Watchung School Board Closes in on Goals

The Watchung Board of Education set several goals for staff development and technology for the district to reach this year, and according to Superindentdent Barbara Resko, a lot of progress has been made in recent weeks toward those goals.

Dr. Resko provided an update on the goals at the board's meeting Oct. 11, noting several that are on or ahead of schedule.

The goals included implementation of the new state-mandated teacher evaluation system, improved technology and website resources for parents and students and tying in class planning with the curriculum at Watchung Hills Regional.

Dr. Resko noted the district has prepared 30 iPads for student use to supplement tablets already in use, and the district is setting up a tab on teachers' webpages to use for tracking assignments.

"We started to track the need, in order to be responsive to our students and our staff...earlier this month, we developed a technology request form," Dr. Resko said. She said the form will allow administrators to track requests, as well as help make sure requests are followed-up.

The main focus of recent staff development has been the new teacher evaluation system, which requires administrators to perform evaluations of teachers, assigning proficiency ratings on a number of key skills. The new system will use a program called Teachscape, and the staff has been receiving instruction on how to use it.   

Launching the new system required extensive training for teachers and administrators, and Dr. Resko said the training is continuing on pace.

"Today we had some teachers and administrators attend a commuity learning group sponsored through Morris-Union Jointure committee where they are talking about Teachscape and about the new teacher evaluation model," she said.

And, finally, the district has established regular meetings with department head at Watchung Hills Regional to co-ordinate classes through the two distircts to assure students are prepared for high school coursework.