Big Brother will watch NC teachers again. Educator evaluations return, virtually.
North Carolina public schools will resume evaluating teachers — often virtually — after putting the system on hold in the spring during the coronavirus pandemic.
The state Department of Public Instruction told schools to suspend formal observation of teachers when the switch was made to online instruction to end last school year.
But the State Board of Education adopted a plan Thursday for how schools should do teacher observations in the new virtual world that many schools are continuing to use due to COVID-19 concerns.
“Observation is essential for supporting teacher practice,” said Robert Sox, DPI’s director of Educator Standards and Evaluation.
The North Carolina Educator Evaluation System is used by principals and assistant principals to do observations of individual teachers.
The evaluation system was suspended in the spring, according to Sox, because “the instructional year functionally ended” when school buildings closed in March.
“This variation of models, tools and resources in place throughout the state in helping students and teachers make the shift from face-to-face instruction to online remote teaching and learning was significant,” Sox told the board. “This period of frenetic change was not an appropriate environment from which to collect valid data for evaluating a teacher’s professional and instructional practices.”
Teachers more prepared for online classes
But Sox says teachers now have standards and a curriculum for the online instruction being used this school year.
The majority of school districts are only using remote instruction for the start of the school year. But they plan to begin offering a mix of both online and in-person classes later.
But some teachers will spend the entire school year teaching online classes in the virtual programs that districts have set up for students who don’t feel comfortable with returning to campus.
Sox said teachers can be evaluated both for the live instruction — whether it’s in-person or online — and the pre-recorded lessons they offer.
Administrators who pop into a teacher’s classroom at school may now join the online classes as well to watch the interaction with students.
State board members said the change in teacher observations is likely needed because virtual instruction will become more common after the pandemic ends.
