Calibration Tool to Standardize Educator Evaluations at 7 Illinois School Districts

Several school districts in Illinois looking to improve inter-relatability and consistency for educator evaluations have adopted a tool from Performance Matters to help standardize the process.

Bloomington Public Schools District 87, Crete-Monee School District 201-U, Galesburg Community Unit School District 205, Moline School District 40, Round Lake Area School District 116, Summit Hill School District 161 and West Aurora School District 129 are now using Performance Matters’ Calibration tool, according to a company statement. The research-based tool, developed with help from Teaching and Learning Solutions, uses a system of embedded accuracy measures for conducting classroom observations, collecting evidence and sharing feedback.

Some key features of the tool include:

  • Research-based scoring: the tool syncs with district-specific rubrics;
  • Objective data collection: evaluators are trained to understand how to use the tool to collect valid data; and
  • Automated scoring: offers instant access to individual results.

The Calibration tool will assist the districts with meeting the state’s requirements for teaching evaluations.

“With Performance Matters, we can take charge of our inter-rater reliability and calibration process, and be more proactive in meeting our evaluators’ needs. The Calibration tool is user-friendly, the quality of the training videos is excellent, and we can use the tool with our own evaluation framework and rubrics,” said Cindy Helmers, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for Bloomington Public Schools District 87, in a prepared statement. “Another benefit is that we can measure evaluators’ skills and provide retraining on a regular basis, instead of doing this only once every five years.”

Performance Matters’ platform is used by more than 1 million educators and 11 million students in the United States. Learn more on the Performance Matters site.

About the Author

Sri Ravipati is Web producer for THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].

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