INTRODUCTION

The most important unit in any school is the classroom. In short, effective teaching and learning is the first priority of schools. Therefore, effective and meaningful supervision and evaluation must be the first priority of school administrators. The objective of the Supervision and Evaluation Committee of the Maine Principals' Association is to assist members as they pursue more effective and promising supervision and evaluation practices, polices, and procedures.

The committee believes that there are many effective practices for supervising and evaluating teachers. One model does not fit all schools or districts. It is essential that schools and districts develop the practices and procedures that are most likely to improve teaching and learning in THEIR districts. An effective system is not likely to be successful if it is simply lifted from one district or model and applied to a school. Development of an effective system of supervision and evaluation takes time and collaboration among both administrators and teachers.

Knowing that however, the committee believes that there are certain core elements and practices of an effective supervision system that are more likely to lead to meaningful improvement in teaching. It is our job to make those core elements and practices available to the membership in an easily accessible form. The core elements are:

· A philosophy statement connected to the district's mission and vision
· Clearly defined and articulated standards for teachers
· A system focused on evidence of student learning
· Active teacher participation
· Differentiation for various levels of teacher development and performance
· A mechanism for clear oral and written communication and feedback
· A support system for evaluators/supervisors

What follows then, is a resource bank of essential characteristics of a meaningful supervision and evaluation system and examples of systems that include those elements. Just as teachers provide exemplars for their students, we hope these systems will be exemplars for you. In short, it is what we consider best practices for administrators in supervision and evaluation.

The resource guide is organized by core elements. Click on the link of the core element you wish to download or to download the entire guide (approximately 61 pages) click here.

As you and your district evaluate and re-evaluate your supervision and evaluation policies and procedures, we hope this resource will help you more clearly identify essential characteristics of the system and promising practices that evolve from those characteristics. If you have examples to share from your school/district or other sources, please forward them to the MPA.

Sincerely,

MPA Supervision and Evaluation Committee
January 2007