Users Guide 1
Table of Contents Navigating Teacher Compass...4 Observations...4 Scheduling an Observation...5 Performing an Observation...6 Adding Narrative Feedback...6 Recommending Professional Development Content...6 Selecting Pre-Populated Comments...6 Selecting Evidence Statements...7 Uploading, Reviewing and Commenting on Artifacts...7 Including Video or Artifacts with Observations...7 Sending an Observation for Review and Response...8 Finalizing and Submitting an Observation...9 Performing Observations Offline Using the Teacher Compass ipad or Android Apps...9 Installing the App for ipads...9 Installing the App for Android Tablets... 10 Logging in and Synchronizing your Offline App... 10 Moving in and Out of WIFI or Cellular Connections... 10 Professional Development... 11 Professional Development Goals... 11 Creating a Professional Development Goal... 11 Browsing Professional Development... 12 Adding your own Professional Development Content... 13 Searching Professional Development... 14 Filtering Search Results... 14 Viewing Professional Development... 14 Adding Professional Development to your Favorites... 15 Commenting on Professional Development... 15 Commenting on the View Content Page... 15 Commenting on the Home Page... 16 Schools & Teachers... 16 Viewing Longitudinal Reports for Teachers... 16 Reports... 17 Observation Reports... 17 Creating an Observation Report... 17 Viewing a Summary Report... 18 Drilling Down on Observation Summary Reports... 19 Professional Development Reports... 19 Report Filters... 19 District Level Report... 20 School Level Report... 20 Teacher Level Report... 21 Rubrics... 21 Rubric Types... 22 Scoring Systems... 22 Rubrics... 23 2
Creating a New Rubric... 23 Explicitly Linking Professional Development Content to a Rubric... 24 Copying a Rubric... 25 Suggested Comments... 25 Evidence... 26 Administration... 26 Users and Roles... 26 How Roles Work... 26 Creating a New Role and Granting Feature-Level-Access... 27 Setting Focus Content Collections... 27 Adding Users to a Role... 29 Categories... 29 3
Navigating Teacher Compass Teacher Compass is organized into six major categories: Observations Professional Development Schools & Teachers Reports Rubrics Settings This user s guide provides a description of each and provides instructions on how to use and manage your Teacher Compass account. Observations The Observations screen is a place where users can manage all of the observations to which they have access. It contains a table listing pertinent information regarding observations. This table is sorted by observation status observations that have not yet started will appear at the top of the table; observations that are in-development will appear next; and observations that have been completed will appear last. Any of the columns in the observations table may be clicked to sort the observation data by that column. To the right of the Observations table are a series of buttons representing actions that can be taken relative to observations. As you select observations in the grid, these action buttons will become enabled based on the context. For instance, the Perform Online and Perform Offline buttons will become enabled if you select an observation that has not started or is indevelopment. However, if you choose an observation that is completed, only the Print button will be enabled. 4
Scheduling an Observation The first step in performing an observation is scheduling. To schedule an observation: 1. Navigate to the Observations tab and click Schedule New Observation. 2. Indicate which type of observation you would like to perform in the Observation Type field. If you are simply performing a classroom-based observation, select that option. If you would like to base your observation on artifacts or videos that the subject uploads, select that option. 3. In the Who is being Evaluated field, type the first few characters of the person whom you wish to evaluate. Teacher Compass will automatically search the database of subjects and present you with options. Select the correct subject. 4. The evaluator field will have your name pre-filled. If you are scheduling this observation on behalf of someone else, type the first few characters of the person s name. Teacher Compass will automatically search the database of possible evaluators and present you with options. Select the correct evaluator. 5. If you selected classroom observation as your observation type, enter a day and time for the observation. If you selected Observation which requires the Subject to upload videos or artifacts as your observation type, enter a deadline for the subject to submit their artifacts. 6. Under Rubric Type, select the type of rubric you would like to use. The available rubrics will populate based on this field. 7. Select the rubric you would like to use for the observation. 8. If you would like to send a calendar invitation for the observation to the subject and evaluator, leave the Send notification field checked. If you would like to perform a surprise observation or do not wish to send calendar invites, uncheck these fields. 9. Click Save. You will be taken back to the Observations screen where the observation you scheduled should be listed. 5
Performing an Observation To perform an observation using Teacher Compass: 1. Click the Observations tab and select the appropriate observation. 2. Click Perform. You will be taken to the observation process. 3. At the top of the screen you will see a legend and graph representing the scale on which teachers can be scored. 4. To the left you will see a menu representing each of the domains in the rubric. Each domain can be clicked on to view and score the indicators or look-fors 5. To score items, click a domain or category and then choose the appropriate score for each indicator. Note that Teacher Compass will track the distribution of scores for each domain in the graph at the top of the page. Adding Narrative Feedback 6. If you would like to add comments to an indicator, you can click the Show Comments link in the upper-right of your screen. Recommending Professional Development Content 7. If you would like to recommend professional development content to the teacher, select the Suggest Professional Development link below each indicator. Teacher Compass will automatically search the library of professional development content and make suggestions for each indicator. If the content that Teacher Compass automatically suggests does not meet your needs, you can choose to perform a custom search. Enter a search term or phrase in the top of the Suggest Professional Development screen and click the Search icon. Teacher Compass will search the entire professional development library and return results matching your search criteria. 