Evaluation Success Story: Streamlining the Staff Evaluation Process

The Challenge

Serving more than 12,000 students in grades 9–12 across 6 comprehensive high schools and 2 specialized programs, Township High School District 214 is the second-largest school district by enrollment in Illinois. With this large student population comes the need for a staff that is well-equipped with skills to teach and support students in their academic and social-emotional development. Currently, the district employs 1,700+ staff members who have to be evaluated.

With different evaluation timelines for tenured staff, non-tenured and those who are part-time, keeping track of evaluations was a headache for the district. Stetz described the whole process as "really hard and complicated."

At the time, the school's team managed the work through other online methods which didn't offer customization and required manual file sharing.

"We had to fill in PDFs and sometimes, if people didn't have the right software, it would save as a blank."

Without a streamlined process, teachers and staff struggled to keep track of their evaluations, leaving them with no way to review previous performance and identify areas for improvement.

"People were frustrated because they would lose information and couldn't access it."

This not only jeopardized transparency and accountability but also made it difficult to ensure that all the data was being collected and analyzed consistently.

The Solution

After trying a couple of different online systems, the district was still searching for a solution that was customizable and user-friendly.

"When people are unhappy with a system, you've got to replace it. Our staff was willing to learn and ready to try something different."

Soon, the Evaluation team conducted a presentation for Township High School District 214, which was paramount in their decision to adopt the new platform.

"When they showed us all the possibilities and scenarios, I had full confidence that they'd be able to support us with what we needed," shared Stetz.

As far as deployment and implementation go, Stetz stated that the process was seamless. "We held Q&A sessions in the morning and received tutorials, so we were able to provide support in both written and online formats."

Whenever they experienced an issue, the Evaluation team was quick to respond and provide solutions. "The support ticket system and the response time are phenomenal. This has helped our staff gain a lot of confidence in the system," said Stetz.

Additionally, Township High School District 214 was impressed by how using the Evaluation tool enabled them to meet their priority of being transparent.

"The fact that we now have a checklist that our staff can access takes a lot of fear out of the evaluation process and reassures them that evaluations are done for professional growth. That's the best outcome of having a system like this for us."

The Results

Since their adoption of the Evaluation tool over five years ago, the team at Township High School District 214 has gone through some changes in their evaluation structure, but Evaluation has supported them throughout the whole process. "They don't just take things in, they also provide us with feedback and ideas, which is really helpful."

Furthermore, due to changes in Illinois' school code, Stetz had to move approximately 600 members of staff into a different evaluation cycle.

"We were thinking about implementing a two-year cycle, but last summer we shifted to a three-year cycle for tenured staff. That required us to revamp everything we do in the system, and even that was fairly seamless for us."

With a flexible, entirely customizable solution, the staff was also able to adapt the program to fit their needs. "Some of our math and science department heads have to evaluate up to 30 people per year, and now they can break them up into even groups and spread them out over three years — which is a huge advantage for them."

In addition, due to Evaluation's capabilities, the human resources department at Township High School District 214 is able to work more efficiently without having to worry about fulfilling their reporting requirements.

"The system is really easy for them to use and they no longer have to go through the lengthy process of chasing people to submit their summative evaluations, analyzing them, and then doing the reporting for the state."

In the end, Stetz was most impressed with how the Evaluation tool can evolve with them, through changing needs and into the future.

"I didn't expect the service to be great after the beginning. Normally, companies start forgetting about you once you become a long-term client. In our experience, the service just keeps getting better and better, and anything we want to add or change, they are more than happy to do that."

The Product

Evaluation is a tool built to increase the efficiency of the staff evaluation process and facilitate educator growth with data. With a collaborative, web-based performance portal that's tailored to meet each district's needs, school administrators can efficiently document every step of the staff evaluation process — including walk-throughs, self-evaluations, supporting evidence, reporting, and performance analytics.

In addition, school administrators can implement and host their own locally-created or state-approved rubric including Danielson, 5D+, Thoughtful Classroom, and McREL. This enables the development of an actionable plan based on data that can be used to improve individual performance and overall trends to measure success — all while giving staff a single portal to record, document, and gather evidence and observations throughout the evaluation process.