Official Site of The State of New Jersey
New Jersey Principal Evaluation for Professional Learning Process
The New Jersey Principal Evaluation for Professional Learning Process seeks to integrate existing evaluation and professional development requirements, establish a calendar for regular collaborative conversations, and transform observations and goal-setting into processes that are more accurate and have more value for principal growth.
Key Components
- Plan
- Hold an annual evaluation and development planning conference at the beginning of the evaluation cycle.
- Benefits: Provides a foundation for success and growth for the principal, clarifying timelines, evaluation expectations, and evidence collection processes for observations. Opportunity to collaboratively set administrator goals and determine PD needs.
- Prioritize
- For observations, collect evidence for all domains prioritizing those that are closely connected to administrator goals.
- Benefits: Streamlines evaluation process by unifying observations and administrator goals. Creates targeted opportunity for principal growth and success in school improvement areas.
- Professional Development Plan (PDP)
- Align principal PD plan with Administrator Goals and prioritized practice standards.
- Benefits: Provides aligned focus point for personal professional development and helps principal attain goals and highest levels of effectiveness.
Before the Conference
The principal:
- Reviews relevant student performance data, survey results and prior evaluation feedback.
- Develops the first draft of the Administrator Goals and updates the Professional Development Plan (PDP).
During the Conference
1. Establish a Foundation for Success
- Reflect on the successes and challenges of the prior year.
- Establish expectations for evaluation and development process.
2. Align and Set Administrator Goals
- Develop a shared understanding of district/school goals.
- Discuss student and school data including available mSGP scores.
- Agree to administrator goals that align to school and district priorities.
3. Determine Observation Protocol
- Identify domains aligned to Administrator Goals.
- Identify other priority domains.
- Agree on potential sources of direct and indirect evidence for each domain — determine evidence the principal will provide and what the evaluator will collect.
- Identify potential opportunities of direct observation of the principal.
- Discuss start and end dates of observation windows to capture full scope of principal’s work (2–3 months per window).
4. Identify and Align Principal's Professional Development Needs
- Determine PD needs related to most recent performance evaluation, administrator goals and prioritized practice standards.
- Agree to appropriate PD plan and goals.
Key Components
- Portfolio
- Base observations on a portfolio of evidence collected over 2–3 months by practitioner and supervisor.
- Benefits: Evidence collected from a variety of sources over an extended period of time more accurately and fairly reflects the complexity of the principal’s work.
During the Observation Window
(two for tenured and three for non-tenured principals)
Collect a portfolio of evidence portraying principal’s effectiveness in each practice domain.
| Type of Observation Evidence | Examples |
|---|---|
| Direct: The principal is present and leading |
|
| Indirect: The principal’s effect is observed indirectly, through the actions of others and artifacts |
|
Key Components
- Process
- Discuss observation portfolios, and progress on Administrator Goals and Professional Development Pland (PDP) goals during in-person, post-observation conferences.
- Benefits: Dedicated coaching time to provide feedback and discuss progress maximizes principal growth and development. Discussion allows for course corrections and adjustments in the focus of the evaluation process as needed.
Before the Conference
- Principal and supervisor review Administrator Goals and PDP.
- Principal submits additional relevant evidence voluntarily or at the supervisor’s request.
During the Conference
- Discuss evidence collected or submitted during the observation window.
- Discuss progress toward Administrator Goals and PDP.
- Review school and student data (including mSGP scores if available) to inform any course corrections in established priorities.
- Provide actionable feedback verbally and through the completed observation report.
- Provide an interim observation score.
- Final post-observation conference may be combined with the Annual Summary Conference.
Key Components
- Plan
- Use the annual summary conference to discuss performance, determine scores and begin planning for the next cycle.
- Benefits: Formal review of successes and areas of growth establishes foundation for next evaluation cycle and steps for principal growth.
Before the Conference
- Supervisor provides principal with an observation report from the final observation window.
- Principal submits completed Administrator Goals and Professional Development Plan (PDP).
- Supervisor completes a preliminary annual performance report with rating.
During the Conference
- Discuss evidence collected or submitted regarding practice and provide a final observation score.
- Discuss attainment of Administrator Goals and scores.
- Discuss SGO average score, provide a summative score (non-mSGP principals), and review the preliminary annual performance report.
- Discuss progress on PDP.
- Discuss strengths and potential areas for growth and development.