8. You can preview the content by clicking the title of each content item. 9. If you want to recommend that item to a teacher, check the box to the left of the item. The content will be included in the teacher s report. Note: if you are performing observations offline using the Teacher Compass ipad or Android apps, suggesting professional development is disabled. Once you are back online, you can suggest professional development. Selecting Pre-Populated Comments 10.At the bottom of each domain or category, you may notice a series of Suggested Comments. These are comment prompts which you can 6
include in your feedback to the teacher. To do this, simply check the box next to the appropriate prompt. The comment will automatically be loaded into your overall comments for that section. You can then edit them to make personalize the comments for each teacher. Selecting Evidence Statements 11.At the bottom of each domain or category, you may notice a series of Evidence statements. These provide a means of tracking actual observed practices or evidence. Select the checkbox next to the items that you observe. Uploading, Reviewing and Commenting on Artifacts 12.To review and comment on the artifacts provided by the teacher, click the Artifacts menu item on the left. This will list each of the artifacts provided by the teacher. Select the artifact you wish to review and click View. You will be taken to a screen which allows you to download the artifact and then provide comments for the teacher. 13. If you d like to upload your own artifacts or evidence, click the Add New Artifacts button and complete the form. Note: if you are performing observations offline using the Teacher Compass ipad or Android apps, the use of artifacts is disabled. Once you are back online, you can add artifacts. 14.As you move through the categories, click Save to ensure that your work is saved. Note that you do not need to complete all items on the rubric. Teacher Compass will save your work and you can log in later to return where you left off. It s important to note that you must score every indicator in the rubric before you can submit the observation. Once a rubric has been submitted, it is made available to the teacher and to other for reporting. For this reason, you make sure that all parts of the rubric are finalized and checked before submitting. If you are need to meet with the teacher further or gather more information before scoring additional items, just save your work and return to the rubric later when you have all of your information. Including Video or Artifacts with Observations To upload documents and videos to an observation: 1. If you are the subject of the observation, select this observation and then select the Upload button. If you are the evaluator, select the observation and click Perform Online. Then select the Artifacts tab on the left. You will be taken to the Add Artifacts screen. 2. Under the Artifact Title field, provide a descriptive title for your artifact. 3. Under type, select the appropriate format for your artifact. 7
4. Click the Attach File button. 5. Browse to the location on your computer where your artifacts are stored. 6. Select the document or video that you wish to upload. The upload process will automatically begin. A status will display when your artifact has been completely uploaded. Note that if you are uploading large files, this may take some time. 7. If appropriate, provide a comment or reflection for the observer regarding the artifact you ve uploaded. 8. If the artifact is closely related to certain aspects of the rubric, select those sections. This will ensure that the evaluator can view the artifact easily while marking those sections of the rubric. 9. Select Save. You will be taken to the Artifacts screen where you can edit or add other artifacts. 10.Continue to add artifacts and comments as necessary. Note that you don t have to do this all at one time. You can log out of Teacher Compass and come back later to upload or edit additional artifacts. 11.When all artifacts are ready for review, click the Submit for Observation button. Note: if you are performing observations offline using the Teacher Compass ipad or Android apps, the use of artifacts is disabled. Once you are back online, you can add artifacts. Sharing a Draft of an Observation Once an observation is officially submitted, it can no longer be edited by the Primary Evaluator or teacher. An observation can be sent to teachers or others for review and response before it is officially submitted however. This allows the reviewer to review all final scores and to provide feedback or upload other artifacts or pieces of evidence for the observer to review before finalizing. To share a draft of an observation: 1. First, provide a score for at least one indicator in the rubric and click Save. The Share Draft button should enable. 2. Click Share Draft. A window will appear which allows you to enter in the name of the subject of the observation or, in the case of a self-evaluation, any user who has permission to observe the observer (e.g. a Principal). Enter the name of the person to whom you wish to send the draft. 3. If desired, provide a message to the reviewer. This message will appear in an email that is sent to them. 4. Click the Send Draft button. An email will be sent to the reviewer which contains your message and a link to review the full report of the observation. Beneath each indicator, the reviewer can add their own comments and send back to your for review. 8
