GREELEY — For Terace Viney, a first-year teacher at John Evans Middle School, documenting her effectiveness as an educator begins with recognizing what works.
But that's only part of the process. Viney, 28, and teachers all over Colorado have had to learn to take those effective teaching practices and capture them, in some tangible form, as evidence for the teacher evaluations now underway for the first time statewide.
Half of an individual's rating in the new system hinges on professional practices, with much of the information gleaned from in-class observations by principals and other evaluators.
But supporting documentation can prove crucial in areas where an evaluator's assessment differs from a teacher's self-appraisal or the evaluator hasn't been able to observe a particular skill.
That documentation — an "artifact" in education parlance — can take many forms, such as electronic or hard copies of instructional materials, lesson plans, or photos, videos or e-mails that illustrate or support the various skill sets defined in the standards.
Requirements for such evidence differ widely among districts — from those that demand just a few artifacts to those that expect teachers to mount an extensive case proving their effectiveness. Most districts use the state evaluation model advanced by the Colorado Department of Education, which