How often are teachers actually observed teaching by a third-party evaluator to see if the quality is up to par?
Teachers are observed by their campus supervisors, generally their principal and/or assistant principal. The formal PDAS observation requires a minimum of one observation of at least 45 minutes, plus additional observations and walkthroughs as necessary. Principals and assistant principals are first and foremost instructional leaders and are charged with monitoring instruction building-wide. They should be in and out of classrooms on a daily basis, and are evaluated on how well they monitor instruction in their buildings. Campus administrator staff development for the 2003-04 school year focused on “walkthrough” training to help principals and assistant principals with strategies to ensure quality instruction is taking place. If a teacher is struggling, the campus administrator may seek assistance for that teacher from central curriculum staff. Finally, a campus administrator may use a formal growth plan (part of the PDAS system) to assist a teacher in improving performance. Our first
