Schools
School Board Tables Evaluation Issue
Trustees support Felix's approach to examining teachers' growth and performance, but want to look more closely at the district's options.
Bowing to strong reservations from teachers, the school board voted Thursday to table .
More than 100 teachers signed a petition asking for time to “further explore” the program, called iObservation, Felix's only recommendation for such a system.
Three teachers, who visited Sacramento’s Twin Rivers Unified School District, where the system is being used, came away with the impression that it had been adopted without a real plan to implement it.
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Karoly Tippetts, from Coronado Middle School, suggested teachers read The Art and Science of Teaching by Robert Marzano, who is affiliated with iObservation, to get a better grasp of the program.
“I don’t know Marzano. I don’t know how he breaks down his elements,” she said.
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Trustee Brenda Kracht, who traveled to Sacramento with the teachers, concurred. “I did not see a true direct process working there,” she said.
She argued that the issue be tabled until everyone knew more. She agreed that reading Marzano was a good place to start.
“I share a common resistance with the site visitors,” trustee Doug Metz said. “We should drop this until we understand the concept.”
He asked Felix to bring the board “a working plan with a process in place, with objectives, with an organizational structure, and a time line for implementation.”
Trustee Ledyard Hakes and student representative Will Funk went further, suggesting that the choice not be limited to one system. He compared the process to buying a car.
“How can you evaluate a car when you haven’t driven another car to compare it to?” he asked.
Felix acknowledged that there were many other programs out there, but that iObservation was one of the few that coupled evaluations with professional development.
Additionally, he said, it was developed by an esteemed educator.
“When people do educational research they always refer to Marzano,” Felix said.
Felix assured board President Bruce Shepherd that he would keep the issue before the board, starting with a timeline for implementation to be presented as early as January.