Once the subject provides their response, the observation will be sent back to you for final submission. Finalizing and Submitting an Observation Once an observation has been submitted in Teacher Compass, it is made part of the official record. The subject receives a copy of the report in their account, the data is made available for broader reporting and the observation is no longer editable. For these reasons, evaluators should take care when submitting observations. To finalize and submit an observation: 1. Select the Summary tab in the left hand menu of the rubric. 2. Here you will see a graph representing the teacher s overall scores across all categories or domains. 3. If appropriate, provide feedback in the Overall Comments section. 4. Check the Shared observation with teacher box. This simply indicates that the observation has been shared with the teacher. 5. Check the Email observation box. The Upon submission option should be pre-selected and the teacher s email should be pre-filled. 6. Under Message, enter the message that you would like the teacher to receive. 7. Click Save. 8. Finally, click Submit observation. You should receive a notice confirming that you want to submit the observation. 9. Click OK. The observation is now submitted. The observation status is changed to complete. The full report of the observation is available in the teacher s account and the data from the observation is available for reporting purposes. The teacher should receive an automated email indicating that the observation has been completed. Performing Observations Offline Using the Teacher Compass ipad or Android Apps Installing the App for ipads 1. On your ipad, click the App Store icon. 2. Click the Search icon and type the words Teacher Compass. The Teacher Compass offline app should appear. 3. Select Teacher Compass. You should a Free button in the upperright. 4. Click the Free button. The button should change to an Install App button. Click this button. 9
5. You should be prompted to enter your itunes password. Enter your password and click OK. 6. The installation process will begin. When complete, the Teacher Compass app logo will appear on your ipad. Installing the App for Android Tablets 1. Using your Android-based tablet, click the Google Play Store app (white shopping bag cart icon). This will launch Google Play. 2. If you are not logged into your Google account, you will be prompted to do so. Enter your Google credentials. 3. In the search field, type the words Teacher Compass. You should be presented wit the Teacher Compass app (Green compass logo). Select the app and click Install. 4. A confirmation screen will appear. Click the Accept & Download button. 5. The Teacher Compass app will begin to download. Once the download is complete, the Teacher Compass app logo will appear on your Android-based tablet. Logging in and Synchronizing your Offline App If this is the first time you have accessed the offline app, or if the last time you accessed your Teacher Compass account was through the online web application, you will need to synchronize your observation data before using your offline app. To do this: 1. Ensure that your mobile device is connected to an active WIFI or cellular service. 2. Click the Teacher Compass app icon on your mobile device. You will be taken to the login screen for the app. 3. Enter your credentials. The app will automatically detect your WIFI or cellular service, connect to the Teacher Compass server, and synchronize your online data. This may take a few minutes. 4. Once your data is synchronize, you will be taken to the Observation screen, where you can schedule, perform and submit observations just as you would online. At this point, you can walk outside of your active WIFI or cellular connection. Moving in and Out of WIFI or Cellular Connections If you are walking in and out of WIFI or cellular connections, you may be prompted to go back online. Unless you are confident that the connection is stable in all of the places you will be performing observations, click Not Now. This will keep your app in offline mode and allow you to perform observations without connecting to the Internet. When you are back to a stable WIFI or cellular connection, click the Synchronize Data link in the upper-right corner of your screen. This will synchronize all data and then give you the option to go to the online web 10
application. Any notifications that you created during the offline observation will be sent to the subject. Professional Development Teacher Compass PD contains thousands of quality professional development videos and resources, as well as a number of features to help administrators and teachers manage their PD plans, find relevant PD and collaborate with one another. Professional Development Goals The Goals section allows district-administrators, school-administrators and teachers to create professional development goals. Once goals have been created, Teacher Compass PD will automatically suggest relevant PD to teachers to fulfill those goals. Goals created at the district level are applied to every teacher and administrator within that district; goals created at the school level apply to every administrator and teacher within that school; and goals created at the personal level only apply to the individual. In this way, teachers and administrators can track their progress against each level of goal. Creating a Professional Development Goal Regardless of the level district, school or personal the process of creating a professional development goal is the same. 1. Navigate to the Professional Development Tab and click Goals 2. Click the Add New Goal button 3. Provide a descriptive title for the goal 4. Provide a deadline for the goal. The deadline will default to the end of the current school year, but this can be changed to reflect shorter or longer time-frames. 5. Select the Areas of Interest a set of educational and pedagogical topics to which the goal should be aligned. 6. Click Save. You should be directed to the View Goals page, where your new goal will display. As administrators and teachers work within Teacher Compass, any interactions they make related to their professional development goals are logged. Interactions can include the following: viewing content commenting on content adding content to your favorites implanting content in the classroom 11
