July 13, 2016
Attendees at the 22nd Annual M.A.S.S. (Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents) Executive Institute on July 13-14 are learning more about the major new features TeachPoint released this past year and enjoying a sneak preview of upcoming features.
Evaluation Tool New Features
- Smart Form Questions – To enhance our existing Basic Questions (text entry, rating scale, single select, multi-select) that can be included in forms, TeachPoint recently released numerous Smart Form Questions. These are questions that are ”smart” and perform a special function within a form.
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- Auto-Populate Question – this question automatically copies the data from a question on one form and auto-populates a question on another form. Eliminate the need to cut and paste information from one form to another. For example, a Summative Evaluation Form can include an auto-populate question that automatically populates (copies) the goals from the Goal Form into the Summative Form when it is opened. Another example a district might deploy is to auto-populate the teacher goals into the Classroom Walkthrough Form.
- Auto-Calculate Question – this question performs an auto-calculation on prior rating-scale questions. A Summative Form can now include an auto-calculate question for the overall teacher evaluation rating that automatically calculates the total based on the response to previous rating-scale questions (i.e. Standards, Domains, or other components of the evaluation). The auto-calculation question can also assign a different weight value to different components (questions) used in the calculation. For example, this question can be used to determine the overall teacher practice rating by assigning a different percentage to each Standard or Domain (i.e. Overall Teacher Practice: Domain A=30%, Domain B=30%, Domain C=25%, Domain D=15%). In addition, the auto-calculate question can be used to calculate an Overall Teacher Rating of: Teacher Practice=70%; Student Growth Goals=20%; Student Surveys=10%.
- Validation Question – [Update: Coming 2017] this question provides an alert on rules’ that you have assigned to rating scale questions. For example, a validation alert can now be generated if your evaluation process includes a rule that Overall Rating can be Proficient’ only when Standard I and Standard II are rated Proficient’. If the rule is not met, the user receives an alert in the form.
- Computed Average Rating Question – this question will compute an average of all ratings for a Standard or Domain on all classroom walk-throughs/observations conducted during the year. For example, if a teacher had four classroom observations during the year, a computed average rating question for Domain A would take the average of the ratings for Domain A on all four observations.
- Resources – districts and schools can now upload a website link or PDF, in read-only format, that all users can access. This feature can be used to upload reference documents or website links related to the evaluation process.
- Forms Library – in the spirit of sharing, we have enhanced our Forms Library to include State Model forms and custom-created school or district forms shared by our users. Districts can now review sample forms to use as well as edit any form to meet their needs. All users who would like to share the unique forms they have created should contact our Support Team to add their form(s) to our Forms Library.
- Batch Export – system administrators can now batch export forms, images, and documents to a ZIP file. This feature can be used to export all documents for a single user or a specific document for all users. For those districts that need to include a hard copy of the Summative Form in their HR files, they can now batch export all Summative Forms completed for a school year into a ZIP file and then print the file.
PD Tracking Tool New Features
- Attendance List & Sign-Up Sheet – to manage attendance, an Attendance List or Sign-Up Sheet can be generated for each PD event.
- Wait List – events can now have a maximum number of attendees along with a wait list option. Once an event reaches it maximum attendee limit, users can be added to the wait list and will automatically be enrolled once a seat becomes available for the event.
- Event Feedback Summary Report – for each event that utilizes the feedback form, you can now generate a Feedback Summary Report that provides the results for each question along with a graphical representation.
- PD Transcript – all users can now export a transcript of their PD credits that can be used for documentation for re-certification. Users also have the option to include the certificates for all events with the transcript.
Upcoming features to be released soon include: link to Google Drive documents, scripting in-person classroom observations, tagging feedback comments to video classroom observations, and auto-scheduling classroom observations.
To learn more about these features or to implement them in your district or school, please reach out to us at [email protected].
