Greenville County Schools uses the Performance Assessment for Teachers (PAS-T) as the instrument for our teacher evaluation. The PAS-T model is a South Carolina State Department of Education approved model of teacher evaluation and is a modified form of ADEPT. This model provides assurance that schools are staffed with competent professionals who possess the knowledge and skills necessary to meet the needs of each and every student.
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.
Each Performance Standard contains Performance Indicators which identify the key points in each of the standards.
Knowledge of Curriculum, Subject Content, and Developmental Needs
Instructional Planning
Instructional Delivery
Assessment
Learning Environment
Communication
Professionalism
Student Achievement
Exemplary: High quality performance that exceeds the requirements contained in the job description as expressed in the evaluation criteria.
Proficient: High quality performance that meets the requirements contained in the job description as expressed in the evaluation criteria
Needs Improvement: Minimal performance which requires assistance in order to produce high quality results
Unsatisfactory: Performance has not met the requirements contained in the job description as expressed in the evaluation criteria
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.
Patty Fox, Evaluation and Professional Development, pfox@greenville.k12.sc.us
Julie Woodhouse, Induction and Mentoring Specialist, jwoodhou@greenville.k12.sc.us