How does a principal "unlock" the focus of a teacher on a focused evaluation plan?
Background
If a teacher has been set up on a focused evaluation cycle, then eVAL will limit the criteria that is available to the criteria that is pertinent to their area of focus. However, during an observation, the principal may wish to have all criteria (or domains/dimensions from their instructional rubric) available to them. This article provides the steps that will allow a principal to "expand" the criteria beyond what is selected in the teacher's area of focus.
Unlocking the Area of Focus
- The image below displays the Observation Setup workspace for a teacher who is on a focused plan. Notice that in the example below, the focus is on Criteria 3.
- Below the scheduling data, there is a section of the page that displays information about the area of focus. On the right end of the dark gray bar, you'll see a checkmark by the setting called Focused Lock. Focus Lock makes sure that all observations throughout the year stay in alignment to the current year's evaluation cycle for that teacher. Unlocking a focused observation will make all criteria available to be evaluated, even those outside of this year's chosen focus. If you choose to unlock this feature, the following message will appear on your screen.
Click in the box to remove the checkmark by the Focused Lock setting. The following message alert will appear on your screen. Read the information, and then click on the Cancel button or the green button to confirm that you want to unlock the teacher's area of focus for this observation.
Clicking on the green confirmation button (above) will change the Evaluation Cycle noted in the Observation Setup tab. It will make it look like this teacher is on a comprehensive plan, but that's only because you have unlocked the teacher's area of focus for this observation only. The teacher is still set up in eVAL as a teacher on a focused plan.