The Scenario
Cambridge Public Schools (CPS) is a diverse urban school district committed to academic excellence and social justice for all students. With teacher effectiveness being the top priority in ensuring that over 6,500 students are receiving the best in education, the district decided to migrate from a paper-based teacher evaluation system to an online teacher evaluation platform.
The Challenge
The Cambridge Public Schools evaluation system migration from paper to online represented a significant procedural change for CPS teachers and administrators. This was made even more complex due to new schools opening. The platform needed to be intuitive to ensure broad adoption, while also complying with Massachusetts Department of Education requirements.
The Solution
Viewed as the choice online teacher evaluation platform by Massachusetts districts and schools, TeachPoint was adopted by Cambridge Public Schools in 2012. Since then, teachers and administrators have been impressed with the platform’s flexibility and how it has enabled them to:
- Create customized forms.
- Easily upload evidence.
- Access from iPad or computer.
- Create customized reports.
- Foster collaboration via Feedback & Teacher Reflection.
In addition, TeachPoint has exceeded customer service expectations. For example, CPS supplied iPads to principals as part of the rollout and TeachPoint provided training to guide them on how to best use the platform via the iPad in an effort to help with ramp-up time.
The Results
Since using the platform and working with the TeachPoint team, Cambridge Public Schools has been able to improve the timeliness of evaluations, run the reports they need to manage the process, and enhance opportunities for dialogue and feedback between teacher and evaluator. In addition, TeachPoint has enabled CPS to easily capture goals, evidence, and ratings related to new District-Determined Measures (DDMs) all within the platform. CPS enjoys the ability to edit and customize the State forms from the Forms Library in TeachPoint to meet the requirements of their union-approved forms. And submitting the yearly State EPIMS report is made easy for CPS by exporting the report right from TeachPoint. Finally, TeachPoint’s training, engagement, and responsiveness to questions has resulted in teachers and administrators embracing the platform. Everyone is pleased with the results they are getting from TeachPoint.
