Understanding to adopt Worthington’s Teacher Evaluation System (WOTES) in May 2013. The state
framework requires that a teacher annually be given a final summative evaluation and a rating in one of
four categories (Excellent, Effective, Developing or Ineffective) and that this rating be reported to the
Ohio Department of Education. Based upon their rating and feedback from the evaluation, a teacher
either writes or updates a professional growth plan or works with their district on an improvement plan
and receives additional support. In the Worthington Teacher Evaluation System, a teacher’s final
summative rating will be determined by two equally weighted components: 50% Teacher Performance
and 50% Student Growth Measures (attached supporting documents).
The Teacher Performance component is based on the Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession and
includes evidence of teacher effectiveness based on formal observations of teacher practice. For
example, Worthington administrators will use evidence gathered by completing a preconference, two
formal observations of at least 30 minutes, multiple walk-throughs of 10-20 minutes, and other informal
observations, which will be taken into account.
The Student Growth Measures component utilizes evidence of student academic progress to determine a
rating. This component classifies teachers into three categories based on the type of student growth data
available: In 2013, Worthington teachers with value-added data (4th- 8th-grade reading and math
teachers and science teachers in grades 5 and 8) will use Value-Added data for 25% of student growth
and an SLO for 25% of student growth. Value-Added data is from the year previous to a teacher’s
evaluation, (i.e., the 2012-2013 Value-Added data will be used for the 2013-2014 evaluation); Teachers
with Ohio Department of Education approved vendor assessment test scores that can be used to generate
growth data. In Worthington, Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress
(MAP) is an approved vendor assessment. For teachers with MAP data, 10% of student growth will be
from MAP data, and an SLO will be used for 40% of student growth; And teachers with neither Value-
Added data nor vendor assessment scores will use the Student Learning Objectives. Worthington
teachers who teach in non-tested grades and subjects (i.e., fine arts, music, and wellness) will utilize
SLOs to measure student growth through district- or teacher-developed assessments or portfolios of
student work, which will constitute 50% of student growth.
As a summary of my personal involvement to improve my professionalism and that of the district
overall, I believe that principal evaluation should mirror teacher evaluation. The above information
outlines how I took part in the Ohio Principal Evaluation System Training in August 2011, making me
credentialed to evaluate building principals. Fifty percent of a principal’s evaluation will be based upon
feedback from their supervisor on their performance, and fifty percent of the evaluation will be based on
the student growth data from the principal’s school, determined by test scores and the value-added
calculation used in school district report cards from the state. Value-Added is designed to measure
whether a student has learned a year’s worth of material in a given year. Principals also will be
designated with a final rating of Accomplished, Skilled, Developing, or Ineffective. These above
initiatives, under my leadership, mean that Worthington Schools was and is strategically poised for the
new regulations and evaluation system.
Community Involvement
The steep cuts to education after the deepest recession in 70 years have negatively impacted
Worthington Schools, however we are using the recessionary reductions as an opportunity to
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