Parents now have access to information on the effectiveness of teachers and principals in the their children's schools as they peruse through the NC School Report Cards and find a new feature that has been added recently to the Quality Teachers or Quality Teachers and Administrators section.

Since 2001, the annual NC School Report Cards have provided parents and others interested in public education a one-stop resource filled with detailed and comparative data on each public school and school district in North Carolina. This is the first time that summary information about educator and school administrator evaluation ratings has been included in the Report Cards.

"Quality teachers and principals make all the difference for student learning in the classroom," said Superintendent Dr. Steve Stone. "This new evaluation system is about recognizing the teachers and administrators' professional growth and development, and we are pleased with the findings in the Caldwell County Schools."

Most of the teachers reported in the Caldwell County Schools were ranked in the fourth of the five evaluated categories and were labeled "accomplished." Principals evaluated were primarily designated as proficient, accomplished or distinguished.

The new teacher evaluation instrument rates performance on five standards: leadership; success in establishing a respectful environment for a diverse population of students; knowledge of content area; the facilitation of learning for students; and reflection on educational practices. Based on this measurement, ratings are given in five categories:

• not demonstrated (lowest rating);
• developing (has not yet demonstrated competence in standard);
• proficient (demonstrates basic competence of the standard);
• accomplished (exceeds basic competence on the standard most of the time); and
• distinguished (consistently and significantly exceeds basic expectations on the standards).

School principals and assistant principals are evaluated on their leadership in seven areas, including strategic planning, instruction, school culture, human resource management, managerial skills, community engagement and internal staff management.

This year's report only includes data from teachers in their first three years of teaching and tenured teachers whose licenses were up for renewal. In 2011-12 and forward, all teachers and administrators will be evaluated annually, and the data reported in 2012 will show a more complete picture of overall performance.

This information is available as a link from the NC School Report Cards, www.ncreportcards.org.