The Scenario
Somerville Public Schools (NJ) is a high-performing school district that serves over 2,500 students and 250 teachers. Somerville has received numerous awards, including Teacher of the Year, District of Distinction (student achievement), and Superintendent of the Year. They take pride in maintaining optimal performance and using a continuous process to improve teacher effectiveness through teacher evaluations.
The Challenge
The district’s administrators, superintendent, principals, teachers – and even the District Evaluation Advisory Committee (DEAC) – were frustrated with their existing educator evaluation platform, MyLearningPlan. They found it to be cumbersome and felt service levels were poor. Each time they needed to make a change, they had to go back to the company and faced lengthy turnaround times. Seeking other options, Academic Achievement Officer Tim Teehan spoke with a Massachusetts-based TeachPoint customer. The contact raved about the platform and Tim was equally impressed. He recommended TeachPoint to his team. After viewing the platform, they unanimously chose to move forward with a pilot.
The Solution
Two years later, the Somerville School District leaders are just as impressed with the TeachPoint Educator Evaluation Solution as they were on day one. They view TeachPoint as an intuitive, easy-to-use system that is customizable and secure. Everyone is pleased with the overall performance of TeachPoint that enables them to:
- Create customized forms.
- Using ready-made templates.
- Quickly with form-building tool.
- Complying with State requirements.
- Easily upload evidence.
- Including videos, photos, and documents.
- To file, track, and share between educators.
- Eliminating need for binders.
- Access from anywhere at anytime.
- Via any device.
- Create customized reports.
- Tailored to their specific needs.
- Aligned with state-reporting requirements.
- Collaborate via feedback & teacher reflection.
- Assist with coaching conversations.
- Identify professional development opportunities.
The Results
Superintendent Dr. Timothy Purnell spearheads the Purpose-Driven Walkthrough initiative in the district, designed to assess an administrator’s ability to achieve their goals. Each administrator focuses on one to two areas where they feel the educator is effective and one to two areas where they feel they need to improve. Each walkthrough involves five to 10 minutes of observation. The ability to easily document feedback via any mobile device is critical to the process. TeachPoint attributes, such as ease of access and checkbox/feedback capabilities, enables flawless execution. As a result, teachers and principals benefit from a program that fosters professional development in ways never before thought possible.
