Educator+Effectiveness+Vendors

toc Thank you for attending the session Supporting PAs New Teacher Effectiveness/Evaluation System through the Use of Digital Tools on February 28, 2013 at ARIN IU28.

On this site, I have collected all of the notes provided to me by the vendors prior to the presentations. I have also included any files they have sent me regarding their product. Any notes I took during the session are included in green.

This site is not meant to endorse any products. The intention is simply to provide you with the information needed to make an informed decision.

**SmartStart - TeachElite Evaluation** Contact Person: Lee Garber Email: leegarber@smartstarteducation.com Phone: 203-772-4331



What are some of the benefits of using your tool for observations? TeachElite™ Evaluation is an evaluation system that uses multiple measures, including observation. Use of multiple measures provides a more reliable and valid assessment of teacher performance. A multiple measure approach to teacher evaluation is founded in the Gates research on Measuring Effective Teaching (Gates 2012) and The New Teacher Project 2.0 (TNTP 2011). Use of multiple measures for student growth include standardized assessments (PDE Student Growth Model), classroom grades, and student work,

The capacity to customize TeachElite™ Evaluation makes it easy to add the PDE Student Growth Model when available, to choose which evaluation components to implement, and to vary the weighting of the multiple measures.

How is your tool aligned to the Danielson Framework? 100% alignment; see attached TeachElite™ Domain Framework

What costs are associated with this tool? TeachElite™ Evaluation is available to ARIN IU28 members at $37.50 per teacher.

On what platforms can this tool be used? (Is it designed for PC? housed locally or online? Is it iPad compatible?) TeachElite™ Evaluation Online Data Management System is available on multiple platforms, including Tablets and Smartphones (both iPhone and Android compatible ).

The application is hosted on a dedicated server in a professional data center, with 24x7x365 support in a secure facility. The hosting facility provides network services to protect against denial of service attacks. Each user password is encrypted using the most secure encryption algorithm available (Bcrypt).

What training or PD will be needed for administrators? For teachers? At the $37.50 per teacher price • Administrators and evaluators receive a six hour, in-person, site-based training • Teachers receive a “What You Can Expect” online orientation to TeachElite™ Evaluation • Site-based teacher training is available for an additional fee.

What types of support are available to districts adopting your tool? A TeachElite™ Help Desk provides ongoing technical support during the evaluation period. Additional guidance and support is available as needed.


 * TeachElite includes a teacher evaluation piece
 * Helps teachers identify areas for growth
 * Instructional practice
 * Parental engagement
 * Instructional coaching
 * Used polling during presentation (just a note to self)
 * Multiple measures used in evaluation
 * Two areas of research
 * Danielson, McRel
 * Gates MET project
 * Observations
 * Optional components
 * Perceptions
 * Student data will plug-in
 * Can include
 * Standardized tests
 * Classroom observations
 * Content knowledge
 * Student perceptions
 * Teacher perceptions
 * Flexible: can be changed to meet district or IU needs
 * Report generation for teachers, aggregate, subsets


 * Software demo
 * Evaluation dashboard
 * All teachers, schools, etc. are prepopulated
 * Send in teachers, PVAAS, etc. and they insert
 * Real-time graph (interactive)
 * It only shows the measures you want on
 * Program administrator available for support
 * 4 levels of access
 * Teacher
 * Evaluator
 * Admin (sees all evaluators)
 * Can include teacher and student feedback as well
 * Teacher piece
 * Radio button survey
 * Teachers fill out interview
 * Price based on # of teachers
 * The more teachers you have, the cheaper per teacher

=School Improvement Network - PD 360= Contact Person: Steve Bryson Email: steve.bryson@schoolimprovement.com Phone: 801-758-9759 801-244-5000

What are some of the benefits of using your tool for observations? • 450 new CC vids • PD portfolio with evidence • Million users- communities and groups • Social aspect: follow one another • Can buy separately or bundled • Observation: templates are built for you • Professional development is prescribed by component in observation tool • They will add anything you need to list • Principal eval is coming soon • Don't need wifi during observation • Select level and add comments • Teachers are assigned for you

How is your tool aligned to the Danielson Framework?

What costs are associated with this tool? • Full: $7,000/site • Or consortium package

On what platforms can this tool be used? (Is it designed for PC? housed locally or online? Is it iPad compatible?)

