Teachscape Focus (formerly Teachscape Framework for Teaching Proficiency System) is an online professional development course that assists evaluators in honing their skills in: collecting evidence during classroom observations; applying that evidence to the Danielson Framework for Teaching; providing actionable feedback to teachers; and determining the final overall performance rating in each domain.

The course has three components: a deep-dive into the domains and components of the Danielson Framework; scoring practice opportunities to apply these skills with classroom videos; and a proficiency assessment. The course requires approximately 20-25 hours to complete.

As a part of the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) commitment to provide support to evaluators, this course will provide additional training in the best practices for the Teacher Observation and Practice component of the new teacher evaluation system implemented as of July 1, 2013. This one-time opportunity, at no cost, focuses on increasing inter-rater reliability to promote consistency and fairness for the evaluation process. Finally, upon successful completion of the course, 30 PA Inspired Leaders (PIL) hours will be earned and recorded in PDE’s system.

If you are an administrator who is required to evaluate professional staff in the Teacher Observation and Practice component of the new teacher evaluation system, and have not previously received a license, then you are encouraged to request a license.

To request a license, you must complete the survey monkey following https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TeachscapeRound5. The survey will open Jan. 22, 2014 and will close on Feb. 7, 2014. We are asking each applicant to personally complete the survey.

PDE expects participants to activate the license within 30 days of notification and to complete the entire program during the life of the license, which expires one year from date of notification.