The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has chosen Teachscape, the leader in delivering Web-based professional learning content, innovative technologies, and expert services to improve teaching practice, to provide a system by which to train and assess the state’s 5,350 teacher evaluators. PDE will use Teachscape’s Framework for Teaching Proficiency System, an online system to train and assess teacher evaluators, to help ensure evaluator accuracy as the state rolls out a five-year comprehensive statewide teacher evaluation system based on Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (FFT).

“The Pennsylvania Department of Education has been using Charlotte Danielson’s Framework as a model for great teaching for years due to its defensible research base,” said Dr. Carolyn Dumaresq, deputy secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education at the Pennsylvania Department of Education.  “We were looking for best-in-class evaluator training for the assessment of teaching practice based upon the Framework; scalable, rigorous and affordable training to help ensure that Pennsylvania’s teachers are observed fairly and accurately. Teachscape’s Framework for Teaching Proficiency System is that solution.”

The Framework for Teaching Proficiency System was developed by Teachscape in collaboration with Charlotte Danielson and Educational Testing Service (ETS) and was born out of the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Proficiency System integrates observer training, scoring practice and a proficiency assessment into a complete system and includes more than 15 hours of self-paced online training and over 100 master-scored videos and classroom scenarios covering all proficiency ranges for grades K-12.  

“The PDE’s commitment to assessing teachers and improving instructional practice is impressive. By implementing the Framework for Teaching Proficiency System, the state will help assure that PDE evaluators are properly trained for rigorous, transparent and fair evaluations,” said Charlotte Danielson. “The support teachers will receive as a result of these evaluations will be instrumental in leading to improved teaching practice and better student outcomes.”

Pennsylvania joins states throughout the country, including Illinois and Rhode Island, in addition to well-respected school districts, such as Pittsburgh Public Schools and Syracuse City School District, in partnering with Teachscape for classroom observer and teacher evaluator training through the Framework for Teaching Proficiency System.