What training or PD will be needed for administrators? For teachers? • Pd videos-program- introducing

What types of support are available to districts adopting your tool? • CIS assigned to district (tech support)


 * Goal: 100% of students college or career ready
 * 20 years experience
 * One of the largest PD libraries
 * PD 360
 * Over 1 million users
 * Full range of PD
 * Observations
 * iPad, laptop
 * Templates are customized
 * Multiple templates for whatever you need
 * Prescriptive PD is already developed and aligned
 * Email notification is sent to teacher when you submit the observation
 * They can log in to review the info
 * Can save and come back, upload, etc.
 * Professional Development
 * Each piece comes with 3 reflective pieces
 * Three additional questions available 72 hours later
 * Common Core
 * Send teacher names, emails, school
 * They will be populated

=Edulink - PA-ETEP= Contact Person: Dr. Reed Hankinson Email: reed@edulink.com Phone: 724-591-5040

What are some of the benefits of using your tool for observations? EVERYTHING! Fully aligned to the PA process and supportive of the steps within the training process. Streamlines the documentation to focus on the dialogue, user friendly, secure, easily accessible. The only tool designed by PA Educator Effectiveness Trainers

How is your tool aligned to the Danielson Framework? Aligned at both the Domain and component levels, focused on evidence collection and the clinical supervision model that supports growth

What costs are associated with this tool? The cost is based on district size (total student enrollment and number of teachers) – averages out to between $1 and $3 per student depending on district size. A district of 2,000 students pays $3,618

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">On what platforms can this tool be used? (Is it designed for PC? housed locally or online? Is it iPad compatible?) It is a web-based portal that can be used by PC or Mac from anywhere that you can access the Internet. It is fully compatible with IPad. It is housed on the PAIUnet infrastructure through Intermediate Unit 4.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What training or PD will be needed for administrators? For teachers? The fee to use the software includes training for both central admin and principals/supervisors. There are also “Getting Started” documents available for admin, principals and teachers.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What types of support are available to districts adopting your tool? Extended implementation to include the additional rubrics that are part of the PA Educator Effectiveness process over the next several years. Thanks to IU 4’s involvement, principal and specialist rubrics will be implemented into the software as well as additional evolutions that come out of the PDE process.


 * Differences
 * Built specifically for the new PA process
 * Partnered w/ IU 4
 * It IS the process, not just a tool for the process
 * Mohawk area has been piloting for 3 years
 * They try everything out first
 * Will evolve and change with the process
 * Will have 8-10 different rubrics for each specialist area
 * Includes observation, walkthrough, anecdotal notes, etc.
 * Breaks down by domain
 * How it will work w/ the other 50%
 * Either plug this into PDE, or pull PDE into this
 * Depends on PDE
 * Will be trying to pull in SLOs
 * Paiunet approved
 * Uses that infrastructure
 * Don't need to be part of paiunet to use it
 * Works on all platforms
 * Observation is hard to fill-in on iPhone :)
 * Currently developing a more comprehensive dashboard for central office
 * 4 steps tie into the EdEf steps
 * They are adding a piece to put text in the preobservation email to say when and where
 * Allows you to communicate with teachers back-and-forth in pre-observation section
 * Working on how to integrate the calendar with different formats: google, outlook, etc.
 * Not yet, though
 * Scripting module
 * Lets you take notes, then sort them later
 * Logs time, let's you edit
 * Can set evidence to more than one component
 * Bounces back and forth between admin and teacher as needed

=LSI - iObservation= Contact Person: Wes Holsinger Email: WHolsinger@learningsciences.com Phone: M 717.817.7232 P 717.845.6300 x178



<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What are some of the benefits of using your tool for observations? I have two answers to this…first in regards to the Marzano Teacher Evaluation Model, it is more of a developmental model, with direct research to student learning gains, that truly honors teaching through a formative and summative process; provides greater clarity, consistency and specificity for actionable feedback to the newest teacher and most veteran practitioner, builds observer/instructional leader capacity, and it provides a common language of instruction that will help districts meet upcoming Common Core requirements. As for the software, iObservation, it has been created as professional development to help districts support teacher/leader development through feedback, reflection, professional dialogue and a library of resource to support self-directed teacher growth & differentiated supervision models. Users of iObservation also find it very easy and efficient to use.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">How is your tool aligned to the Danielson Framework? We have the 2007 Danielson Framework for Teaching on iObservation, via partnership with ASCD, who owns the intellectual property of the 2007 version.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What costs are associated with this tool? iObservation costs $2,300 per school building

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">On what platforms can this tool be used? (Is it designed for PC? housed locally or online? Is it iPad compatible?) Web-based and compatible with all browsers and hardware

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What training or PD will be needed for administrators? For teachers? We have a professional development progress for Administrators, Teacher Leaders and Teachers for the Marzano Model. For iObservation, we can provide technical (how-to) training via a one-time in-person session or via virtual trainings.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What types of support are available to districts adopting your tool? <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I think we have some advantages here; we have customer support in your backyard, as our corporate office is located in Blairsville PA. Also, I live in York PA and can be ‘hands-on’ as needed. We also have ‘help’ functionality built into iObservation and a toll-free #


 * Ran Reading First, and other State Dept's of Ed
 * Using Marzano framework and Danielson 2007
 * Asked "what's missing from the tools you have seen so far?"
 * None are complete: missing the "total package"
 * LSI is no longer tied to PDE
 * Says Marzano is deeper focus on instruction
 * Danielson is not deep enough
 * Too spread-out
 * Built on The Art and Science of Teaching as a framework
 * As a "common language of instruction"
 * Most teaching is at developing. By rating teachers high, we have robbed them of the opportunity to improve
 * Puts the most weight on instruction, instead of spreading it equally around the 4 domains
 * As observer
 * Identify the dominant lesson segment you are seeing
 * Identify and rate strategies
 * Short videos to go with each one
 * Marzano and Danielson
 * Marzano is behaviorist
 * Danielson is constructivist
 * Strategies
 * You won't see all 41
 * Developing: 7-10
 * High end: 10-12
 * Walkthroughs: 1-2
 * Tool includes dialogue. You can attach files, etc.
 * Growth plans are living documents
 * Used throughout year
 * Teachers choose 1-2 target elements to work on throughout year
 * May be weighted in the 50%
 * You input the other 50% pieces and get the final score

