Delaware Performance Appraisal System II (DPAS II)

Last updated January 27, 2009
The official DPAS II Guides for every teacher and specialist were delivered to each building in Aug/September 2008. The teacher guides are gray; the specialists guides are white. If you have not received yours, contact Vicky Cairns.

If you would like someone from DoE or DSEA to come to a building meeting, Rep Council, or to offer certain training, it is available. Just contact Vicky Cairns, DSEA's director of instructional advocacy, by e-mail or by phone at 1-866-734-5834. Such meetings have already taken place in several locals where questions were answered, confusion cleared up. There are now DoE people responsible for the implementation of DPAS II - Pat Guzzo and Jeff Lawson.

Check out Vicky Cairns' DPAS II blog where you can post questions and comments about DPAS II with your DSEA colleagues up and down the state.

Yes, you alone set your goal(s)

January 27, 2009.... The Dept. of Education has sent out several letters to district superintendents and other administrators regarding clarifications about DPAS II.

Here's the gist of the latest letter:
1. The purpose of this new evaluation system is "enhancing skills and knowledge for all educators through professional growth, continuous improvement and quality assurance." The letter continues: "The process has been carefully designed to fulfill that purpose, so it is essential that everyone continue to follow the process and procedures as outlined in the Guides and in other resources available online."

2. Goal setting: By this time of year (January), a personal, measurable goal has been set by each educator, focused on improving student achievement. More than one goal is allowed, but only one goal is required. That's right: the teacher or specialist sets his/her goal(s), not your administrator. Refer to this letter or to the Guide to back you up. We have had more calls about this new part of DPAS II than any other issue.

** You have had by now a conference with your evaluator "to review how the teacher/specialist-developed goal(s) fit under the umbrella of the school goals, and how the measurable outcomes would be determined.
** You are now gathering data to substantiate the progress toward your goal(s).
** You are monitoring your goal(s) and making adjustments during the year, if necessary.

3. Formative observations: Rich discussions have taken place during the pre and post observation conferences with your evaluator. The "Formative Feedback Form's" content should simply be a verification of what was observed and then discussed at your Post Observation Conference.

4. Professional Responsibilities Reporting: All forms are to be completed and submitted to your evaluators no later than January 31.

5. For teachers hired mid-year: Upon completion of the required Frameworks and DPAS II Process and Procedures Training, it is up to the individual districts to make the determination as to the amount of the process that must be completed by the spring of the year in which those teachers/specialists were hired.

6. New teachers: All teachers holding an Initial Licence must receive two out of three effective ratings in a Summative Evaluation in order to be issued a Continuing License.
Because of this extenuating circumstance, those hired in mid-year may request an extension of this Initial License until the end of their third full year. So, it is appropriate for mid-year hires to receive their first Summative Evaluation at the end of their first full year. Adds DoE: "It is highly appropriate and strongly suggested that at least one Formative Observation be held during their initial months of hire."

Assistance available from the Dept. of Education

DPAS II Process and Procedure Refresher Sessions
These sessions provide additional opportunities for discussion and honing of skills of those who are DPASII trainers within their district. Administrators may also send additional staff members to expand their existing teams of trainers.

Improvement Plan Workshops
These workshops are designed for any administrator who has yet to attend a DoE workshop to build a common understanding of the improvement plan process.

Question and Answer Sessions
DoE is scheduled these sessions throughout the year as requested by districts to discuss what is going well, any issue or concern, as well as ways DoE can help to allow the process to work smoothly. Several times both DoE representatives and Vicky Cairns of DSEA have jointly sponsored such Q&A sessions. Feel free to contact:

Vicky Cairns, dir. of instructional advocacy for DSEA (1-866-734-5834)
Patrick Guzzo of the Dept. of Education (302-735-4120)
Jeffrey Lawson of the Dept. of Education (same phone #)
Wayne Barton of the Dept. of Education (same phone #)


Transitioning from DPASI to DPASII - special considerations

July 16, 2008.... DPAS II, the second version of the Delaware Performance Appraisal System, will be implemented in all public schools (including charter schools) for teachers, specialists and administrators this fall.

DOE is collaborating with DSEA and DASA (DE Association of School Administrators) to put the finishing touches on changes to the DPAS II evaluation system for teachers, specialists and administrators.

The districts that used the new statewide evaluation system this past year were surveyed, interviewed and participated in focus groups this spring, and their input was heard loud and clear! 
   As a result, a few substantive changes will be made to the system before it rolls out to all districts this fall, in addition to a number of editorial changes. 

Substantive changes to DPAS II for 2008-2009

Timelines

No more than ten working days to elapse between observation and Post-Observation Conference [no timeline existed before]

  1. No more than ten working days to elapse between Post-Observation Conference and receipt of the Formative Feedback Form [previous timeline was 15 days]
  2. Observations can begin after the students have been in attendance for five full days and must be completed before the last five full days of student attendance at the conclusion of the school year. (This is clarifying language.)

