Cambridge Public Schools (CPS) is a diverse urban school district committed to academic excellence and social justice for all students. With teacher effectiveness being the top priority in ensuring that over 6,500 students are receiving the best in education, the district decided to migrate from a paper-based teacher evaluation system to an online teacher evaluation platform.
The Cambridge Public Schools evaluation system migration from paper to online represented a significant procedural change for CPS teachers and administrators. This was made even more complex due to new schools opening. The platform needed to be intuitive to ensure broad adoption, while also complying with Massachusetts Department of Education requirements.
Viewed as the choice online educator evaluation platform by Massachusetts districts and schools, Vector Evaluations+ (formerly TeachPoint) was adopted by Cambridge Public Schools in 2012. Since then, teachers and administrators have been impressed with the platform’s flexibility and how it has enabled them to:
In addition, Vector Evaluations+ has exceeded customer service expectations. For example, CPS supplied iPads to principals as part of the rollout and Vector Evaluations+ provided training to guide them on how to best use the platform via the iPad in an effort to help with ramp-up time.
Since using the platform and working with the Vector Evaluations+ team, Cambridge Public Schools has been able to improve the timeliness of evaluations, run the reports they need to manage the process, and enhance opportunities for
dialogue and feedback between teacher and evaluator. In addition, Vector Evaluations+ has enabled CPS to easily capture goals, evidence, and ratings related to new District-Determined Measures
(DDMs) all within the platform. CPS enjoys the ability to edit and customize the State forms from the Forms Library in Vector Evaluations+ to meet the requirements of their union-approved forms. And submitting the yearly State EPIMS report is made easy for CPS by exporting the report right from Vector Evaluations+.
Finally, Vector Evaluations+'s training, engagement, and responsiveness to questions has resulted in teachers and administrators embracing the platform. Everyone is pleased with the results they are getting from Vector Evaluations+.
