Introduction
As part of the federal requirements for states' receiving funding under Phase 2 of the State Fiscal Stabilization Funds Program, all school districts in New Jersey are providing information to the public on the procedures they use to evaluate teachers and principals. The information presented below will help you understand Rancocas Valley Regional High School's policies and procedures for evaluating teachers and educational specialists such as librarians and counselors.
Confidentiality concerns: To protect the confidentiality of individual evaluations, districts are not required to provide a district-level statistical summary of teacher evaluation outcomes in those cases where there are fewer than 10 teachers in an entire district. Similarly, districts are not required to provide a school-level statistical summary of teacher evaluation outcomes if there are fewer than 10 teachers in a school.
Section 1:
Description of Teacher Evaluation System
The Rancocas Valley teacher evaluation system meets the requirements adopted by the State of New Jersey per New Jersey Administrative Code 6A:32-4.4 and 6A:32-4.5.
Tenured teachers are observed formally at least once and receive an annual evaluation. The annual evaluation summarizes the teacher's strengths and weaknesses, professional growth initiatives and determines if the employee's performance has been satisfactory or unsatisfactory.
Informal observations occur more frequently through "walk throughs" to determine the extent that district initiatives are occurring. Negative findings result in further directives and/or inclusion in the annual evaluation.
All formal observations and annual evaluations are recorded in a detailed written narrative.
All observations begin with a pre and post observation conference that also produces a written narrative that becomes part of the official record. These observations are intended to help teachers grow while the annual evaluations determine the teacher's performance level.
Teachers are required to submit weekly lesson plans prior to each week. The lesson plan design, commonly referred to as GANAG, combines the teaching skills as developed by Charlotte Danielson, Marzano's Nine Strategies That Work, Understanding by Design Curriculum Framework and a hybrid of Madeline Hunter's Lesson Plan model. Anyone interested in the details of these may contact any administrator/supervisor. The strategies provide a solid base that connects the written curriculum with what is taught and measured. Student performance on end-of-course assessments, benchmark assessments during the year and HSPA results are used to determine the success of student performance and growth. The data is analyzed by subject area teacher and student and guides future staff development, changes in programs, teaching strategies and teachers, if necessary.
The process for tenured teachers is also used for non-tenured teachers except that they are subject to at least four formal observations per year. One observation for teachers in their first and third year is conducted by the Superintendent/Principal. All non-tenured teachers are observed by a minimum of three different evaluators. Non-tenured staff that do not perform adequately are given advanced notice and an opportunity to improve. Those who do not meet expectations are not renewed.
Section 2:
Evaluation Outcome Tables
The following tables show the evaluation results for the 2009-2010 and 2008-2009 school year.
2009 - 2010
| Rating Category | Total Number of Teachers | Number Receiving Rating | Percent |
| Satisfactory | 166 | 164 | 98.7% |
| Non-Satisfactory | 166 | 2 | 1.2% |
2008 - 2009
| Rating Category | Total Number of Teachers | Number Receiving Rating | Percent |
| Satisfactory | 166 | 159 | 95.8% |
| Non-Satisfactory | 166 | 7 | 4.2% |
Section 3:
Assistant Principal Evaluation System
The Principal at Rancocas Valley Regional High School is also the Superintendent and is evaluated by the Board of Education as a combined position. The positions included in this section are three Assistant Principals, Director of Adult School and Director of the Burlington County Alternative High School.
Non-tenured staff are observed four times a year while tenured staff are observed at least once. All staff receives an annual written narrative evaluation. Observations are often informal and on going as the daily interactions provide a continuous basis for discussion, improvement and evaluation. The assessments are based on the 2008 ISLIC Standards, N.J. Professional Standards and individual goals established at the beginning of each year. The annual goals are always focused on the improvement of student performance and are measurable.
Starting in the 2010-2011 school year, 2 goals tied to student performance and measurable, will be used to determine a portion of salary increase for the following year. One goal is established by the Board of Education. The second is cooperatively determined among the Board, Superintendent and administrative staff.
Section 4:
Administrative Evaluation Outcome Tables
2008 - 2009
| Rating Category | Total Number of Teachers | Number Receiving Rating | Percent |
| Satisfactory | 5 | 5 | 100% |
| Non-Satisfactory | 5 | 0 | 0% |
