ProComp Frequently Asked Questions
Professional Evaluations
Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions related to Professional Evaluations. Please return to FAQs if you would like to review another topic.
Q. Do all teachers and SSPs have to write an action plan every year?
A. An Action Plan is written by educators who are being evaluated at the end of the evaluation process. The educator completes the plan with the information learned during the evaluation process to specify desired performance improvements and share proposed activities for achieving those goals.
Q. Is the professional development plan the same as a professional development unit (PDU)?
A. No, they are not the same thing. A professional development plan is written by the principal/manager and the evaluator after a teacher/SSP has completed a successful remediation plan. This plan is to give the teacher extra support and guidance during the year after remediation. The plan is in place for one school year and the teacher who is in ProComp may complete the PDU process using this plan.
Q. Does meeting my student growth objectives affect my professional evaluation?
A. Student growth objectives are tools that measure the growth, over time, of the students you work with everyday. The CPE is a tool that helps you learn more about yourself as an educational professional. While the process of setting student growth objectives may be used to inform the evaluation, SGOs and CPEs measure two different things and cannot be used as the only indicator to determine the outcome of the other.
Q. Who evaluates the teacher?
A. The principal or qualified designee.
Q. What happens if all of the teachers get a satisfactory evaluation? Does the principal have to feel pressure to put unsatisfactory on an evaluation?
A. There are no quotas in ProComp. A new Professional Evaluation system has been designed by a committee including teachers, administrators and Student Services Professionals. The system was field tested in 2004-05 in 28 schools. The system was tested in all schools during 2005-2006.
Q. Where do I locate the standards that I am expected to meet? Where can I find a copy of the field-test evaluation tool?
A. The standards for teacher evaluation and the evaluation form are available on the Human Resources portion of the DPS web-site. For more information, please visit the DPS website, MyDPS.
Q. Can portfolio pieces as part of teacher evaluation be reused or is a new body of evidence created each year?
A. Evidence related to performance will need to represent a teacher’s current level of work performance.
Q. Are English Language Learners and the mobility of all DPS students being taken into consideration when appraising teachers in the ProComp system?
A. With ProComp, teachers are evaluated for their performance in the context of their practice and in relation to the standards identified on the Professional Evaluation form.
Q. How will teachers be evaluated under ProComp?
A. TNon-probationary teachers will be evaluated every three years and will receive a 3% salary increase for a satisfactory evaluation under the Professional Evaluation component. The new evaluation tool was designed by teachers, administrators and student services professionals using guidelines specified in the ProComp agreement. The new evaluation tool will be based on a fall-to-spring evaluation cycle and will use well-developed rubrics articulating different levels of teacher performance.
The ProComp system offers several safeguards for teachers as part of the evaluation process. A binding befroe the Professional Review Panel review is available to teachers if they don’t get their salary increase for a satisfactory evaluation. The review would be conducted by a teacher and administrator drawn from a trained panel.
Q. What are the tools that will be used to determine if a teacher is satisfactory or unsatisfactory?
A. New evaluation tools will be collaboratively developed by the teachers, principals and specialists appointed to the 1338 committee.
Q. What happens to experience increases in the new system?
A. Experience increases return in the ProComp system in the form of regular increases based on a teacher’s professional evaluation. Since experience increases are already in place under the current DPS/DCTA agreement, dependent on receiving a satisfactory evaluation, ProComp is not a long way away from current practice.
ProComp changes the name and the value. Currently, experience is worth an average of 3.8% of salary, but it is capped at the 13th step. Under ProComp, teachers receive a 3 percent of the index salary increase every three years until they retire if they receive a satisfactory evaluation.