Teacher Evaluation System - Polk County School District

The School Improvement Planning Process (SIP)
Leadership for Educational Achievement and Development (LEAD)
District Master In‐Service Plan (MIP)
Teacher and Administrator Evaluation Systems
Each of these elements are interrelated and focused on improving student academic performance and
growth.
These desired student outcomes and practices will be fostered and nurtured in schools and classrooms
with an environment in which:
Adults assume instructional and ethical leadership to create efficient, effective environments
perceived as safe, healthy, and equitable, where students are recognized as unique individuals
capable of learning and independent thinking;
Adults use varied and reliable teaching and evaluating procedures through relevant curricula;
Adults enable students, families, and communities to work cooperatively to assume
responsibility for the total educational experience;
Adults engage in professional growth and training activities to effect continuous improvement
in the system;
Students are guided in their total physical, mental, and emotional development through activities
which are student‐centered and which focus on positive expectations and encourage intrinsic
motivation.
Continuous Professional Improvement
In accordance with Florida Statue 1012.34(2) (b), F.S., the Student Success Act of 2011, and Florida’s
Educator Accomplished Practices, a teacher’s continuous professional improvement must be founded
in contemporary educational research, affect measurable student learning growth, incorporate high
probability instructional strategies, and be included as a component of the district’s Teacher
Evaluation System. Therefore, a teacher’s Individual Professional Development Plan (TARGET) is an
essential element of Polk County’s Teacher Evaluation System. Each teacher, in collaboration with the
school principal and/or assistant principal must develop and maintain a TARGET (IPDP) plan. The
teacher’s TARGET (IPDP) goals, although aspirational not evaluative in nature, must relate directly to
student growth data for the students assigned to him or her, AYP sub‐group performance, the School
Improvement Plan, his or her self‐evaluation, and/or his or her summary evaluation from the prior
school year. A teacher’s professional growth goals must correlate to student learning needs identified
during his or her evaluation of the preceding variables and be relevant to the growth data for the
matched students assigned to the teacher. During the TARGET (IPDP) process, the teacher identifies
critical deficits in student performance, analyzes student data related to those deficits, determines
student learning needs, sets student performance goals, and selects measures for student learning
specific to the identified student learning needs and goals.
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