Paul Mielke, PhD

Superintendent Hamilton School District

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD mielpa@Hamilton.k12.wi.us @PaulMielke
Too often it is assumed that observation leads to improvements in student learning. Valid and reliable evaluation
can ‘measure’ what teachers do, but the emphasis too often is on accountability not improvement. Building on
trust, Frontier and Mielke address this imbalance. By providing the processes and protocols that empower
educators to effectively reflect on their professional practice, teachers can actually improve their teaching. Here’s
how to optimize the impact on student learning. John Hattie

Evaluation to “weed out” ineffective teachers and “reward” effective teachers has simply not worked because the
movement was solely focused on measuring teachers as opposed to helping them grow. Frontier and Mielke have
provided a template for the new era of teacher evaluation. It is based on sound research and theory, sound
insights, and, most importantly, the right vision for the future. Robert Marzano

An exciting proposal for how the new science of expertise can inform the design of learning systems supporting the
improvement of performance of professionals, especially teachers. Frontier and Mielke show how the status quo…
can be transformed into designed learning environments, where teachers receive actionable specific objective feed
back and guidance for developing themselves into their own coaches to continue their life‐long professional
development. K. Anders Ericsson Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com
Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Who is this book for?
• Administrators / Evaluators
• Instructional Coaches / Instructional Leaders
• Teachers
• Educators who are ready to transform teacher
evaluation systems to make a difference for
students.

Defining purpose, clarifying expectations, developing

structures, building capacity

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com

Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 “This process isn’t making me better, it is
making me bitter.”

CCopyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com

Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Is your current system of
supervision and evaluation
about developing
expertise?
Or proving competence?

CCopyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier

tonyfrontier@gmail.com Paul
“Measuring teachers and developing
teachers are different purposes with
different implications. An evaluation
system designed for measurement will
look quite different from a system
designed primarily for development.”

Robert Marzano
Educational Leadership
November, 2012 p.15

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier

tonyfrontier@gmail.com Paul
Three days of high-stakes testing does not improve
student learning, and three days of high-stakes
evaluation does not improve teacher performance.

Only by empowering teachers as the central users of

comprehensive teaching frameworks can we ensure
that the evaluation system improves teacher
effectiveness, rather than merely measuring it.
Mielke & Frontier, 2012
Keeping Improvement in Mind
Educational Leadership, - November, 2012 ASCD

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier

tonyfrontier@gmail.com Paul
EVALUATION IS NOT
about building
teacher expertise.
Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com
Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
IMPROVEMENT
IS NOT A
LIABILITY
Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier
tonyfrontier@gmail.com Paul
 !
What message do we send if only
teachers who are on the cusp of being
fired/or being disciplined are put on an
“improvement plan”?

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier

tonyfrontier@gmail.com Paul
 What is the goal we are working
toward?

What are the tools and

processes
most likely to help
us achieve that goal?

The best driver will never function

as an even mediocre putter.

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier

tonyfrontier@gmail.com Paul
 The Purpose of Evaluation, Supervision, and Reflection
(Frontier & Mielke, 2014)

Evaluation Supervision Reflection

The purpose of The purpose of The purpose of

evaluation is to supervision is to reflection is for
ensure competent support teacher growth teachers to engage in
teaching in every by creating meaningful thought
classroom through a opportunities for processes that result in
valid, reliable ratings developmental purposeful action that
process. feedback that focus results in growth
teachers’ efforts and toward expertise.
empower teachers to
achieve goals related to
improved professional
practice.

“Done to” “Done with” “Done by”

Have you clarified different systems and their purpose? How are they
Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD
balanced?
 Deliberate Practice
• Increased time in a domain does not
necessarily translate into increased
performance.
• Moving to an expert level of performance
requires deliberate practice; repeated
practice focused on specific aspects of
performance, feedback on that
performance and modification.
Ericsson et al. 2006

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com

Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Deliberate Practice
If you tell me you are working really
hard to improve your golf game, I
believe you and wish you luck.

