Just Say No to TPEP

This week, I and my HR director presented what we know about the new teacher evaluation system to the final school in our district on a roadshow that culminated days and days, hours and hours, dollars and dollars of meetings--and we've only just begun (The Carpenters would be proud).  Via bargaining, the Association and the District agreed to a joint, collaborative effort to implement legislative changes to how teachers are evaluated.  Thankfully, both the Superintendent and I believe that what is being imposed--without funding--is a colossally-bureaucratic and spectacularly-unnecessary burden that endangers the good order of all schools.  

We seek minimal compliance, minimal disruption.  

My HR director and I explained how we had to select an instructional framework to scaffold the new evaluation system--we chose the University of Washington's 5 Dimensions.  5D interprets the state's 8 evaluative criteria in 37 ways, each requiring a 1 to 4 rating; there are also 5 student growth measures--each also requiring a 1 to 4 rating.  Make sure that you have fresh batteries in your calculators.  Eventually, all of this number-crunching will result in an overall, numerical rating:  1 for unsatisfactory, 2 for basic, 3 for proficient, and 4 for distinguished.  The system demands hours and hours and hours of self-reflection, goal setting, pre- and post-observation conferences, uploading of artifacts, and management and mastery of an online tracking environment called EVAL.  

And WEA has embraced this as a "legislative priority"?  Seriously?

I say, Enough.