By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The Lawrence Township public school district has been awarded a $22,000 grant to participate in a state Department of Education pilot program to evaluate school principals, assistant principals and supervisors, according to Superintendent of Schools Crystal Edwards.
The goal of the program, which will be implemented statewide in the 2013-14 school year, is to standardize how principals, assistant principals and supervisors are evaluated. It is similar to a pilot program that seeks to evaluate teachers’ effectiveness and that will also be implemented statewide in the next school year.
In the past, administrators would make an annual “site visit” to a school, observe the principal and write a report based on those observations, Ms. Edwards said. It was a snapshot of what occurred at the time of the visit, she said.
Under the new scenario, there will be four site visits during the school year, she said. Half of the principal’s evaluation will be based on professional practices and half will be based on student achievement measures and test scores.
School districts can choose from among several evaluation systems, Ms. Edwards said. The system Lawrence has chosen focuses on three major areas that include how the principal manages change and how the principal focuses on leadership.
A third area is how well does the principal build a “purposeful community” that involves the stakeholders everyone who has “a horse in the race” and encourages them to become part of the school, she said.
The evaluation system chosen by the district also has a four-tiered ranking system. A principal can be ranked as “developing,” “proficient,” “accomplished” or “distinguished.” A principal can make progress through the ranking system, she said.
Andrew Zuckerman, the school district’s director of instructional services, said the new evaluation system is research-based and not something its authors “threw together.” Ultimately, it will enhance leadership and student achievement, he said.
”(The pilot program) changes the way we look at evaluations,” Ms. Edwards said. “It’s more of an on-going process and more of a two-way street. They have to show their accomplishments. For example, for a ‘back-to-school’ night, a principal had a video invitation for parents. If I ask, the principal will show me that’s how it was publicized.”
”The best part of the evaluation system is that at the heart of it, it is about growth. The goal is development in an area,” she said, adding that it is an “active versus a passive” evaluation system and not just a “check-off” list.

