Madison Schools Underway

Molly Beck

A new way to evaluate teachers, known as the Wisconsin Educator Effectiveness System, begins this school year across Wisconsin — giving equal weight to teachers’ performance in the classroom as judged by principals and student academic achievement.

The evaluations are mandated as part of Wisconsin’s waiver to the No Child Left Behind requirements. Under the program, each teacher sets a student performance goal.

Madison Teachers Inc. president Mike Lipp said teachers welcome the new evaluations as a way to improve their instruction, noting that some longtime teachers haven’t been reviewed in decades.

Now, principals and assistant principals will need to evaluate each of their teachers in a more extensive way once every three years — the same for principals, who will be evaluated by Cheatham and other administrative staff.

Principals have received training to help them balance their new load of administrative duties with what’s already on their plate, including working with parents, Cheatham said.