YUHSD board OKs new evaluation plan

In order to be compliant with Arizona Revised Statutes, the Yuma Union High School District governing board approved recommended teacher and principal evaluation instruments for the 2013-2014 school year.

The evaluation framework, which was described by human resources director Mary Lynn Coleman as still being a work in progress, was developed by a district committee made up of teachers, administrators and governing board member Linda Munk.

She noted that the biggest change is that 67 percent of the evaluation will be based on observation and 33 percent on student data. Coleman added that it also begins with self-evaluation and is a yearlong process compared with past evaluation plans that may have consisted of only one or two visits to the classroom.

“The teachers can actually set goals for themselves and then work toward achieving those goals, which is a little different than in the past,” she said.

Coleman explained that the evaluation plan will be piloted with select teachers during the spring semester of 2012-2013 and officially be implemented next school year.

Yuma High School principal Faith Klostreich, who was a member of the district committee as well as the Arizona Department of Education evaluation committee, said that the evaluation models are based on educational research of best practices for teachers and administrators.

More importantly, Klostreich said, the evaluation plan focuses on what's best for students in the classroom.

“It's still a work in progress. We still have more work to do... this is the first step in a journey to probably a five-year product.”

The district committee began meeting last year to develop a revised evaluation plan after the mandates were handed down from the state.

Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com or 539-6858.