What’s new with TADS for 2015-2016 school year
Focus on developing teachers and appraisers
HISD teachers and appraisers will notice several improvements to the district’s Teacher Appraisal and Development system, also known as TADS, for the 2015-16 school year. Many of the updates are a direct result of input and recommendations from HISD teachers, many of whom served on the PECAS advisory committee. The bulk of the changes reflect the district’s overall commitment to ensure teachers get the feedback, coaching, and support they need to grow and develop.
During the past month, appraisers had the opportunity to utilize the new Coaching and Development tool to frame face-to-face conversations with their teachers and to give them bite-size feedback and action steps for improvement throughout the year.
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“The tool really provides a safe, non-threatening way for an appraisal to provide feedback to a teacher because it does not contribute to their appraisal at this point,” said Terrence Sanders, assistant superintendent of professional support and development.
In addition to the tool, the coaching period for the 2015-16 school year was extended from three weeks to four weeks, and all appraisers went through intensive, hands-on training during the summer to make them more effective at providing feedback and coaching.
“I think the shift we have made this year is to really develop our principals’ and appraisers’ skills in developing the quality and effectiveness of their teachers,” said Darryl Williams, cief school leadership officer. “We have spent a lot of time giving our appraisers quality action steps and a protocol to follow when it comes to observation, feedback, and coaching.”
Several TADS rubric indicators were updated to reflect district priorities, including the Global Graduate profile and the integration of technology into instruction. Student performance measures for many HISD teachers will also be changing this year as a result of the Board of Education’s decision to reduce services for the norm reference test (Iowa/Logramos) in grades K-8. During the month of September, all teachers will receive an informational training on their campus to learn what more about these changes, student performance measures considered in their individual appraisal, and the new student progress measures.
Teachers and appraisers can click here to access a variety of resources, quick links, and support guides related to student performance, the district’s feedback and development tool, and TADS in general.
