Chesterfield to monitor teacher development

Starting in the fall of 2010, the Chesterfield County school system will require all teachers to follow a professional development growth plan that will be tied to student academic performance and job evaluations.

School officials use the job evaluation results to keep or dismiss teachers.

"I think the key thing is that in the older [evaluation] system, you don't have a professional growth component, which is really what should be driving everything you do to improve performance," said Donna M. Dalton, director of the Department of Professional Development.

Teachers and other instructional employees will be setting goals for the professional growth development and performance plan in the spring. Those goals will be based on student academic progress, the school improvement plan and the teacher's evaluation results, she said.

"You're telling teachers specifically what to do, and you're directing them in what they need to do to better improve their instruction or punctuality or their professionalism. It could be any one of the seven [performance] standards that need to be addressed," she said.

The district piloted the professional growth development plan in 16 schools last year, Dalton said. This year, those same schools are continuing with the initiative. In the 2010-11 school year, it will be implemented in all schools.

Lyle Evans, assistant superintendent of human resources and administrative services, said that traditionally the same evaluation system and professional development have been applied to all teachers.

"A first-year teacher and what she needs to learn . . . is so different than that of a 30-year veteran teacher who's been there, done that 20 different times and now needs motivation to do something different to keep her interest," he said.

Until now, teachers have received feedback on the good and the bad, but there was no improvement plan, Evans said.

"Now we're saying, 'Here are the things you're doing extremely well, here are the things that you need to improve on, let's develop a plan to get better in those areas,'" he said.

One of the pieces of the evaluation plan will be that principals have to show where teachers are coming up short and what has been done to help them, Evans said.

"That's a huge piece that we didn't necessary see in the old documents," he said.

Frank Cardella, president of the Chesterfield Education Association, said he welcomes the individual professional development initiative.

"Teachers should be involved in the goal-setting process," he said. "We don't want a one-size-fits-all."

Each year, the association works several cases where teachers file grievances over job evaluations, Cardella said.

"Changes that allow teachers to have more input on what principals are going to be looking for are going to be beneficial," he said

Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or .