Professional Development: Ohio

Analysis of Ohio's policies

Ohio requires that teachers receive written reports of their evaluation results. Although teachers with student growth at or above expected levels develop professional growth plans with their evaluator, only teachers rated ineffective are required to have professional development targeted to the deficiencies noted in their evaluations.  Under the state's revised framework, "teachers with below expected levels of student growth will develop an improvement plan with their credentialed evaluator."  

Citation

Ohio Revised Code 3319.112; 58 Ohio Teacher Evaluation Framework http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Teaching/Educator-Evaluation-System/Ohio-s-Teacher-Evaluation-System/Additional-Information/StateEvaluationFrameworkNarrativeOTESaug2013.pdf.aspx

Recommendations for Ohio

Require that evaluation systems provide teachers with feedback about their performance. Although Ohio requires teachers to receive copies of their evaluations, this only ensures that teachers will receive their ratings, not necessarily feedback on their performance. Ohio should specify that teachers should receive specific feedback on identified strengths and areas that need improvement.  

Ensure that professional development is aligned with findings from teachers' evaluations. Professional development that is not informed by evaluation results may be of little value to teachers' professional growth and aim of increasing their effectiveness in the classroom. Ohio should ensure that districts utilize teacher evaluation results in determining professional development needs and activities. 

Ensure that teachers receiving less than effective ratings are placed on a professional improvement plan.

While Ohio places teachers who receive lower than expected student growth outcomes on improvement plans, the state should be cautious about basing the need for improvement plans on only one component of the evaluation rating. A teacher's evaluation rating should be based on a number of factors, and isolating one could make deficiencies appear worse than they are or ignore deficiencies indicated by other factors. Ohio should adopt a policy requiring that teachers who receive even one unsatisfactory evaluation be placed on structured improvement plans. These plans should focus on performance areas that directly connect to student learning and should identify noted deficiencies, define specific action steps necessary to address these deficiencies and describe how and when progress will be measured.

State response to our analysis

Ohio was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced this analysis.  The state also referenced portions of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation Model that apply to professional development linked to evaluations.

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