The+Covenant+School

I spoke with a friend at The Covenant School in Charlottesville, Virginia. It is a coed private school with about 35 faculty members for grades 7-12. The Head of School is extremely adament in regards to faculty accountability so most of my questions were geared towards that area.

They have 3 main areas:


 * 1) Observations
 * 2) Any teacher new the school goes through an intense observation process for their first 6 months at the school. Once a week either the head of school, upper school director, Academic Dean, or Department Chair will observe the teacher. The reasoning behind this is to provide consistencies among the teachers in terms of expectations the school has in regards to classroom teaching. Through the process they have minimal complaints from students about differences between teachers. Obviously, the school has a set of standards and expectations for teachers that are emphasized during these observations. After the fact most teachers love this process because they learn exactly what is expected of them.
 * 3) Meaningful Faculty Evaluation (MFE)
 * 4) This is a series of "work packets" developed by a businessman to reflect on what you have done and decide what you want to do better in the future. Teachers hate this. It is very time consuming and is due at the end of the year. The positive aspects of it are that each teacher develops their personal mission statement for their classroom. Once a month teachers with similar goals meet together to collaborate one ideas and strategies. Teachers at the school prefer setting 2 goals for the following year and mapping out a plan of how to achieve those goals.
 * 5) Teacher-Teacher Observations
 * 6) Teachers at the school claim this is the best aspect of their accountability programs. It provides teachers with a solid frame of reference for what they are doing well and not doing well in their classrooms, as well as learning what works with certain students. This process has been especially beneficially for new teachers to see how classrooms are to be managed.