mVal
mVal® is a complete, and easy–to–use system for helping teachers and other staff with professional growth including formal performance appraisals, self–assessment, learning plans, portfolios/evidence logs, improvement plans, among others.
mVal® is easily customizable to your district's requirements and encourages a collaborative approach focused around identified competencies, rubrics and look–fors.
mVal® helps administrators complete evaluations quickly with direct input from staff.
mVal® includes a variety of built–in statistical reports and, for greater control, Media–X can provide mVal® reports customized for your organization.
mVal® can also be used with eWalk® and further extended with on–line surveys and other data collection options.
Accessing mVal
mVal is accessed through MxWeb by clicking on the mVal banner from the list of products within the main menu.
Figure 1: The mVal banner as it appears in MxWeb
Appraisal Manager
Overview
Clicking on Appraisals in the Appraise/Report menu loads the Appraisal Manager page.
The Appraisal Manager allows the principal to review all of the collected information related to teachers.
Start by displaying all the teachers at your school by using the Select School drop-down. The list of teachers may be filtered by using the Select Group drop-down.
You can then review the date for the next appraisal Next AP and the number of appraisals # AP which have been created for every teacher.
When you hover over a teacher's name, it is displayed against a light green background.
Select a teacher on the left side of the screen.
The teacher is selected by clicking on her or his name. The selected teacher is displayed against a peach-coloured background.
Selecting a teacher allows to view and/or edit documents pertaining to her/him.
Two tabs are provided. We start with the Evaluator Task. You can review and edit the Appraisals, Improvement Plans, Notes, Portfolios, or Walk-through Observations if these documents exist. Click on a document to view and/or edit it. You may also create new documents. This will be explained later.
You may click the Delete Icon icon to delete a document.
A grayed-out Delete Icon, when present, indicates that you are not authorized to delete the document.
The second tab, Evaluatee Task is provided for documents authored by the teacher.
Creating Documents
When a teacher is selected, several toolbar icons allow you to create new documents for the selected teacher. The icons are:
New Appraisal
New Improvement [Plan]
New Note
New Portfolio
To create a new document, click the respective icon.
Appraisals
'New Appraisal' Screen
Click the New Appraisal icon to start a new appraisal.
The Teacher Name and Assignment/Title are as set using administrative tools including mVal Teacher Demographic. They are read-only i.e. they cannot be edited using this screen. You may want to note their light blue background colour. On the other hand, fields displayed against a white background can be edited.
Three drop-down lists and a checkbox are provided.
If one or more appraisals exists you may start the new appraisal as a copy of an existing one. To this purpose you may use the Copy Appraisal drop-down.
Check the Notify by email checkbox to have an email sent to the teacher:
Click the Next button when you are done with this screen.
A new screen, named Appraisal Status, will be displayed.
Appraisal Status Screen
You may edit three text fields that have an Edit icon at their left:
Principal First Name
Principal Last Name
Appraisal Name
To edit one of the above fields, click the respective Edit icon.
WARNING: The Edit Icon when clicked, is replaced by a Save icon. Be sure to click the Save Icon when the name editing is completed.
The Approved and completed by Principal checkbox is checked at a later stage, namely once the appraisal process has been completed.
The Classroom Observation as well as the Pre-Observation 2007 and the Summative Report 2007 can be created and edited by clicking their names or the respective Edit icons.
Use the Calendar and Clock icons to set the date and the time of the respective activities.
Classroom Observation
You may set the Date of the Classroom Observation by clicking the Calendar and Clock Icon in the Appraisal Status window.
You may choose whether the teacher is allowed to view this form by using the Teacher Permission drop-down. Click Classroom Observation or the Edit Icon at the left to create and start editing this form.
You may use the Select Domain drop-down to select a domain in order to have only competencies belonging to the respective domain listed in the Select Competency area.
When you hover over a competency, it is displayed against a light green background.
Click a competency in the Select Competency area to be able to appraise the teacher's performance with respect to the respective competency. The selected competency is displayed against a peach-coloured background.
