The Board of Education's ultimate goal in education is to provide the highest quality educational experience to all District students. The District's performance-based evaluation system contributes to that goal by promoting the professional improvement of each staff member and, when necessary, by providing data to remove an employee whose employment is detrimental to students.

Performance-based evaluation is a process endorsed by the Board of Education for performance improvement that includes identification of performance expectations, documentation of performance, discussion of performance, development of improvement plans, and making personnel decisions based upon performance. The evaluation process for every employee is an on-going process that takes place every day. Formal, summative evaluations will be prepared and reviewed with each tenured teacher at least every other year. All other District employees will receive summative evaluations annually.

The District's performance evaluation system incorporates the seven “Essential Principles of Effective Evaluation” adopted by the State Board of Education and set out as follows:

1. Uses research-based and proven practices to measure educator performance;
2. Establishes performance indicators for educators based on their level of performance;
3. Aligns the evaluation process with an educator's probationary period to provide for an appropriate accumulation of performance data;
4. Uses student learning, based on a variety of performance measures, in the evaluation process;
5. Assesses educator performance on a regular basis and provides feedback to teachers and administrators that they can use to improve their performance through their careers;
6. Ensures evaluators are highly trained so that evaluation ratings are fair, accurate and reliable; and
7. Uses the evaluation process to guide school district policies that impact the development of educators and student learning.

Notwithstanding the State's essential principles, the major focus on the District's evaluation system is on positive learning outcomes, cognitive and affective, for District students. Educators are responsible for the positive learning outcomes for their students.

The Board recognizes the fundamental experience differences between tenured and probationary teachers. Accordingly, District evaluators will focus their attention, non-exclusively, on probationary teachers and on tenured teachers whose practices adversely affect student learning.
District evaluators will be trained and assessed on their ability to consistently evaluate educators under their discretion.