T-TESS Has a Larger Component in Technology than in Past Evaluation Tools
According to an article from The Classroom Teacher (2016), Karen Jackson is seeing T-TESS as more of a component for technology. As well as, teachers are looking at technology as more of a way to incorporate into instruction versus just using it to get a check on the evaluation for using it. Read the short article below and then check out technology incorporated into the rubric:
T-TESS rubric, performance levels reflect technology use in classrooms
Karen Jackson is a teacher of teachers.
As a Temple ISD instruction technology specialist, she helps other educators integrate technology in the classroom.
When the Central Texas district began piloting T-TESS two years ago, she was pleased to see more references to technology, including changes in the observation rubric that help distinguish between the top two teacher performance levels.
“T-TESS has a larger component of technology on which (teachers) are evaluated,” she said.
That change reflects the greater use of technology in classrooms. Jackson said many Temple ISD teachers are integrating online tools to communicate with students and assess their comprehension of lessons.
“I’m helping teachers understand (technology) is a tool for instruction” rather than just something they need to add to their repertoire to get a check mark during evaluation, Jackson explained. Technology can provide real-time feedback and help teachers gauge what students are really learning. As an example, she said some teachers get their students to use tablets or laptops to create presentations to show their understanding of a subject. Others use poll questions or quizzes in class to engage and hold students’ interest.
While not evaluated using T-TESS herself, she likes how it created five performance levels to rate teachers instead of the four in PDAS, and how the top tiers cite use of technology in the classroom as a means for evaluators to differentiate “proficient,” “accomplished” and “distinguished” educators.
While it’s too soon to tell exactly what influence T-TESS will have on use of technology in classrooms, Jackson said she likes how it recognizes teachers who have already found ways to use technology more “efficiently and productively.”
Here is how technology is viewed in the rubric. Link to rubric here- https://teachfortexas.org/Resource_Files/Guides/T-TESS_Rubric.pdf (click on image below to make larger):
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