5 Teachers Holding Standard or Advanced Professional Certificates (COMAR 13A.07.09.04 effective January 1995) Observation Classroom observations of teachers’ professional practice will be conducted by certificated individuals who have completed training that includes identification of teaching behaviors that result in student growth and are consistent with COMAR 13A(.07)(4.1). Classroom observers will use the rubrics for Domains 1, 2 and 3 (Planning and Preparation, The Classroom Environment, and Instruction) of the Professional Practice component. Classroom observations will play a role in the evaluation system, at minimum, in the following ways: • All tenured teachers’ professional practice evaluation will be based on at least two observations by at least two different individuals during the professional practice evaluation year and at least one observation during each other year in the three-year evaluation cycle. • An observation will be conducted with full knowledge of the teacher. • Observations may be either announced or unannounced. • Formal classroom observations assessing lesson execution shall be of at least thirty (30) minutes duration or the length of the instructional period, whichever is less. • Within ten (10) school days following any classroom observation, a conference will be held with the teacher. • An observation report will be provided to the teacher within a reasonable period of time. The teacher will sign the observation report to acknowledge receipt. A copy will be made a part of the teacher’s personnel file. • A teacher may provide written comments and reactions to the observation report, which will be included in the teacher’s file. • An observation shall provide specific guidance in areas deemed less than effective as well as a reasonable timeline to demonstrate improvement in areas marked as ineffective. Evaluation Wicomico County Public Schools implemented a new teacher evaluation model in 2013-2014 consistent with the requirements set forth in COMAR 13A.07.09. The model uses a three-year evaluation cycle, meaning that teachers are evaluated once every three years on professional practice and every year on student growth (i.e., Student Learning Objectives or SLOs). For final evaluations, Maryland law requires that teachers be rated as Highly Effective, Effective, or Ineffective. Approximately one-third of all tenured teachers in Wicomico County will be re- evaluated on professional practice in each of the three years of the evaluation cycle with those teachers who have most recently been evaluated placed furthest out in the time line. Alternative evaluations for teachers who are not evaluated under the new evaluation model (per COMAR) will be developed with stakeholder input and phased-in over the next several years.
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