These interactions will display beneath their respective goal. In this way, administrators and teachers can track their progress against district, school and personal PD goals. Browsing Professional Development In Teacher Compass PD, all content is organized in collections. A collection is a specific scope and sequence; a thread of content items. To browse collections: 1. Click the Professional Development tab. You will be presented with those collections which match the Areas of Interest you identified when you created your profile. Note that you can also view these collections on the left-hand side of the Home page. 2. Select the collection that you would like to browse. You will be taken to the sub-collection page. On this page, you ll be presented with all of the sub-collections within the collection. 3. Each sub-collection can be expanded to view further sub-collections by clicking the arrow next to the collection name. 4. Select the sub-collection for which you would like to view professional development content. The content within that collection will present in the main window, along with a description of the content. 5. Select the content item that you wish to view. You will be taken to the View Content page. Note that all of the other items in the collection you re viewing will appear to the right of the content item in order. You can click the title of any of these items to view the item. You can also click the Previous and Next links beneath the content to view content within a collection in linear fashion. 12
Adding your own Professional Development Content For users in roles with Content Management privileges, custom collections can be created. This means that you can upload and organize your own content. Any content that you add will only be accessible by users within your district. To add your own collection: 1. Click the Professional Development Tab. You will be taken to the Browse screen. 2. Click the Add Collection button in the upper-right. 3. Provide your collection with a descriptive title and description. 4. Click Save. You should return to the Browse page where your new collection will display with an Actions button beneath it. This Actions button allows you to edit or delete a collection. To add new content to a custom collection: 1. Select the custom collection. You will be taken to the Browse Collection page. 2. Click the Action link in the upper-right part of the screen. 3. Select Add New Content. You will be taken to the Add Content Item to Collection screen. 4. Provide a descriptive title and description to your content-item. 5. Select the appropriate Content Type Document, Video, Image or Hyperlink 6. Click Attach File. A browse window should appear. Browse to the file you wish to upload and click Open. 7. Under Areas of Interest, select the topics which best relate to the contentitem. This will help search results. 8. Under Keywords/Tags, enter any terms that you think teachers may use to search for the content-item. 9. Click Save. 13
Searching Professional Development To search for Professional Development content, place your cursor in the search field in the upper-right and enter the key words on which you would like to search. If you would like to search for content which can contain multiple keywords, you can use the or term to separate them. For instance, the following search phrase will find any content which contains any of the terms literacy, reading or writing: Literacy or Reading or Writing If you would like to search for an item which contains all of a series of keywords, you can use the and term. For instance, the following search phrase will find any content which contains all of the terms literacy, reading or writing: Literacy and Reading and Writing If you would like to search for an exact phrase, place the phrase in quotations. For instance, the following search phrase will find only content items which contain the exact term balanced literacy: Balanced Literacy Filtering Search Results Once you have searched for content, the results will display in a list according to their relevance. You can further filter these search results by selecting the areas of interest and grade level to the left. Viewing Professional Development Whether on the Home page, Browse pages, Search results or Favorites, when you click the title of a content-item you will be taken to the View Content screen. This screen is separated into the following parts: View or Download Content -- in the upper-left of the View Content page, the content-item will be displayed. If the item is a video, a video player will load which allows you to play the video streaming over the internet. If the item is a document, you will be presented with a button or image which allows you to download the document to your local computer. Collection List If you have navigated to the content-item while browsing a collection, the other items within the collection will display to the right of the content item. You can click on any of the titles in this list to load the respective content-item. Suggested Content List To the left of the content-item, a list of Suggested content-items should present. This list is comprised of content-items which share keywords with the content-item that is being 14
viewed. You can click on any of the titles in this list to load the respective content-item. Comments Area The comments area will show a chronological list of comments made about the content item by others in your district. There is also a text area which allows you to share comments of your own. Adding Professional Development to your Favorites When you find useful professional development content to which you would like to return, you can add it to your favorites area. The Favorites page is a place where you can store and organize any PD which you find useful. To add content to your favorites: 1. While viewing the content, select Add to Favorites 2. A box will appear which asks you to enter tags for the content. A tag is a simple term which organizes your favorites. For instance, you might create tags for Differentiation or Mathematics. These tags allow you to quickly filter your favorites based on your interests. 3. Enter a tag or tags which you would like to use to organize the content item. Note that if you start typing a tag you previously entered, Teacher Compass PD will present the option to you. 4. Click Save. The item will be saved to your favorites section. You can click Professional Development > Favorites at any time to navigate to the item quickly. Commenting on Professional Development Collaboration is an important factor in successful professional development. Administrators and teachers are encouraged to comment on professional development content in two areas of Teacher Compass PD: on the View Content and Home Pages. Commenting on the View Content Page Just below the content item on the View Content page is a text area in which you can comment on the topics covered in the content item. Beneath this text box, all of the comments made by all teachers regarding the contentitem will also be listed. In this way, teachers can view the opinions, tips and general feedback of other teachers related to a specific content item. 15
