Administrator Evaluation & Development Program

All West Hartford Public School (WHPS) administrators have the opportunity for continuous learning and feedback to develop and grow, both individually and collectively, through the administrator evaluation and support system so that all Connecticut students experience growth and success. The Administrator Evaluation and Support Plan is guided by the district’s mission to “Inspire and Prepare All Students”, the WHPS Vision of the Graduate, and the WHPS Equity Framework.

The West Hartford Public Schools Administrator Evaluation and Support Plan is designed to support a comprehensive teacher and administrator evaluation system adopted by the Connecticut State Board of Education in concert with a wide range of stakeholders and pursuant to educator evaluation regulations. Connecticut General Statutes 10-151b requires that “the superintendent of each local or regional board of education shall annually evaluate or cause to be evaluated each teacher.”

The West Hartford Public Schools Administrator Evaluation and Support Plan includes tools, guidance, and rubrics to support the evaluation of all administrators and is aligned to the CT Guidelines for Educator and Leader Evaluation and Support 2023. This plan is continuously reviewed by the administrator members of the Professional Learning and Evaluation Committee (PLEC). Feedback for revision will be actively sought from administrators within the district.

The West Hartford Public Schools Leader Evaluation and Support Plan is a holistic and comprehensive process based on the following guiding principles:

• Vision for Best Practice – West Hartford’s framework for leadership practice is grounded by the CT Leader Evaluation and Support Rubric 2017, which is organized into four domains and addresses leadership practices from each of the six performance expectations of the CCL-CSLS. The four domains are as follows: Instructional Leadership, Talent Management, Organizational Systems, and Culture and Climate.
• Continuous Improvement - West Hartford’s Model of Continuous Improvement is a concrete representation of our district’s vision and strategy for improvement. The West Hartford Public Schools Administrator Evaluation and Support Plan features a Professional Growth Cycle (PGC) that promotes continuous improvement in its design and implementation. The work of improvement is an ongoing and continuous process over the life of a leader’s career.
• Growth Over Time – West Hartford’s focus on continuous improvement through the professional growth cycle is a key driver in the administrator evaluation process. The evaluation of an administrator’s performance concerning their commitment to the process of refining professional practice and its impact on student learning should reflect improvement from an established starting point. Attaining high levels of performance and maintaining high results are critical aspects of a leader’s work; therefore, a rigorous and aspirational goal-setting process in this model encourages a cycle of continuous improvement over time.
• Multiple Sources of Evidence - West Hartford’s model considers multiple sources of evidence which may include, but are not limited to, observations of practice, outcomes of student learning aligned to identified goals, application of professional learning concepts, personal reflection, stakeholder feedback, and other artifacts of teaching and learning.
• Professional Judgment and Consistency - Assessing a leader’s professional practice requires evaluators to constantly use their professional judgment while examining multiple sources of evidence. No rubric or formula, however detailed, can capture all of the nuances of how teachers and administrators interact with one another and with students. Synthesizing multiple sources of information into a single-point performance rating is inherently complex. Accordingly, the model aims to promote consistency between evaluations of practice and support fairness within and across schools.
• Dialogue and Reflection - The West Hartford Leader Evaluation and Support Plan is designed to show the equal importance of improved student outcomes and the professional conversation between a leader and their evaluator toward that end. The dialogue and reflection required in this model occur throughout the professional growth cycle. They are reflected in the structure of the plan’s documents that provide a running record of these interactions.
• Professional Learning, Coaching and Feedback - All administrators, novice and veteran educators alike, deserve detailed, constructive feedback and professional learning tailored to the individual needs of their school communities. The West Hartford Administrator Evaluation and Support Plan recognizes student learning is a shared responsibility among teachers, administrators, and district leaders. It expects leaders to develop goals and objectives in a way that supports overall school improvement.
• Leaders of Professional Learning - One of the primary goals of the leader evaluation and support system is to ensure the growth and development of their staff so they, in turn, may develop and enhance personal and professional strengths to meet the needs of all the students they serve.

The beliefs and core values that undergird this evaluation system are grounded in the following core values identified in our mission framework:

• Set high standards

• Provide a safe environment

• Promote collaboration

• Embrace diversity

• Encourage intellectual risk taking

• Integrate technology effectively

• Demand integrity

• Support partnerships between home and school

• Foster personal wellness

• Inspire creativity and innovation

• Make all decisions in the best interest of students

We believe the success of the West Hartford Public Schools depends upon the reciprocal commitment of students, parents, teachers and leaders to develop all students, teachers, and administrators to their greatest potential.

To achieve this vision of leadership evaluation, the goals of this plan are to implement an evaluation system that will:

• Apply our district model of continuous improvement to the administrator development and evaluation process.
• Improve administrator practice individually and collectively.
• Advance student achievement for all students.
• Differentiate experiences for administrators across a continuum of professional performance needs.
• Promote collaboration in the service of improving learning for all.
• Provide meaningful and connected professional learning experiences that impact practice.
• Empower administrators with specific, objective information regarding their performance.
• Ensure that evaluations are fair, reliable, valid, holistic, and an accurate representation of an administrator’s leadership practice. 
• Lead directly to administrator and teacher continuous growth and development.