Peer Review

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Peer Review

The NYS Peer Review exemplifies teacher professionalism. The spirit  of reflective practice embodied in the process is crucial to efforts to make the learning standards the base upon which all classroom activity is built.  The process engages teachers in  honest conversation about their work in classrooms. Using Learning Experience Outlines (LEOs) which incorporate New York State Learning Standards, teachers can examine lessons and offer constructive support for one another. Peer Review honors the student and student achievement as the primary focus of teaching. Honors active participation of teachers in helping their students achieve the learning standards. Honors the significant role that teaching plays in helping to focus classroom instruction on the learning standards. Honors a process where state standards and teacher practices come together creating communities of reflective practitioners. The following set of criteria guides the Peer Review Process:.

Relation to Learning Standards

    The learning experience clearly links to performance indicators for the specified standard.

Intellectual Challenge

    The learning experience helps students grow intellectually using a variety of talents, skills and strategies.

Assessment Plan

    The assessment plan incorporates elements of good assessment relating to the performance indicators: clear criteria to guide work, feedback on work in progress, reflection on  the work completed.

Engagement

    The learning experience motivates students to become intellectually, emotionally, and/or physically involved in ways that result in higher achievement.

Adaptability

    The learning experience is adaptable to the range of student abilities in the classroom.

Technology Integration

    Instructional Technology, when appropriate, should be used to enhance instruction and assist students in achieving the learning standard(s) addressed in the assessment plan.

Check with your local Teacher Center to learn more about
locally scheduled Peer Reviews. 

To learn more about the State Peer review visit
 www.nysatl.nysed.gov/index.html

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"Developed through the combined efforts of several statewide staff development networks Staff and Curriculum Development Network (SCDN), the Teacher Resource and Computer Training Centers (Teacher Centers), the Special Education Training and Resource Centers (SETRC), and the Regional Information Centers (RIC), this program is supported by the New York State Education Department and the Comprehensive District Education Planning Technical Assistance Center, and is funded through a Goals 2000 grant.

The program addresses Practical Uses of Data: Assessing Teaching and Learning to Inform Instruction. It is designed to provide strategies, materials and resources to assist teachers and administrators in their understanding of:

• Why data is important to the classroom
• Using data to improve instruction
• Gathering data
• Data analysis techniques
• Use of spreadsheets and databases
• Data mining and warehousing tools
• Creating learning communities
• Comprehensive district education planning

The program focuses on multiple sources of student information, from teacher observations and classroom assessments to large-scale standardized test data. It is user-friendly for use at the pre-K to 12 classroom level, and it accommodates the needs of those without access to sophisticated data warehousing and mining tools."

 -- James Butterworth, Assistant Commissioner, New York State Education Department

National Board Certification

NYS Education Law Part 80 3.6 allows teachers to meet the five years professional development requirements for maintaining certification (effective 2/2/2004) upon achievement of National Board Certification

A task force of the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy proposed in 1986 that teachers, like doctors, should have their own voluntary process of national certification.  Its leading recommendation called for the establishment of a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.  Founded in 1987 with a broad base of support from teacher unions, administrators and school board leaders, governors, university officials and business leaders, NBPTS established a voluntary rational system of certification based on high and rigorous standards for accomplished teaching.  National Board Certification is a symbol of professional teaching excellence, which complements, not replaces, state licensing.  While state-licensing systems set entry-level standards for beginning teachers, National Board certification established advanced standards for experienced teachers.

Nationwide, hundreds of teachers sought board certification as a way to gain professional recognition, improve their teaching skills and in some states gain financial incentives.  The intensive year long certification process typically requires candidates to put in more than 250 hours of work and meet standards that have been established by educators regarding a series of performance-based assessments.  Teachers compile a portfolio of practice, including student work samples, videotapes and rigorous analysis of their classroom teaching and student learning, during the course of a school year and participate in one or two days of testing at the assessment center during the summer.

 

Check with your Teacher Center about awareness session or check the
web site at   http://www.nbpts.org

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