teacher’s career. The teacher submits a reflective paper to the principal identifying an area of concentration for the year. Also included are three student achievement goals, including one set by the district and two observations. All material is reviewed at the end of the school year. Teachers have to choose to be part of PRE.
3. COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION – Completed every five years prior to granting a continuing contract. The teacher must meet multiple student growth standards to advance and obtain higher pay.
Reaction to the start of the program has been mixed.
“Because of the newness of the idea of connecting multiple measures of student growth to the teacher evaluation, there’s fear,” said Kendra Phillps, who taught elementary grades for 17 years and is currently Professional Issues Representative for the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers. “I also feel like there is excitement because teachers now will be able to be recognized for the growth that their students are attaining and not just one standardized test score.”
Sayler Park Elementary School teacher Amy Merz applauded the district diminishing the reliance on test scores.
“You’re able to use multiple measurements – different things – things that you’re doing on a regular basis – perhaps projects in the classroom or a pre-test and a post-test that you give in your classroom,” she said. “You have other opportunities to show the growth that the students make besides one test.”
One element of the plan drawing praise from both administrators and teachers is the collaborative way performance goals are reached.
“This will give us additional opportunity to meet and talk about instruction and practice with our teachers to help them improve what they’re doing in an effort to increase student achievement,” said Evanston Academy Assistant Principal Angel Roddy. “Our bottom line is student achievement.”
Shroder High School seventh grade English teacher Marlene Silva said teacher input in the progress is a win-win situation.
“It’s so much better when someone has input as to this is how I want to grow and not just someone telling you this is what you’re going to do,” she said. “I’m excited because I’m going to be recognized for things I do in the classroom every day, recognized for the things I do
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