From: Delaware.Department.of.Education@doe.k12.de.us [Delaware.Department.of.Education@doe.k12.de.

us] Sent: Friday, November 02, 2012 11:12 AM Subject: Component 5 Update from the Secretary Component 5 Update from the Secretary To all of our educators: As we near the conclusion of the first quarter of the school year, I wanted to take the time to communicate directly with each of you and share my reflections on the state's professional appraisal system, DPAS II. In my first five months as Secretary, I have spent many hours discussing implementation of our evaluation system with educators across the state. My reflections below include a brief overview of the context for this work, the challenges that we're facing together, and how I see us improving the system this year and beyond. Overview Almost three years ago, our state committed to a more comprehensive approach for our professional appraisal system. At its core, the expanded approach (DPAS-II(R)) emphasizes the academic growth of our students. As educators, you work every single day to improve the achievement of your students - the changes to DPAS II aim to honor that work, and ensure that it is part of the feedback you receive. After over two years of planning, and with the contributions of hundreds of educators, the revised evaluation system now is being implemented. As I've shared with you before, our approach continuously is guided by a set of principles: 1. Fair: Each educator has the opportunity to demonstrate growth on more than one measure. 2. Transparent: The measures are available for all educators to see and all growth targets are established at the beginning of the year in

collaboration with your evaluator. 3. Easy to understand: All educators and administrators have access to the necessary information on our website as well as district and state-led trainings and point-people within district and state offices to answer questions. 4. Respectful of the education profession: Measures are selected at the local level from state-approved lists and student goals are set by the educators who are closest to our children. Overall ratings are determined at the local level with your evaluator, who also observes your practice throughout the year. Implementation Challenges Implementation of any major initiative is very challenging. As a state we have seen this each of the last three years, from our move to statewide "professional learning communities" (PLCs) in 2010 to new guidance related to educator observations last year. In each of these cases-once past the initial implementation challenges-many educators have shared positive feedback about the initiatives' impact on the profession and on student improvement. In fact, educators at nearly every award-winning school that I visited earlier this month said that PLCs were a major factor in their students' success. That's not to downplay challenges experienced and the significant implementation effort that is underway related to Component 5. I know that this initial implementation phase has been difficult for many of you. The process is new, it can be time-consuming, and it may be different from what you have done in the past. I have heard your concerns, and I take them seriously. From frequent school visits to multiple conversations with our state's education leaders, I know that there have been technical challenges with new systems and communication challenges with the revised policy, and I thank you for your feedback. Your feedback is a major part of what drives our continued statewide support. Continued Statewide Supports We appreciate your ongoing help in identifying the specific schools and districts that require additional assistance in implementation. While we

have provided multiple opportunities for training, and have trained more than a thousand educators in the new policy and systems, we know additional assistance is needed for some schools. We will continue to provide "on-demand" support for any district or charter school that requests assistance. We also will continue to offer multiple help-lines (see below) to answer questions from educators and district technology coordinators. Each day district and school leaders contact us-we encourage this, and we encourage your continued collaboration with local leadership in ensuring that all of your questions are answered. Statewide Safeguards We have a responsibility, at the state and district level, to monitor this process so that educators are not impacted negatively by technical challenges that are outside of their control-this is one piece of feedback that I've heard consistently from educators and association leaders throughout the state. For instance, if a pre-test was given after significant portions of your curriculum was delivered, or if there were significant technical problems with administering your assessments, those circumstances should be discussed with your evaluator and considered in your final rating. There are two concrete actions that we will take to provide assistance as we move forward: 1. We will offer additional training to all educators on the end-of-year conference for Component 5: End-of-year conferences should be professional and effective and take unique circumstances, if any, from this year into account. An evaluator from each school will be required to participate in training, and all educators will have optional training available as well. Heading into next year, the Department of Education will provide a menu of support for all educators (teachers, specialists, school leaders, district leaders) and consult with each district or charter school on how to best implement a quality process that is consistent with the four principles I outlined above. 2. We will collect and review data from the field for consistency with policy guidance: The Department of Education will collect and review data on Component 5 implementation, including Component 5 forms and ratings (while

maintaining confidentiality). We also will monitor Component 5 challenges submitted by educators to schools and districts as appropriate. I believe that the relationship between a principal and a teacher is of the utmost importance, and I value our school leaders' professional appraisals. That said, the state can play an important role in training your district and school leaders and holding them accountable for implementing educator evaluations with quality. Continuous Improvement of DPAS II As with all of our initiatives, I am focused on the continuous improvement of this effort. To that end: 1. We will continue to solicit your locally-developed measures for use in future years: We welcome your submissions for additional goals and measures that you would like to be part of the Component 5 process next year. We will provide more information on this submission and approval process in January. 2. We will ask for feedback from every educator in the state on DPAS II implementation: All educators also will have the opportunity to provide feedback through the annual statewide DPAS II survey, which will cover Components 1-5 this year. The recommendations from that survey will be made public and used by the DPAS-II Advisory Committee, which includes educators and meets monthly during the school year. More immediately, we will implement a process that will provide you the opportunity to communicate your reflections about your initial experience with Component 5. In closing, I am committed to supporting you, your school leaders, and your district leaders in this critical work. I encourage your continued communication with the Department of Education, your fellow educators, and your school community. Below you'll find more information about specific resources, such as the links to the DPAS II website. I acknowledge the challenges that you have shared with me and that you may continue to face each day. Our intent is not to make your important work with students burdensome-but rather to bring increased esteem to our profession. I know that it's your teaching, your support for our children, and your leadership that has led to improved student achievement in recent years. And

it is your commitment to continuously improving that will continue to drive success for our students. As education professionals, my team also will take actions to continuously improve the DPAS II system and to improve our support for all of you. It is a priority and a responsibility that I take very seriously. Thank you, as always, for the work you do every day to prepare all of our students for success beyond the years we spend with them. Sincerely, Mark Mark T. Murphy Secretary of Education DPAS II Resources DDOE Website . The Delaware Department of Education continues to update our website with the latest forms, guides, and resources from trainings regarding DPAS-II. Please see the links below: . http://www.doe.k12.de.us/csa/dpasii/default.shtml . http://www.doe.k12.de.us/csa/dpasii/component_v_aug.shtml DDOE Help-Lines . There are three different avenues for district administrators and educators to phone-in questions about the different elements of DPAS-II Component V implementation: 1. For questions around roster set-up, there is an eSchoolPlus Help Desk for issues with eSchoolPLUS. The number is 302-735-4140. Given that rosters upload into all Component 5 systems from eSchoolPLUS, please utilize this resource as administrators are setting-up teacher-of-record rosters. Educators will continue to have roster verification conversations (under Delaware code and DDOE policy) throughout the year, and it is important that

accurate rosters be maintained. 2. For questions around PerformancePlus educator access, technical capabilities, and functionality, there is a Sunguard help-line available to district and charter technology officers. Educators should funnel questions regarding Performance-Plus through your pupil accounting/technology leads. The Performance Plus Delaware Implementation and Support Hotline is 800-755-1606, option 1. The Performance Plus Support email address is perfplus@sungardps.com. 3. For questions around DPAS-II policy interpretation and implementation, the Department of Education's Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Unit has also created a help-line for all educators to call. On Tuesdays to Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., staff members will be available via telephone and email to answer clarification questions and discuss implementation concerns. Educators also may call this number and leave a message at other times. The TLEU helpline is 302-735-4179.