Individual Improvement Plans
1. Clarified that entire lesson must be unsatisfactory for an IIP to be triggered by the observation.
2. Modified Formative Feedback Forms to reflect those clarifications
3. Deleted the Recommendations for Individual Improvement Plan Form which was to be filled out before the Improvement Plan Conference by both teacher/specialist and evaluator. All parties felt this was awkward and cumbersome.

Professional Responsibilities Form
Radically modified to more closely align with the criteria for the component and respond to educators’ concerns about the seeming requirement for extra-curricular activities.

   You can print these regulation changes to the Guides (Go to the DoE DPASII web site.) and then insert them in your Guide if you want. We expect that most districts will do the same and make them available so that everyone has updated Guide by the beginning of the year.

Though important, DoE, DSEA and DASA feel that the changes will not represent a problem for those who have already been trained in the process.  They largely represent clarifications or they make parts of the DPAS II process less cumbersome. 

In the meantime, should you have immediate questions, contact DSEA’s Director of Instructional AdvocacyVicky Cairns by e-mail, or you can phone her at 1-866-734-5834.

Check out her DPAS II blog at http://dseadpasii.blogspot.com/ where you can post questions and comments about DPAS II with your DSEA colleagues up and down the state.

Transitioning from DPAS I to DPAS II - special considerations

Sec. of Education Valerie Woodruff sent a letter to all superintendents and Association presidents about special considerations as we transition from DPAS I to DPAS II. The following is from that letter.

Individual Improvement Plans (IIP) from DPAS I
An individual who was on an IIP in DPAS I should have completed the plan by the end of the 07-08 school year. If the plan was successfully completed, the individual shall participate in DPAS II the same as everyone else. If the plan was not successfully completed, the individual will go through an announced observation to see if a new plan should be developed and implemented under DPAS II.

Experienced individuals in DPAS I who did not have a Summative Evaluation in 2008
If a person's rating from a Performance Appraisal in 2007 was "Effective," the person shall have a Summative Evaluation using DPAS II in the spring of 2009. The Summative Evaluation in DPAS II shall be based on a minimum of one announced observation in DPAS II. In other words, no DPAS I data will contribute to this Summative Evaluation.

The person shall have the option to request an additional observation and such request shall be honored by the evaluator. This will be true for the first year of implementation only. After that, all experienced, "Effective" educators should be on the normal two-year cycle, unless they are on an improvement plan.

Training
All teachers and specialists shall have received training in Frameworks for Teaching/Practice and DPAS II Process and Procedures before taking part in any portion of the DPAS II evaluation process. Training was provided through a "train-the-trainer" model with teams consisting of administrators, specialists and teachers from each building.

All administrators shall have received training in Frameworks for Teaching/Practice and DPAS II Process and Procedures before taking part in any portion of the DPAS II evaluation process.

All new administrators will receive training in Observation, Conferencing and Evaluation Techniques through a 15-hour training program before conducting any evaluations with staff.

There will be provisions for the timely training of staff that are hired after the start of the school year.

Evaluations in Individual Personnel File
All forms and documents that become part of the DPAS II process shall be retained in the individual's personnel file until there are at least five complete summatives. The oldes complete set of evaluation forms and documents may be purged from the personnel file once the sixth set is complete. Delaware Public Archives requires the entire personnel file to be on a 50-year retention schedule.

Monitoring and Feedback on DPAS II
The DoE, in collaboration with DSEA and DASA (the Delaware Association of School Administrators) will monitor DPAS II activities throughout the school year 08-09. All teachers, specialists and administrators will participate in a survey of the DPAS II process and procedures in April 2009. A random sampling of staff will also be interviewed in focus groups, similar to the interviews conducted during the pilot and year one of implementation, in order to provide more information about concerns or issues. All data will be used by the DoE in collaboration with DSEA and DASA in the summer of 2009 to make recommendations for changes to DPAS II regulations and procedures for the 2009-2010 school year.

These types of activities will be ongoing annually throughout the implementation of DPAS II in a collaborative mode, between DoE, DSEA and DASA.

How did it go in 07-08?

Appoquinimink E.A. leaders report that there were problems with the timing of some post-observation conferences, and situations where there have been concerns about whether an Improvement Plan was implemented properly.

We communicated to DoE that the period between observations and post-observation conferences needs a specific timeline that allows for the challenge process to take place before the imposition of an improvement plan

Also of note:

  • Yes, grievances were filed related to what causes an Improvement Plan; student test scores going down resulted in an resulting in an Improvement Plan;
  • Teachers and specialists felt that more information/training is needed for new teachers so that they are confident knowing when the DPAS II process is or is not being compromised;
  • More training is also needed on appropriate goal-setting;
  • More meaningful training for specialists, with specific information about their rubrics; and
  • Training will be needed for educators hired after the beginning of the school year.

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