Commenting on the Home Page The home page lists the most recent activity views, comments and implementations by teachers throughout the system. Each user s view of that activity is personalized on the home page based on the user s professional development goals. In other words, any activity by any teacher in the district that is related to a user's professional development goals will be listed. You can add a comment to any of the threads by entering your comment in the Comment/Reflection field and clicking the Comment button. Schools & Teachers The Schools & Teachers screen is a place where you can manage all schools, all teachers and their corresponding observations. If you are managing more than one school in Teacher Compass, all schools will list in the Schools screen along with the number of teachers and the total number of observations per school. Selecting any school and then clicking View Teachers will result in all the teachers who are associated with that school being displayed. Selecting any Teacher in the Teachers table and clicking View will display that teacher s contact information as well as all observations that have been performed on that teacher during the school year. The observations table on the Teacher screen works just as it does on the Observations screen. You can choose to perform observations on or offline, edit, print or delete the results of an observation. You can also schedule new observations from this screen. Viewing Longitudinal Reports for Teachers On the Teachers screen, it is possible to view the longitudinal progress that a teacher has made over multiple observations. To view this report: 1. Navigate to the Schools and Teachers tab. 2. In the Search field, type in the name of the teacher whom you wish to view. The teacher should appear in the results below. 3. Select the correct teacher and click View. You will be taken to the View Teacher screen. 4. If the teacher has been evaluated more than once using the same rubric, the longitudinal report will automatically load. This report presents a line graph in which the X axis represents each distinct observation and the Y axis represents the domain in the rubric. Using this graph, you can analyze the progress made by the teacher over time for each domain. 16
5. To analyze a different rubric, select the desired rubric from the Rubric drop-down menu. 6. To analyze a different time-frame, enter the desired From and To dates in the From and to fields. Reports Observation Reports The Observation Reports screen is a place where you can generate custom reports on the observations that have been performed. The Reporting tool is very flexible and allows you to choose the schools, teachers, date range and rubrics on which to report. Creating an Observation Report To create an observation report: 1. Click the Reports tab 2. Click the Add Observations Report button. You will be taken to the Create Observations Report screen. On this screen you can choose options to filter the data in your report. 3. If you wish to save your criteria so that you can run the report quickly in the future, provide a name for your report in the Report Name field. 4. In the From and To fields, enter the date range for which you would like to see observation data. 5. In the Rubric Type field, choose the type of rubric for which you would like to see observation data. Once an option is chosen in this field, the Rubric field will populate with available rubrics for the selected Type. 6. In the Rubric field, select the rubric for which you would like to see observation data. 7. In the Schools field, choose the school or schools for which you would like to see observation data. Once school(s) are chosen, the Teachers field will populate with the available teachers. 8. In the Teachers field, choose the teacher or teachers for which you would like to see observation data. Move them to the Selected Teachers field by clicking the right-arrow button. 9. If you wish to filter your report to a specific observer or set of observers, choose the desired observer from the Observes select area and move them to the Selected Observers area by clicking the rightarrow button. 10. If you would like for your report to include overall and average calculated scores, click the Overall Score check box. A link should appear which reads Assign Weights to Categories. By default, Teacher 17
Compass will assign equal weight to all categories in your rubric. However, if you would like to weight certain categories more heavily than others, click the Assign Weights to Categories link and distribute the weights as you wish. 11.In the Report Type field, choose your desired report format: a. Observation Summary Reports provide a summary of all quantitative data. This report will show statistics related to the rubric and teachers you ve selected. It is a good report to use to identify trends across a range of observations. The summary report will not, however, provide the comments entered by evaluators for individual teachers. b. Individual Observation Reports provide all detail for a single observation performed on a single teacher. This includes all scores, comments, evidence and professional development suggestions. Viewing a Summary Report Summary reports are an aggregate view of completed observations which meet your selected criteria. There are several components to this report: At the top of a summary report, you will see the total number of completed observations which meet your criteria. Below the total observations, you will see the number of schools in which those observations took place. Below this, you will see each school listed, along with the number of observations completed and the number of teachers observed at each school. Clicking on the number of teachers will display the names