PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT/EDUCATOR EVALUATION TOOLS
Is it true that Home Base has replaced McRel?
Yes. The Educator Effectiveness components of Home Base (by Truenorthlogic) include both Educator Evaluation and Professional Development. At the start of the 2013-14 school year, all teachers started using the new evaluation tool available through Home Base; in October 2013, the NC Educator Evaluation Tool for principals and assistant principals went live. These replace McRel as simpler, better online evaluation tools. Keep in mind, though, the evaluation processes and rubrics remain the same as outlined by the State Board of Education.
Will central office staff and superintendent evaluations be in Home Base, too?
NCDPI will be using the Truenorthlogic product to provide the Home Base Educator Evaluation and Professional Development functionality for teachers and principals. The teacher evaluation functionality is scheduled for implementation July 1, 2013, and the principal evaluation process is scheduled for October 2013. NCDPI has not included evaluation for central office staff and superintendents within the current scope of the Truenorthlogic implementation. However, the LEAs may choose to work with the vendor to expand the functionality to include building evaluation processes for central office staff and superintendents. An LEA choosing to add functionality will incur additional costs and work directly with the vendor.
Will Support Staff Evaluations be put in the new system?
Not at this time. The focus is on getting the Teacher Evaluation functionality in place by July/August 2013 and the Principal Evaluation in place by October 2013.
We currently pay for an external Professional Development system to keep track of prior approvals, workshop evaluations, etc. Will Home Base offer a product that may replace this?
Yes. The Professional Development and Educator Evaluation products will track the completion of professional development classes.
What is the professional development component of Home Base?
The professional development component will allow educators to search for professional development content and opportunities, register for professional development offerings, and take the professional development courses/classes. In addition, the system will allow the educator to manage his/her learning by tracking his/her professional development activities including completions and proficiencies. Districts will be able to load resources shareable within and across districts.
Where does EVAAS fit into Home Base?
With regards to Educator Evaluation, SAS Education Value Added Assessment System (EVAAS) will still be used to calculate the sixth or eighth standard rating and will pass those ratings on to the Educator Evaluation component so that the standard 6/8 rating may be presented along with the teacher/administrator ratings for the other standards. SAS EVAAS will continue to display the educator evaluation dashboards that provide educators access to their ratings on standards and progress toward an overall effectiveness status.
Will the availability of Home Base do away with logins to NC Education?
Not immediately. NC Education includes many resources for assessment and professional development including discussion boards, etc. Many of the resources that are currently found in NC Education will be moved to Home Base. Timelines for this transition will be availableat a later date. As the timelines are developed, the State will determine which, if any, resources will remain in NC Education and for how long. Until all resources are moved to Home Base, logins for NC Education will continue to be used. For convenience, a direct link to NC Education will be placed on the HomeBase landing page.
Where does EVAAS fit into Home Base?
With regards to Educator Evaluation, SAS Education Value Added Assessment System (EVAAS) will still be used to calculate the sixth or eighth standard rating and will pass those ratings on to the Educator Evaluation component so that the standard 6/8 rating may be presented along with the teacher/administrator ratings for the other standards. EVAAS will continue to display the educator evaluation dashboards that provide educators access to their ratings on standards and progress toward an overall effectiveness status.
Who has rights to see a teacher’s self-assessment?
Only the teacher will have rights to see the self-assessment unless they choose to click ‘Share’ in the system. If they click ‘Share’ in the self-assessment step, then anyone the Principal has assigned rights to as an Evaluator or Mentor for that specific teacher will be able to view the self-assessment.
If a teacher updates their self-assessment, does each updated version get saved?
No, only the most current version is saved. Thus, if a teacher would like to compare their self-assessment ratings across multiple versions, they will need to print a copy each time before making changes.
When a teacher comes in after the school year has started, how do they get in the system?
Once the teacher is assigned a UID and assigned a location in PowerSource, they will be available in the NCEES system the next day (updated via a nightly import).
Where can I access training materials and manuals?
You can access all manuals and user guides within the Home Base Educator Evaluation System on the Help Guides tab.
Is there a way to open the principal screen and teacher screen on same computer if we need to walk some users through the process?
Yes, you can open a principal and teacher screen on the same computer; only you will need to log in using two separate browsers. Ex. Log into the teacher screen with Internet Explorer, log into the Principal screen with Firefox; log into the teacher with Google Chrome, log into the Principal with Internet Explorer.
Do district admins have the ability to assign the observer, peer observer, and mentor rights for principals?
Yes, district admins will have the ability to assign rights to any user in their district.