by Ji’asia Anderson

The administration has taken up a new evaluating system called Teachscape to improve the quality of teacher evaluations. It is a website created to help teachers improve their skills.

“Before using Teachscape, the administrators would just write their notes during an evaluation on paper,” dean Erie Lugo said.

According to Lugo, administrators use the Teachscape website to schedule teachers’ evaluations. The Teachscape app is downloaded onto the administrators’ iPads, so the evaluator can type or record things that he or she notices during the observation.

“The new system will be better because it will show teachers where they need help,” Lugo said.

Teachers can see the feedback noted on the iPads and check out videos or resources to help them. For example, if the rating scale is 1-4 and a teacher gets a two, he or she can see what teaching skills need to be improved to get to a four, Lugo said.

 “The system gives teachers a way to view what efficient teaching looks like,” supervisor of curriculum and instruction Todd St. Laurent said. “[It’ll] show a variety of lessons, teachings and evaluations.”

Assistant dean Michele Bruce said Teachscape is a “constructive” way to offer teachers feedback to help them “improve with instruction, classroom management and other educational goals.”

“Ideally what [Teachscape is] hoping to accomplish is worthwhile, but it’ll take time to get there,” Bruce said.

Lugo said the school was able to get Teachscape with funds from the Race to the Top Phase 3 grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Social studies teacher Hans Winberg said he likes the system because Teachscape is based on the work of Charlotte Danielson who is considered “the goddess of teacher evaluation” and because it offers more accountability.

“The more accountability by fellow teachers and supervisors, the better the teachers become,” Winberg said. “Teachscape will undoubtedly improve the quality of education at UACHS.”

English teacher Steven Gavrielatos said the system has its benefits and downsides.

“It’s a great system because it helps teachers look at their work,” Gavrielatos said.

However, he said he dislikes that the system requires teachers to send lesson plans for the day they are being observed to the administrator, and they have to follow the plan during the evaluation, even if the teacher later decides that he or she wants to alter it based on student response earlier in the day.

“Teachscape makes it difficult for teachers to wing it,” Gavrielatos said. “If I don’t do well in my first period class with what I have planned, I wouldn’t be able to change it for my [evaluation.]”

Biology teacher Rita Bassil said she doesn’t care when she’s evaluated because she will keep doing what she believes is the best way to teach her students.

“Teachers should do the best for the students and shouldn’t care how they’re evaluated or when,” Bassil said.

Administrators have been trained to do the evaluations and they “all passed [the] test,” Lugo said.

The administration had to watch videos, practice the evaluation, read all about how it should be performed, answer questions and finally score the evaluation. If their scores didn’t match what the computer got, they would have to do the test all over until they got it right, he said.

According to Lugo, Teachscape will affect the students through “higher academic achievement.” The system will “make teachers better and students [will] learn more.”