If you tell me you are working really

hard to improve your backswing on
short uphill putts that break to the left, I
know you are good and getting even
better.
Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD
Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com
Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Deliberate Practice
If you tell me you are working really
hard to engage students, I believe you
and wish you luck.
If you tell me you are working really
hard to improve your ability to use
analogies as a strategy to help kids
connect existing schema to new
content so they better understand how
curriculum is related to their everyday
lives, I know you are improving in your
ability to engage students….
Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD
Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Making Teachers Bitter
…Believing evaluation will improve teaching. This is
similar to the belief that more testing will improve
student learning.
….Assuming teachers fail to improve because they
lack the incentives or consequences to do so
….Assuming evaluation is a catalyst for teachers to Empowering teachers to use data to establish, pursue
establish meaningful improvement goals
….Designating administrators as the primary users of Facilitating teachers’ use of comprehensive teaching
comprehensive teaching frameworks, and then
solely using the frameworks for purposes of
judgment and evaluation
….Assuming the evaluation process itself, or
administrators alone, can provide enough feedback
to help teachers improve.
…..When evaluation is utilized as a top-down,
“gotcha” process that is done “to” teachers.
Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD
Making Teachers Better
Understanding that evaluation can only measure
teacher performance, not improve it.
Creating collaborative environments where teachers
can observe other practitioners, discuss their craft, and
engage in meaningful, purposeful reflection about how
to modify their current practice.
and monitor their own goals. This practice leads to the
attainment of more rigorous growth goals.
frameworks as a basis for a shared language of
professional practice that informs collaborative efforts
to build expertise.
Creating opportunities for teachers to gather - and to
respond to - frequent, developmental feedback
through video, peers, and students in a manner that
supports deliberate practice toward professional
growth.
Building a culture where teachers are their own best
supervisors and utilizing protocols that effectively
balance evaluation, supervision, and reflection.
 Questions?

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier

tonyfrontier@gmail.com Paul
“We’ve spent so much time trying to make the
process manageable that we forgot to make it
meaningful.”

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com

Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 -RELATIONAL TRUST
-CREDIBILITY
Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD
THE FOUNDATION
Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com
Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Evaluation

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD

 Supervision

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD

Reflection

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD

 Aligning the Purpose of Three Approaches to Utilize Comprehensive
Teaching Frameworks to Key Protocols
The Form The Purpose
Evaluation The purpose of evaluation is to
ensure competent teaching in every
classroom by measuring teacher
performance through a valid,
reliable ratings process.
Supervision The purpose of supervision is to
support teacher growth by creating
opportunities for developmental
feedback that focuses teachers’
efforts and empowers teachers to
achieve goals related to improved
professional practice.
Reflection The purpose of reflection is for
teachers to become autonomous in
their ability to make meaningful
connections between their efforts
and student results as they
purposefully engage a pathway
Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD toward expertise.
Sample Protocols and Processes
 Culture Check Survey
 Clinical Observation
 Evaluators’ Collegial Fishbowl
 Multiple Perspectives
 Celebrating Success and Effort
 Data Collection for Teacher Evaluation
 PDSA Instructional Coaching Process
 The Seven Coaching Hats
 Motivational Interviewing
 Receiving Feedback
 Timely, Specific, Developmental Feedback
 Determining Focus: The Ideal Classroom
 Defining the Issue: Using the “On PAR
Framework”
 Meaningful Goal Setting
 Instructional Rounds
 Peer Sharing
 Video Analysis of Others’ Teaching
 Video Analysis of Own Teaching
 Reflective Peer Visit
 Structured Reflective Writing
 Reflection through the PAR framework
Component Explanation

Effective teachers are purposeful in their efforts to plan

meaningful, engaging learning experiences that support and
Purposeful
develop each student’s understanding.

Effective teachers are aware of student’s learning needs and

assess the effectiveness of their lessons, and modify their
Awareness
instructional practices, in real time.

Effective teachers are responsive as they make intentional

adjustments to their teaching based on students’ learning needs
Responsive in real time. Changes are made based teacher’s observations of
their students’ response to the lesson.

What is 1 question in each area you believe you need to focus

on more in the next year to realize your ideal classroom? Why? How will that focus
improve your teaching? Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD
Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Questions?

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier

tonyfrontier@gmail.com Paul
 3
Example Protocols
Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com
Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
Protocol: Self-analysis Framework Dig

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com

Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Protocol: Reflective Peer Visit

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com

Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Protocol: Peer Sharing

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com

Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Next Steps
• Begin where you are; take next
steps
• Start small; build from strengths
• Clearly define the purpose of
evaluation, supervision and
reflection
• Remember, trust and credibility
• Use collaborative/staff time to
communicate what you value

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com

Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us
 Questions?

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier

tonyfrontier@gmail.com Paul
 Paul Mielke, PhD
Superintendent Hamilton School
District
Email: mielpa@Hamilton.k12.wi.us
Twitter: @PaulMielke

Copyright (c) 2016 ASCD Tony Frontier tonyfrontier@gmail.com

Paul Mielke mielpa@hamilton.k12.wi.us