A Reader Writes... The Purposeful Cycle of Formative and Summative Observation - Part 1

In response to the October 6, 2016 post, “The Purposeful Cycle of Formative and Summative Observation,” a LYS Principal writes:

SC,

I’ll admit it. I’m confused after reading this post!  It sounds like you are saying that the coaching conferences we have after 15-20 PowerWalks should be 20-30 minutes?  I thought they were supposed to be short, informal conferences. 

Help!

SC Response

Let me clear up the confusion.  

1. The 20 – 30 minute time frame I was discussing was related to Summative Observations, not formative conferences. Your Summative observations (for T-TESS) should be at least 20 minutes long. This provides the teacher ample time to demonstrate a wide variety of practices and strategies.   Your Formative walk-thru's (PowerWalks) are 3 to 5 minutes. The idea is to do a lot of Formative walk-thru’s so when you do your scheduled Summative observations, your staff does everything better than they did the year before.

2. You are right. Formative conferences are often quick and somewhat informal.  It is Summative conferences that require more time and formality.  The practice that I’m suggesting and what the posted schedule promotes is for your top tier teachers (top 20%) you can complete their Summative (T-TESS) Evaluation by Christmas break (their formative visits will continue in the Spring Semester).  This is one heck of a Christmas present for both you and your best teachers.

Your middle 60% of teachers can have their summative evaluations completed by the end of February (their formative visits will continue for the remainder of the Spring Semester).

This will just leave the remaining 20% of your teachers (rookies, new teachers to your campus, and struggling teachers) that will need their Summative Evaluations completed when you return from Spring Break.

Let me know if I need to clarify anything else.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

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