Teacher Evaluation - ADEPT/PAS-T

ADEPT

ADEPT stands for Assisting, Developing, and Evaluating Professional Teaching and is the state regulation for supporting and evaluating teachers at all contract levels. Information about the state regulation and the ADEPT Guidelines can be found at The SCDE Office of Educator Effectiveness. 

In the ADEPT/PAS-T Evaluation System, there are different levels of support and evaluation. These levels are based on the contract the teacher holds.

INDUCTION CONTRACT TEACHERS 

• Teachers  who  possess  a  valid South Carolina  pre-professional  teaching  certificate,  as defined  by  the State  Board of  Education,  may  be  employed under  an  induction contract  for  up  to, but  not  to exceed,  three years. 

• Greenville County Schools has developed a plan to provide induction-contract teachers with comprehensive guidance and assistance throughout each induction year. 

• Our district  induction plans complies  with the  State  Board of  Education’s  guidelines  for  assisting  induction-contract  teachers and must  be  approved by  the  State  Board of  Education  prior  to  implementation.

• Teachers  who complete  an induction-contract  year  may,  at  the discretion  of  the school district,  be  employed under  another  induction-contract  or  an  annual  contract,  or  they  may  be released from  employment.

• By  June 1  of  each  year,  GCSD must  submit  assurances  to  the SCDE  that  they  are complying with  the  State  Board of  Education’s  ADEPT  implementation guidelines  for  assisting  induction-contract teachers. 

Greenville County uses a program to assist first year teachers in their Induction Year. Vital to this Induction program is a Mentoring component. In their first year, teachers are assigned a trained mentor in their building to assist them as needed. They are also given written feedback periodically throughout the school year by their administrator and their mentor. In addition, Induction PLC’s are held a number of times during the school year. The purpose of these seminars is to provide Induction teachers with a knowledge base of the PAS-T Performance Standards and to prepare them for formal evaluation.

ANNUAL CONTRACT TEACHERS  

• Teachers  who  have  satisfied  their  induction  requirements  may  be  employed  under  an annual contract.

• Teachers  employed under  an annual  contract  must  be  evaluated or  assisted with  procedures developed  or  adopted by  the  local  school  district  in  accordance  with  the  State  Board of  Education’s ADEPT  implementation guidelines.  These  procedures  must  include  the  development,  implementation, and evaluation of  an  individualized professional  growth  plan  for  each  teacher. 

• Teachers  must  not  be  employed under  an  annual  contract  for  more  than  four  years. 

• During  the  first  annual-contract  year,  the  annual-contract  teacher  must,  at  the discretion  of  the school  district,  either  undergo a  formal  performance  evaluation or  be  provided with diagnostic  assistance.

• The  term  “formal  performance evaluation”  is  defined  as a summative evaluation  of  teaching  performance relative to  the state  standards and  evaluation  processes,  as specified  in  the State Board  of  Education’s ADEPT implementation  guidelines.  All  formal  evaluation  processes must  meet  the general  technical criteria  of  validity, reliability,  maximum  freedom  from  bias,  and documentation. 

There are two types of Annual contracts for teachers: Annual Summative (AS) or Annual Formative (AF). Teachers holding an Annual Formative contract are in many cases those teachers who have never taught in South Carolina before. Some teachers are given an AF contract because they may need an additional year of support prior to a formal evaluation year. Teachers with AF contracts are supported with a trained mentor and are coached informally on the PAS-T system. In some cases, AF contract teachers are also given an ADEPT Teacher Leader to help in assisting and developing them.

Teachers in their second year of teaching or those teachers who held an AF contract the previous year, are issued an AS contract and are formally evaluated using the PAS-T model for Teacher Evaluation. In this formal evaluation process, a two or three person team works together to evaluate the teacher. This team is made up of a building level administrator and a peer teacher from another school and in some cases and ADEPT Teacher Leader. Each one of the team members observes the teacher and reviews artifacts two times during the school year. Following each of the observations, the teacher receives feedback in our electronic data warehouse called PMO. Following observations in the fall, the team meets together for a consensus meeting where the teacher’s performance is discussed. The team comes to a consensus about the teacher’s performance and assigns a rating to the performance. This process is repeated in the spring semester as well. Written feedback is given to the teacher prior to winter break and prior to the contract distribution date.

CONTINUING CONTRACT TEACHERS

• Teachers who  have met  the  formal  evaluation  criteria set  by  the State Board  of  Education,  the requirements  for  annual-contract teachers set  by  the  local  board  of  trustees,  and  the  requirements established  by  the State Board  of  Education  for  the  professional  teaching  certificate are  eligible for employment  at  the  continuing-contract  level.  

• Teachers employed under continuing contracts must be evaluated on a continuous basis. The evaluation may be formal or informal (i.e., goals-based), at the discretion of GCSD.

• Greenville County Schools has developed policies for recommending continuing-contract teachers for formal evaluation. Continuing contract  teachers who  are being  recommended for  formal  evaluation the  following  school  year  must  be notified in writing  on or  before  the  date  the  school  district  issues  the  written offer  of  employment  or reemployment.  The  written  notification must  include  the  reason(s)  that  a  formal  evaluation  is recommended, as  well  as  a  description of  the  formal  evaluation process. 

• Greenville County Schools has developed  a  plan,  in accordance  with State  Board of  Education’s  ADEPT implementation guidelines,  to continuously  evaluate  teachers  who are  employed under  continuing contracts. At  a  minimum, district  ADEPT  plans  for  continuing-contract  teachers  must  address formal  and informal  evaluations  and individualized professional  growth plans.

Continuing Contract teachers are placed by their administrator in a cycle of evaluation. Continuing Contract teachers in cycles one through four are informally evaluated using the PAS-T model. Teachers in cycle five receive a summative evaluation of their performance at the end of their cycle five year. Additional information about the cycles of evaluation can be found in the PAS-T Handbook.

Overview of the Performance Assessment System for Teachers (PAS-T)

The PAS-T System has 8 Performance Standards

Each Performance Standard contains Performance Indicators which identify the key points in each of the standards.

1. Knowledge of Curriculum, Subject Content, and Developmental Needs

2. Instructional Planning

3. Instructional Delivery

4. Assessment

5. Learning Environment

6. Communication

7. Professionalism

8. Student Achievement

Each Performance Standard is rated on a four point scale.

1. Exemplary: High quality performance that exceeds the requirements contained in the job description as expressed in the evaluation criteria.

2. Proficient: High quality performance that meets the requirements contained in the job description as expressed in the evaluation criteria

3. Needs Improvement: Minimal performance which requires assistance in order to produce high quality results

4. Unsatisfactory: Performance has not met the requirements contained in the job description as expressed in the evaluation criteria

Student Learning Objectives 

Regardless of where teachers are in their contract level or evaluation cycle, all teachers will be responsible for writing a Student Learning Objective (SLO). The SLO is used to show how the work of the teacher results in measureable student progress. The SLO must be approved by a member of the administrative team.