It’s back-to-school time in Jefferson County, and students and teachers will be greeted by more than new classmates and pupils when school doors open Aug. 19.
The 2013-2014 school year will include some major changes for Jeffco Public Schools, including the first year of annual teacher and principal evaluations based partly on student performance.
“It’s going to be quite the year,” Superintendent Cindy Stevenson said. “We’ve been planning around the required legislative education reforms for the last couple of years. This is a year of implementation.”
Jeffco Public Schools, the largest school district in the state, expects to welcome more than 84,000 students this school year. Teachers returned to schools Aug. 12.
Stevenson said the new educator evaluations are mandatory this year for school districts across the state.
Under the system, evaluations must be performed annually, with half of each score based on student growth and the other half on professional practice, Stevenson said.
For the first year, ratings will not affect the status of teachers on continuing contracts. Starting with the 2014-2015 school year, though, teachers rated as ineffective for two years in a row could lose their non-probationary status and the rights that come with it, Stevenson said.
“You’re going to see a new evaluation system connected to educator effectiveness,” she said. “We’re looking to learn a lot this year about what works and what doesn’t.”
JPS will also begin implementing the new Colorado academic standards this school year. A statewide assessment on social studies for fourth and seventh grades also will be new this year.
To help adapt to all of the changes, the district has also restructured its central support system for the 154 schools under its purview, Stevenson said.
The new School Innovation & Effectiveness Team features 13 achievement directors who are each responsible for overseeing six to 10 schools. Those directors will report to three executive directors of school effectiveness, who have also been assigned a handful of schools.
The achievement directors will be an important part of instructional rounds, another new initiative in which teams of experts will tour every school at least twice a year and work together with staff to address the specific needs and goals of each school.
Stevenson said the instructional rounds are similar in concept to medical rounds, in which doctors go room by room and work cooperatively on the care of patients.
“When you think about how rapidly our schools are having to change and move, this is really about supporting them in that movement and making sure that change is effective,” Stevenson said.
Emilie Rusch: 303-954-2457, erusch@denverpost.com or