=Teachscape= Contact Person: Al Knechel Email: al.knechel@teachscape.com Phone: 610-983-0214 Cell 215-990-6379

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What are some of the benefits of using your tool for observations? From training observers to assessing teaching to providing targeted professional learning based on evaluation outcomes, Teachscape enables districts to conduct evaluations the way they need to, efficiently and effectively. This complete solution helps streamline the evaluation process and ensure evaluations are improvement-based. Flexible and customizable, Teachscape’s solution helps districts integrate teacher evaluations into a systematic, holistic approach to continuous improvement. Districts can implement this modular solution all at once, or one building block at a time in a phased approach. Teachscape’s systems are designed to help ensure evaluations are effective and efficient and lead to sustained improvement in teaching practice. The Reflect In Class Observation System is the only evaluation tool endorsed personally by Charlotte Danielson which provides direct application to the online rater-reliability instrument deemed “best in class” by the PA Department of Education. The Measuring Effective Teaching Project (MET) study served as the research-proven basis for recognizing and overcoming bias and applying critical attributes deemed as true differentiators in the observation and evaluation process.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">How is your tool aligned to the Danielson Framework? It is a direct alignment and online application of the 2011 and now 2013 Danielson Frameworks. Teachscape maintains the exclusive digital rights to the most recent Danielson Framework developments to enable observers and teachers to collaborate on the ongoing Measuring Educator Effectiveness model in Pennsylvania.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What costs are associated with this tool? Teachscape has developed an alliance available to each Intermediate Unit which maximizes the buying power of all member districts within your service area irrespective of size. As a true software-as-a- service model, the annual investment is based upon active license use within a 12-month period. Simply stated, the $37 per user comprehensive annual license for observation and evaluation purposes is based solely on the number of observers and educators being served in single school year, not on the overall district size or pupil enrollment.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">On what platforms can this tool be used? (Is it designed for PC? housed locally or online? Is it iPad compatible?) As a totally web-based software solution, the Teachscape applications are accessible on a variety of technology instruments. The newest version of the iPad app allows the observer to schedule an observation and then the comments/evidence collected on the iPad will automatically sync with that scheduled observation so that they can complete it online in their workspace. Future iterations will have the ability to have the entire evaluation on the iPad and will upload to their workspace. The workspace/accounts are all housed on secure servers.

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What training or PD will be needed for administrators? For teachers? Teachscape professional services workshops help schools and districts plan for positive outcomes through effective implementation, orientation, and ongoing success using Teachscape tools. Designed to promote positive and lasting results for schools and districts, these one-day workshops will accommodate administrators and teachers to provide practical support for action planning and implementing strategies that make the most of the Teachscape systems to increase teaching effectiveness Participants in these workshops learn how to: · Plan for professional growth through reflective practice and individualized learning plans · Use data to engage in reflective dialogue and drive instructional improvement · Promote accurate and consistent observations of teaching practice using the 2011/2013 Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching · Develop observer skills in holding productive professional conversations with teachers · Strategically plan for using one or more Teachscape systems to achieve school and district goals

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What types of support are available to districts adopting your tool? Depending on the workshop or add-on service selected, training is available in several formats: · Face-to-face: All workshops are offered as interactive, face-to-face training in groups of up to 25 participants · Live Webinar: This three-hour virtual learning option can serve local and regional groups of participants in a more cost-effective format. · Custom coaching: This optional service is available as an add-on to any workshop to provide additional at-elbow support and ensure participants are effectively applying new skills in their daily practice. · Ongoing support: Online communities, virtual check-ins from the Teachscape service provider, and a weekly e-newsletter are available with select workshops for ongoing support. <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> · Trainer-of-Trainers: Regional support model to enable an Intermediate Unit to support their member districts for Face-to-Face and/or Live Webinars.


 * SAS portal
 * 5 year contract w/ PDE
 * Teachscape Reflect
 * The tool
 * Single logon for all tools
 * Calendar for scheduling ties into other cal apps
 * 2013 brings in some CC language

=ASCD - Danielson Framework 2007 License= Phone: 703-575-5749

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What are some of the benefits of using your tool for observations? Word Document containing Danielson 2007 rubric

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">How is your tool aligned to the Danielson Framework? 2007 version

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What costs are associated with this tool? $25 per school

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">On what platforms can this tool be used? (Is it designed for PC? housed locally or online? Is it iPad compatible?) <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Any Microsoft Word compatible device. Word documents can be difficult to fill-in on iPad.