Nashua Superintendent Mark Conrad reports on early stages of plans to change how teachers are evaluated

NASHUA – Nashua teachers’ new evaluations will likely include more observations as well as a focus on teacher development. Superintendent Mark Conrad shared plans to revamp teacher evaluations – work being done by a committee of teachers, administrators and union representatives – with the Board of Education’s Human Resources Committee on Tuesday night. The plan, which is in the early stages, will continue throughout the school year. Conrad said he hopes to have a new observation and evaluation system in place within the next couple of years. Conrad said the focus of the changes to teacher evaluation systems in the district will ensure that there are more opportunities for meaningful discussions between teachers and administrators and will provide a better understanding about what effective teaching means. Currently, the district observes new teachers – those within the first five years of their career – twice annually, with an annual evaluation. Veteran teachers are observed by an administrator once a year but evaluated only once every three years. Evaluations measure teachers on their ability to work with students, staff and parents, as well as classroom management, organization, instruction and other areas. “The concern we have, is that this does not lend itself to a clear vision and language to guide discussions,” Conrad said. “This does not lead to conversation easily with teachers where both parties have an understanding of what the expectations are for effective teaching.” Conrad said he would like to see more frequent observations and evaluations in whatever new model is developed, but that the rubric used during evaluations also needs to change. The district committee working on teacher evaluations is looking at four different possibilities of measures to guide that process, he said.