of the teachers who s observations are reflected in the report. If you have chosen to include an overall score in your report, the overall and average scores for the observations included in your report will be listed next, along with an explanation of how each category was weighted to determine those statistics. Next you will see a series of bar-charts representing the distribution of scores for the observations which met your criteria. The first bar-chart represents how scores were distributed for all categories in your rubric. The other bar charts represent how scores were distributed for each category. These charts provide a visual snapshot of performance and allow you to focus in on specific categories quickly. Finally, a summary table will display each of the categories, objectives and indicators in your rubric and how frequently each was selected in the observations being summarized. Note that the statistics in this table can also be clicked to view which teachers received the score in question. You can 18
then click the View Individual Observation Reports to view the full detail of the observations where the score was provided. Drilling Down on Observation Summary Reports To drill down to specific detail on Observation Summary Reports: 1. While viewing an Observation Summary Report, click any of the statistics presented in dark blue. A box will appear displaying the teachers represented in that statistic. A link will also appear to View Individual Observations. 2. Click View Individual Observations. A list of the individual observations from which the statistic is comprised will appear. 3. Click any of these observations and click View to view the detailed, individual report. Professional Development Reports Professional Development Reports enable administrators to track PD activity in Teacher Compass in a number of different ways. The various types of activity presented in these reports include: Content Views a user views a content item. Comments a user comments on a content-item or responds to the comments of others. Favorites a user adds a content item to their favorites. Implementations a user indicates that they have implemented the concepts found in a content item within their classroom. Report Filters Professional Development reports are designed to provide a comprehensive view of professional development activity. All activity within Teacher Compass is tracked and can be analyzed based on the following filters: Activity by Type this view indicates the proportion of activity by type. Activity types include: Views The total number of times that a content-item has been viewed during the specified timeframe. Comments The total number of times that users have commented on content-items during the specified timeframe. Favorites The total number of times that users have added contentitems to their Favorites page. Implementations The total number of times that users have indicated that they implemented the ideas found in a content-item in their classroom. Activity by Professional Development Goals This view should provide administrators the ability to see how active their districts are for each of their 19
professional development goals. This view outlines the total number of activities (any type) which relate to district-level professional development goals. Activity by Topic This view should provide administrators the ability to see how active their districts are relative to educational topic. For instance, if you would like to see how much activity relates to English language learners (ELL), you can see the total number of activities (any type) that relates to ELL. Activity by Pedagogy This view should provide administrators the ability to see how active their districts are relative to pedagogical aspects, such as classroom climate, classroom management, assessment, etc. Activity Reports can be viewed at three different levels: 1. District Level 2. School Level 3. Teacher Level District Level Report The district-level report aggregates activity data across multiple schools. Users with access to more than one school will automatically be granted access to this report and will see aggregate data for those schools to which they have access. The time-range of this report can be modified by entering a new To and From dates in the upper-left portion of this report. Activity by School At the bottom of the District-Level Report, each school is listed in a table with their respective totals for each type of activity views, comments, favorites and implementations. To view School-level Reports, click the desired School Name. School Level Report The school-level report aggregates activity data within a single school. The time-range of this report can be modified by entering a new To and From dates in the upper-left portion of this report. The focus-school can be changed by selecting the desired school from the drop-down menu in the upper-right portion of this report. Activity by Teacher At the bottom of the School-Level Report, each teacher registered within that school is listed in a table with their respective totals for each type of activity views, comments, favorites and implementations. To view Teacher-Level Reports, click the desired teacher name. 20
Teacher Level Report The teacher-level report aggregates activity data for a single teacher. The time-range of this report can be modified by entering new To and From dates in the upper-left portion of this report. The focus-teacher can be changed by selecting the desired school from the drop-down menu in the upper-right portion of this report. One of the unique aspects of the Teacher Level Professional Development report is that you are able to view specific professional development activities for that teacher at the bottom of the screen what they have been watching and doing. Specific activities include: When professional development is suggested to a teacher by an evaluator. When a teacher views professional development When a teacher adds a comment about a piece of content When a teacher adds a piece of content to their favorites When a teacher indicates that they ve implemented something in the classroom You can view these teacher activities based on different filters/tabs: The All Activity tab displays all professional development activity in chronological order. The Suggested Activity tab displays activity that relates to professional development suggested by an evaluator to the teacher during an observation or observation. The District Goal Activity tab displays activity that relates to that teacher s district professional development goals. The School Goal Activity tab displays activity that relates to that teacher s school professional development goals. The Personal Goal Activity tab displays activity that relates to that teacher s personal professional development goals. Rubrics Teacher Compass enables the creation of multiple rubrics for various observation purposes. The Rubrics screen is a place for creating and managing your rubrics. The Rubrics screen is divided into four areas: 1. Rubrics 2. Rubric Types 3. Scoring Systems 4. Suggested Comments 21
