A History of the Wayland Public Schools Response
to the New Massachusetts’ Evaluation System and Regulations
In February of 2012 Wayland educators were introduced to the new evaluation system. Then Wayland Public Schools' leaders and a number of teachers representing the Wayland Teachers’ Association (WTA) met several times during the summer of 2012 to to figure out how to implement the evaluation regulations. One of the outcomes of the Committee work was a Pilot Program for the 2012-2013 school year. The Pilot was created to help prepare for implementation of the evaluation system regulations in the fall of 2013.
A total of 26 volunteers representing a good mix schools with classroom teachers as well as caseload professionals were chosen. Each volunteer in the Pilot was expected to complete about 40 hours of work over two years with a compensation of $1,000 each. During the 2012-2013 year, the pilot teachers received a training from Teachers 21, conducted self assessments, wrote SMART goals, collected evidence, met with leaders as a pilot team, interacted with evaluators related to goals, evidence, and both formative and summative evaluations, and collaborated on the creation of a website, Wayland Elementary Schools’ Teacher Evaluation Guide, to guide teachers in the evaluation process the following year.
During the summer of 2013, 50% of Wayland teachers were chosen to begin the evaluation process in the fall of 2013. Non tenured teachers and teachers who were on the old system’s narrative and profile plans were chosen. Teachers who were involved in the Pilot as well as teachers who were designated for a PD year on the old system will begin the new evaluation process in fall of 2014.
At this writing, the Wayland Teachers’ Association and the Wayland Public Schools’ leadership are working to formalize contract language related to the evaluation regulations. Also, pilot teachers and administrators are working to find ways to support teachers starting the process for the first time with planned faculty meetings and mentoring.
- Maureen Devlin, September 3, 2013