Principal Evaluation (T-PESS)

Ongoing school visits are conducted to observe the campus environment, interact with the school community, gather evidence, coach, and provide actionable feedback regarding performance and practices in various contexts and settings. Increased frequency of those visits provides a comprehensive perspective on trends, patterns, and the extent of evidence. Those visits also provide an opportunity for the appraiser and principal to discuss strengths and challenges with the T-PESS process and practices.

Because T-PESS is an evidence-based process, it is imperative that the appraiser and principal must collect and prioritize evidence throughout the year. Each indicator of the T-PESS rubric provides numerous examples of artifacts and evidence. The appraiser should be intentional about conducting school site visits to collect pertinent evidence, including the impact on systems, processes, teacher performance, student outcomes, and including the implications on the larger system.

Principals and appraisers synthesize their collected artifacts and evidence, to create a comprehensive view of the principal's performance throughout the year. This brief summary is not intended as a portfolio, but rather a concise review of information that may be used as consideration for performance and ratings during the end-of-year conference. T-PESS evidence is collected using four comprehensive strategies:

•  Purposeful observations and walk-throughs tied to principal practices.
•  Ongoing and purposeful data collection tied to the systems and processes within the campus.
•  Artifacts and/or evidence tied to the domains, indicators, and descriptors in the rubric.
•  Other performance data regarding the campus and its operational systems and processes, staff, students, and parent/community stakeholders.

The principal may be asked to provide the summary evidence to the appraiser in advance of the EOY meeting, as specified in local policy or procedure, or as requested by the appraiser.

The appraiser and principal review artifacts and evidence that was collected throughout the year and map the evidence to the goals and rubric. The artifacts and evidence inform goal attainment, and, with the principal's input, decisions are made about final performance ratings using a preponderance of evidence. That information is further used to project and establish draft performance goals and performance refinements for the next school year as a cycle of continuous improvement.

To finalize the annual process, the appraiser takes into consideration the information shared during the End-of-Year Conference, along with evidence collected throughout the year, to complete the T-PESS Summary Rating and Goal Attainment Form. Pursuant to local procedures, both the appraiser and principal sign and submit the required forms.