Rubric Types Rubric Types are a means of organizing or categorizing your rubrics. Typical Rubric Types are: Classroom observation Walk-through Look-for Formal Observation Fidelity Check You must create at least one Rubric Type before you can create a rubric. Scoring Systems In Teacher Compass, all rubrics must use a consistent scoring system. This system can be as simple as a Yes/No or Observed/Not Observed or as complex as a ten point system. Each score in a system may have a full name, an abbreviation (for presentation in observations) and a description. You must create at least one scoring system before you can create a rubric. To add a scoring system: 1. Click the Rubrics tab. 2. Click Scoring Systems. 3. Click Add New Scoring System. The Add New Scoring System page will load. 4. Provide a descriptive Name and Description for the scoring system. 5. Indicate the number of levels in the scoring system. You may choose between 2 and 10 levels. 6. Indicate whether your scoring system should include a Not Applicable (N/A) score. 7. From highest to lowest, provide the following information for each score in the system: 8. A descriptive title for the score. This will display in graphs and reports. 9. An abbreviation for the score. This can be between 1 and 3 characters. This will appear next to the buttons where evaluators score items. 10.A description of the score. 11.Click Save. You should be returned to the Scoring System page where your new scoring system should be listed. Note that once a scoring system has been created, it can be used in multiple rubrics. 22
Rubrics Creating a New Rubric Once you have created Rubric Types, Categories (see Categories) and the Scoring system for a rubric, you are ready to create the rubric. There are two steps to this process: 1. Setting up your Rubric Info 2. Editing your Rubric To set up your Rubric Info: 1. Go to the Rubric tab and click Add New Rubric. 2. Provide a descriptive name and description for your rubric. 3. Select the scoring system that you would like to use. 4. Select the Rubric Type under which you want to organize the rubric. 5. Determine whether you want a graph to appear representing the distribution of scores. When included in a rubric, this graph will dynamically display the distribution of scores for each domain as the observation is performed. These graphs will also display on the full report of the observation. 6. Check all of the categories which you would like to include in your rubric. 7. Click Save. Once your Rubric Info is set up, you re ready to create your rubric content. To do this: 1. On the rubrics page, select the desired rubric. 2. Click Edit Rubric. 3. You will be taken to the Edit Rubric page. On this page, you should see the categories you selected listed on the left. 4. If you wish to reorder the Categories, click the up or down arrows to the left of the Category titles. 5. Enter your first Objective in the text area titled Name this Objective. An objective is simply a way to organize your indicators or look-fors. Click Add Objective. 6. Click the Add Indicator link which appears beneath your new objective. You will be presented with two text areas, one for your indicator and one for your help text. 7. Add your first indicator. This is the item which will be scored. 23
8. Optionally, you may add help text for your indicator. This is simply text which can help evaluators score the indicator properly. 9. Click Add Indicator. The indicator will appear along with the scoring system you ve chosen. 10.Repeat this process until all Objectives and Indicators have been entered. Note that you can edit, or reorder delete Objectives and Indicators by selecting the Edit or Delete links to the right. Explicitly Linking Professional Development Content to a Rubric If you would like for certain professional development content items to always appear for evaluators at the top of the Suggested Professional Development results, follow the following steps: 1. While editing or viewing a rubric, click the Link Professional Development link under the indicator to which you would like to link the item. 2. Teacher Compass will automatically search the database of content and display suggested results. You can customize these results by entering a custom search term at the top of the Link Professional Development page. 3. If you would like to preview a content item, click the title of the item. The content should present below the title. 4. If you would like to link the professional development item to the selected indicator, click the checkbox next to the item. 5. Continue to search and select those items which you would like to link to the indicator. 6. Click Next. 7. Use the ordering arrows to the left of each item to determine a specific order in which you would like the PD items to appear. 8. Click Link Professional Development. Once this is done, the professional development items you ve selected will always appear at the top of the suggested results for evaluators. Linking Rubrics to Other Rubrics for Content Import Teacher Compass enables observers to import content scores and notes from completed observations into an observation which in progress. Doing so provides the observer with context of how they or other observers reviewed a teacher in the past. The Import Content link appears whenever past completed observations exist which were performed using the same rubric. You can also choose to link different rubrics together for the purposes of importing content. For instance, you may want to link the indicators of a walkthrough rubric to those of a summative evaluation so observers can 24
