NEW MARKET — Of 118 teachers working within the Southmont school district, a total of 59 were rated as highly effective and 58 as effective, with only one showing need for improvement.
The results from the 2019-20 school year were released Monday during a school board meeting by Superintendent Dr. Shawn Greiner who called for approval of the Indiana Department of Education RISE 3.0 Handbook, which allows the district to link additional information to teacher scores.
“When we discussed this with both administrators and teachers, we all agreed that we wanted to go with the full RISE state model so we could pull out data that’s tied directly to teachers and the rubric itself,” he said. “When you look at the components of full RISE, you can go one of two ways: You can go with 100 percent utilizing the evaluation of the rubric, or you can go with a percent of the rubric and a percent still having some sort of data tied to teachers.”
Corporations may choose to adopt RISE entirely, draw on components from the model, or create their own systems for implementation.
“We’re going to be recommending to the board that we go with the full RISE 3.0 as opposed to a modified (version) that we’ve done in the past,” Greiner said. “The biggest reason for that is that legislative action now allows us to pull data directly tied to teachers.”
The handbook utilizes a four-point grading scale for instructors, and are based on three core ideals listed in the Teacher Evaluation Rubric of Southmont Schools — instruction, leadership and planning.
A fourth area of evaluation struck from the rubric this year is the Core of Professionalism; Greiner said professionalism is necessary for all teachers within the district.
“Core Professionalism, under the true RISE, is just expected — you’re expected to be a professional,” Greiner said.
A breakdown of teacher evaluations for each Southmont district school was presented, showing: Southmont High School, 23 highly effective, 22 effective; Southmont Junior High School, seven highly effective, 13 effective, one improvement necessary; Walnut Elementary, 11 highly effective, one effective; New Market Elementary, 13 highly effective, 15 effective; and Ladoga Elementary, five highly effective, seven effective.
In other business, the board:
• Approved the contracts of Nathan Patton and Buck Waddell as co-instructors of the EMS/Fire Science program through the Career and Technical Education center.
• Heard reports from principals and administrators, all of whom said their schools and departments had successful first days of school.
The next regularly scheduled Southmont board meeting is set for 6 p.m. Sept. 14 inside the district’s administration office, 6425 S. U.S. 231.
