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LEAP Conversation Guide 2024-25 School Year
In order to best support our students, it is important to engage in growth and performance conversations throughout the year with our teachers.Successful growth engages teachers in these important conversations through many forms. This guide was built to support your conversations throughout the year so that Mid-Year and End of Year Conversations are not a surprise, but rather a more formalized checkpoint to reflect and discuss a teacher’s practice, including their career aspirations.
It requires craftsmanship on the part of each educator to make conversations throughout the year purposeful and impactful. This guide is designed to support leaders in this effort from scheduling and analyzing data to facilitating the conversations and documenting the results.
LEAP Planning Calendar 2024-25
Checklist: School Leader Responsibilities: Is your ILT prepped and ready for conversations? Have you communicated your plan to your ILT and staff? Use this handy checklist to backwards plan and make sure you are ready!
Checklist: Evaluator Responsibilities at Mid Year: If you have any teachers on your caseload, this is the checklist for you! This is for ILT's and School Leaders.
Guided Conversation Templates for MY and EoY: Sample structure, talking points and suggestions for your conversations.
Teacher Mid Year and End of Year Conversation Checklist
Email Templates: Emails are recommended (and Best Practice!) for all teachers as a follow up to the conversation but most important for any teachers at risk of non-renewal, losing NP status or at risk for earning a NM or A rating. As always, feel free to personalize as you see fit and/or use agreed upon templates from your ILT.
Rationale Statements- Professionalism Indicators w Instructional & Professional Concerns: ILTs should norm on how to communicate the basis of your decisions with a rationale so the teacher understands the decision. Writing and recording this rationale, even when you’ve had the in-person conversation, supports you and the teacher having an understanding to reference and leverage going forward.
Performance Management at DPS
Performance Management at DPS is committed to supporting all of our leaders and employees with the proper tools, coaching and development necessary to ensure success for our students and staff. We understand that the growth and development of our people is incredibly important to the success of our schools and central office, and are here to work in collaboration with you to support your performance management needs.
The Office of Performance Management supports:
- Coaching and development of leaders and staff
- Plans of support and improvement
- Non-renewal
- Grievances and appeals
Performance Management Toolkit and Resources
Performance Management 101: What to do when you encounter someone that is showing performance concerns
School Leader Options: Performance Concerns: What to do when you encounter someone that is showing performance concerns.
School Leader and HRP Guide to Growth and Performance Supports for Teachers: This guide will help ensure you have put strategic supports in place for all of your teachers, which will result in accuracy in data, documentation and Overall Ratings.
Model Plan of Support (Gateway Indicators): Peer Observers shared their most commonly observed concerns in novice teacher classrooms. This Model Plan of Support was designed to address frequent concerns related to the Gateway indicators (LE.3, I1, I3, I5).
Plan of Support Resource Menu: Struggling to find time to put together a Plan of Support for a teacher? The Menu is an excellent way to find statements of concern, expectations, and potential supports aligned with each LEAP indicator, including Professionalism. Supports that could work for any indicator are listed at the bottom. Pick and choose what you need, edit to ensure it is individualized for your teacher's needs, and share your draft Plan of Support with Noah Tonk for review prior to implementation.
Non-Renewal Decision Guidelines for Probationary Teachers: In the unfortunate event that a probationary teacher does not show enough instructional, environmental, or professional growth during their first years in DPS despite intensive coaching and support, a school leader might choose to recommend a probationary teacher for non-renewal. Use this guide to ensure that this difficult decision will be supported.
End of Year Ratings Guidance
Overall Ratings Characteristics:The data collected throughout the entire year is used to calculate a teacher’s Overall Rating. review the Ratings Characteristics to become familiar with them. The characteristics that you see in this reference should define the teacher’s consistent behaviors and match their overall rating at the End-of-Year. Best practice when recommending a renewal or continuance is that the teacher exhibits the characteristics of having a record of strong student growth, solid instructional practices (including planning, classroom practice and utilization of student data) and consistent demonstration of positive contributions to the school community.