import all evidence from walkthroughs when completing the summative observation. To link two distinct rubrics together: 1. In the rubrics tab, select an active rubric. 2. Click View. Beneath each indicator, a hyperlink will appear which reads Link to another Rubric for Data Import. 3. Find the indicator to which you want to link and click Link to another Rubric for Data Import. A window will appear with a menu of active rubrics. 4. Select the rubric to which you want to link the indicator. Once a rubric has been selected, a list of domains and indicators from that rubric will appear, each with a check-box. 5. Check the boxes to the left of the indicator(s) to which you want to link the current rubric indicator. 6. Click Save. A box will appear beneath the indicator which shows the rubric and indicator to which it has been linked. Copying a Rubric It is often necessary to create derivatives of existing rubrics. To do this in Teacher Compass: 1. Select the rubric which you would like to copy from the Rubric list. 2. Click Copy. You will be prompted with a message confirming the copy. Click OK. 3. A copy will appear in the Rubric list. 4. You can use the Edit Rubric Info button to change the name, rubric type, scoring system or categories for the new rubric. For instance, if you d like to create a rubric which only contains some of the domains from a larger rubric, just uncheck the categories you wish to omit. 5. You can use the Edit Rubric button to add, delete or reorder the objectives and indicators in the rubric. Suggested Comments Suggested Comments are a means of entering best-practice qualitative feedback as prompts for evaluators. This allows evaluators to select the best-practice comments as part of their observations, improving the overall quality of observations. To add suggested comments: 1. Click the Rubrics tab. 2. Click the Suggested Comments link. 3. Click Add new Suggested Comment. 4. Add the comment in the Suggested Comment field. 5. Associate the comment to the appropriate categories in your rubric(s) by moving the category to the Selected Categories box. 25
Evidence Evidence provides a way to track behaviors or evidence observed. Each statement can be checked by the evaluator when it is observed. Teacher Compass will track checked evidence statements and can report that data for an individual observation or a series of observations. To add evidence items to your rubric: 1. Select the rubric to which you would like to add Evidence. 2. Click Edit Rubric. 3. Select the Category on the left for which you would like to add Evidence. 4. Scroll down to the bottom of the category page and click the +Evidence link. A textbox will appear for you to add your Evidence Statement. 5. Enter your Evidence Statement, your observable item, in this box. 6. Click Add Statement. 7. Repeat this process for as many Evidence Statements you wish to add. Administration Users and Roles Teacher Compass has a powerful permissions structure which enables you to grant access to functionality and content within the system to specific roles or groups of users. Below are a few scenarios to demonstrate how Roles can be used: You may want to create an Administrator group at the district level. This group would be responsible for customizing Teacher Compass, so they would need access to build Rubrics and create Users and Groups. However, since these users would not be performing observations, they would not need access to the Observations section. Each school in the district might have a Principal role which is responsible for performing observations of teachers within that school. This group would need access to Observations, Schools and Teachers and Reports, but would not need access to the Rubrics or Settings area. You may want to create a peer group of teachers in each school which is responsible for performing observations, but does not need to run reports. How Roles Work There are two levels of permissions in Teacher Compass feature-level access and content-level access. 26
Feature-level-access refers to the tabs or areas of the application that users can access, such as Observations, Schools & Teachers, Reports, Rubrics, Professional Development and Settings. Feature-level-access is determined when you create or edit a Role. For instance, you may decide to grant an Administrator group access to Settings, Rubrics and Reports, but not Observations. Content-level-access refers to the specific items within each tab or area of the application, such as a specific observation, school, teacher, or report. Content-level access is determined when a content item is created. For instance, you may create a new Rubric and only grant access to the rubric to specific roles. Creating a New Role and Granting Feature-Level-Access To create a new Role: 1. Click the Settings link in the upper-right-hand corner of Teacher Compass and then click Roles. You will see a listing of all of the existing Groups. 2. Click the Add New Role button in the upper-right of the screen. You will be taken to the Add New Role form. 3. Provide a Role Name and Description. The Role Name should be as descriptive as possible for instance: PS 112 Teacher Peer Group or Decatur Elementary Principals. 4. Determine if users in the role can be evaluated. 5. Determine if users in the role can be evaluators. This means that these users will have rights to evaluate others. 6. Determine if users in the role should be able to access observations for which they are not the subject or evaluator. Generally speaking, this option should only be checked for administrators. 7. Set feature-level-permissions for users in the group. Next to each feature, check the appropriate access-level. a. View users in the group can navigate to the feature or area and can view content within that area. b. Add/Edit users in the group can create new and edit existing items within the area. c. Delete users can delete items within the area. Setting Focus Content Collections You may want for some content collections to be presented more prominently to certain roles. For instance, you may want for English language learners collections to display more prominently to your EL specialists, or for leadership content to display more prominently to your principals. To do this: 27