Using the Rating Unsatisfactory and Satisfactory radio buttons select an overall rating for this competency.
Using the Evidence checkboxes indicate the evidence this rating is based on.
Write a Note about your observations about this competency.
Click the Save Icon after the note has been entered.
Click the Spell Checker Icon to check the note's spelling.
Click the Comment Icon to paste a library comment into the note.
To use the Comment Icon, open first the Comment Library in the toolbar and select the desired comment.
Indicate whether professional development is recommended using the PD Recommended checkbox.
Select the teacher's Portfolio (if one has been created).
Set the Date when the rating was entered.
Click the Save icon in the toolbar to save the selections, date and note.
Click the Overall Rating icon in the toolbar to display the Competency Overall Rating tool in a pop-up window.
Click either the View button or Lookfor in the Rating area to rate the lookfors. The lookfors corresponding to the selected competency are displayed. The user may navigate to any other competency and rate its lookfors as well.
Competency Overall Rating in the Classroom Observation
This tool allows to perform the Classroom Observation rating and note inclusion for all competencies using this one screen.
Select the teacher's self-assessment, if available, using the Show Self Assessment/Observation drop-down.
You may use the Domain drop-down to select a domain in order to have only competencies belonging to the respective domain listed.
You may add a Note for each of the listed competencies by clicking the respective Expand Icon.
There are several buttons in the top right corner. They will be referred to below.
Click Comment to open the Comment Library. Click the Comment Icon to paste a library comment into the Note.
Click the Rubric Icon to paste the competency's rubric into the note.
Click the Spell Checker Icon to check the note's spelling.
Click the Save Icon to save a note.
Click Save Notes to save the entered note(s).
Click the Collapse Icon to hide the note.
For each listed competency, select one of the two radio buttons. Please note the legend in the top left corner.
Click Done to close the Competency Overall Rating window. {{Warning|If you added or edited notes, be sure to have first saved them using the Save Notes button and/or Save icons. Only after saving the note(s) click Done to exit.
Rating of Lookfors
Select the teacher's self-assessment, if available, using the Show Self Assessment/Observation drop-down.
Check if necessary Competency (Check if a target).
NOTE: A competency defined as a target is highlighted using a bold italic font in the Classroom Observation screen.
For every Lookfor, select one of the two radio button to indicate how frequently the lookfor was observed. Refer to the Legend for the significance of the column headers 1 and 2.
You may add a Note for or each of the listed lookfors by clicking the respective Expand Icon.
You may navigate to any other competency and rate its lookfors. To this purpose, click the following icons at the top of the screen to navigate:
First Button to the first competency
Previous Button to the previous competency
Next Button to the next competency
End Button to the last competency
Click the Rubric icon in the toolbar to view and/or print the rubrics that correspond to the lookfors.
Pre-Observation
Use the Calendar and Clock Icon to set the date and the time of the pre-observation.
Use the checkboxes on the left side to select target competencies.
Click the Save icon in the toolbar to save your selections.
Click the Overall Rating icon in the toolbar to display the Competency Overall Rating tool in a pop-up window.
Click the Self Assessment icon to allow you to view the teacher's self-assessing documents.
Please refer if necessary to the mxweb Icons You May Want to Know article to learn about additional icons.
Summative Report
The Overall Rating field reflects the selection made by the user using the Overall Rating of Teacher's Performance field's Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory radio buttons included further down in this form:
Use the Calendar and Clock Icon to set Date of the Summative Report.
Enter notes in the text input boxes.
Please refer to the mxweb Icons You May Want to Know article for a description of
Comment Library, Eraser Icon, and Comment icons.
Click Focus of the Classroom Observation or Back Icon to paste the target competencies.
Use the Meeting and Classroom Observation Dates field's Calendar and Clock Icon to set the dates, if not yet set.
Target competencies are highlighted e.g. Teachers treat all pupils...
Click the Add Note Icon to appraise the teacher with respect to the respective domain.
