Teacher Evaluation System

Willingboro Public Schools

Teacher Evaluation System, SY 2009-2010

As part of the federal requirements for states’ receiving funding under Phase 2 of the State Fiscal Stabilization Funds Program, all school districts in New Jersey are providing information to the public on the procedures they use to evaluate teachers and principals.  The information presented below will help you understand Willingboro’s policies and procedures for evaluating teachers and educational specialists such as librarians and counselors.

Confidentiality concerns: To protect the confidentiality of individual evaluations, districts are not required to provide a district-level statistical summary of teacher evaluation outcomes in those cases where there are fewer than 10 teachers in an entire district.  Similarly, districts are not required to provide a school-level statistical summary of teacher evaluation outcomes if there are fewer than 10 teachers in a school.

Section 1.  Description of Teacher Evaluation System

The Willingboro Board of Education believes that the purpose of evaluation includes improvement of student learning and growth, staff development for improvement of instruction, and for use in personnel decisions concerning reemployment, assignment and salary.  The Board of Education believes an effective evaluation program will include the role of the professional staff member in instructional activities, non-instructional duties, and other responsibilities that contribute to an atmosphere conducive to educational growth and development.

The evaluation process is occurs throughout the year and aligns with the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers.  Information is derived from a variety of sources, including, but not limited to formal and informal observation of planning, instructional management, classroom management, and class climate, participation in professional development activities, meetings, and committees, assessment data, conferences with supervisory staff and collaboration with members of the school community.  Teachers are part of the planning process for their own professional growth including their Professional Development Plan (PDP) and professional development activities both in and out of district.

In accordance with NJAC 6A:32-4, tenured and non-tenured teachers are formally evaluated by appropriately certificated district administrators.  They are evaluated in every subject area they are assigned to in the first three years of employment.  Non-tenured teachers are scheduled for a minimum of three annual formal classroom observations and tenured teachers are scheduled for a minimum of one annual formal classroom observation, with flexibility for additional observations as needed.   This information is used in conjunction with other sources to prepare the annual performance summary report. 

Non-tenured teachers are provided with additional supports specifically designed to orient novice or new employees to the district’s goals, objectives and instructional model.  All non-tenured teaching staff members are discussed administratively on an annual basis prior to reemployment.  Those who are not showing appropriate progress are not re-employed beyond their second year of employment.