Morris Plains Principal Talks NJ's Teacher Evaluations

Come September, the schools in New Jersey will be rolling out a new state-mandated model on teacher evaluations. 

On July 3, Lindsay Vieira, Mountain Way Principal and District Curriculum Director, had the opportunity to speak with Larry Jacobs of Education Talk Radio K-12, which can be found at http://educationtalkradio.wordpress.com/.

"New Jersey has become the latest state to adopt a new evaluation model. They’ve been working on it diligently for a few years ... Starting in September, every school district needs to be prepared to roll out a new evaluation model," said Vieira. "For tested areas … which is 4-8 grade math and language arts teachers, 50 percent of their end-of-year evaluation will be based on student growth as measured by state testing."

She added that the Morris Plains schools also test science, but only do it in fourth and eighth grade. 

"It affects me dramatically because I’m one of the people in the district that has the big picture for K-8. I see where kids start and where they need to get to," she said, adding that although Mountain Way is only PreK-2, she needs to keep any eye on the entire district as curriculum director. 

Vieira said that she helps teachers see that big picture and that education is a domino effect where early intervention paves a path for success later on. 

"We’re a completely non-state tested school because the State starts testing in third grade," she said referring to Mountain Way. However, just because Mountain Way isn't tested doesn't mean it gets overlooked by Vieira. 

"When New Jersey raised the stakes for testing … we wanted a way to track student progress more consistently before they took that test in third grade. That’s where People’s Education and Measuring Up came in for us," she said. "They offer a program to us called Measuring Up."

Vieira partnered with Angela Glock of People's Education to discuss how changes to NJ law have affected the use of data and student learning in the Morris Plains School District.  

"People’s Education has a long legacy of being a partner to schools and districts focused on standard instruction," said Glock. "Our relationship with Morris Plains is a special one."

Jacobs commented on the unique situation at Mountain Way as it starts with Pre-K. 

“The children in our district come ready to learn. We love our pre-school students. We’ve been building that program so that we can bring more of our community students into school earlier … They can start on their third birthday,” said Vieira. “Our pre-school teachers, since they teach both special education and regular education, they have to have a dual certification … so they’re very well qualified.”

The nationally broadcast internet radio program addresses issues relevant in today's changing and developing education landscape. Click on the link below to listen to her interview, which highlights and showcases the Morris Plains School District: www.blogtalkradio.com/edutalk/2013/07/03/using-date-to-select-the-right-materials-k-12