If the Classroom Observation has been used to appraise the teacher's performance on a per competency and per lookfor basis, or to add notes on a competency basis, these will be reflected in this form:
You may use the radio buttons to define or edit competencies' Unsatisfactory and Satisfactory ratings.
Click the View Icon to view, define or edit the looksfors' ratings.
Hover over the Note Icon to view the note related to the respective competency, if such exists. Click this icon to paste the note into the text field which is located at the bottom of the form.
Click the Save icon in the toolbar to save the entered data.
Click the Save and Finish icon in the toolbar to save the entered data and revert to the previous screen.
Click the Browse Sets icon in the toolbar to view the sets and lookfors corresponding to the competencies.
These are displayed in a pop-up window.
Use the Select Domain drop-down to choose the domain. The domain's competencies are listed in the Select Competency area.
Click one of the Select Icon to list the lookfors of the respective competencies in the Lookfor area:
This window may be closed when it is no longer required.
Other Documents Created by the Principal
As previously mentioned, when a teacher is selected in the main Appraisal Manager screen, three mVal documents can be created, in addition to appraisals, by clicking the appropriate toolbar icons:
New Improvement [Plan]
These documents are listed in the Improvement Plan area.
New Note
These documents are listed in the Notes area.
New Portfolio
These documents are listed in the Portfolio area.
You may also collect arbitrary data related to the teacher by using eWalk. Observations based on eWalk are displayed in the Walk-through Observation area.
Viewing and Editing Documents
Documents are viewed and edited by first clicking their names in the Appraisal Manager screen.
Click the desired form in the Appraisal Status screen.
Edit the respective form and click the Save icon in the toolbar to save your changes.
Click the Done icon in the toolbar to revert to the previous screen.
NOTE: You may be able to only view fields that are authored by the teacher, such as those in the documents listed under the Evaluatee Task.
NOTE: Read-only text input boxes use a light beige background colour.
Plan Appraisals
Click on Plan Appraisals in the Appraise/Report menu.
Select the Plan Appraisal tab.
The fields in the Search Teachers by Criteria area can be used for searching. You select your school using the drop-down list beside the School radio button. You select the teachers that you want to schedule their evaluation, you choose a date using the calendar and you click Assign Date. The steps are:
Choose the school for whose teachers you want to set the evaluation dates by clicking the School radio button and by using the drop-down list beside it. Alternately, you may click the Group radio button and select a group using the respective drop-down list. Several teachers are displayed below the Search Teachers by Criteria area.
You may narrow down the set of teachers by using additional selectors in the Search Teachers by Criteria area.
Click on the checkbox(es) next to the teacher(s) whose evaluation you want to schedule.
Click on the Calendar and Clock Icon. The calendar will open. Alternately, you may use the drop-down list beside the Calendar and Clock Icon to select one of the evaluation periods that an administrator previously set up.
Choose the date that you want using the calendar.
Click Set.
Click Assign Date.
Three icons indicate the planned appraisal's status:
Next appraisal date set
No appraisal date set
Next appraisal due
Manage Groups
Click Plan Appraisals in the Appraise/Report menu.
Select the Manage Groups tab.
Manage Groups is a tool used to assign teachers to different groups, which can be then selected using the preceding section. Different groups can be assigned to different evaluators.
On the left, in the Search Teacher by Criteria area, use the selectors to select the teachers. Click Apply Criteria to display the selected teachers in the Teacher Search Results area. Type a short version of the group name in the Code text input box (e.g. the evaluators’ first or last name) and type a Group Name in the respective text input box. Click New Group.
Click on the name of the new group, which is displayed in the Select Group area.
On the right, in the Teacher Search Results area, choose which teachers should be assigned to the group by clicking on the respective checkboxes. Click on the magnifying glass to find out details about the teachers. If the information was input, you can see their start date of teaching, gender, etc. After clicking on the checkboxes next to the teachers you want in the group, click Add to Group. The teachers in the group are shown in the Group Content area.