The Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA), the state association of public charter schools in Michigan, has adopted Teachscape Reflect Video. The professional development system was recently implemented in 29 charter schools throughout the Detroit area.
“With our charter schools, we are always trying to leverage technology and innovation more effectively to improve student outcomes,” said Brian May, vice president of school initiatives of MAPSA. “Teachscape Reflect Video offers a cutting-edge use of video that allows us to deliver quality feedback to help teachers hone their craft. We want to provide our educators with every opportunity to improve their teaching. The adoption of Reflect Video will allow them to closely look at their instruction and the instruction of their colleagues to identify best practices and areas that need improvement.”
MAPSA secured funding for Teachscape Reflect Video through the Teacher Incentive Fund, a five-year grant that supports efforts to develop and implement performance-based teacher and principal compensation systems in high-need schools. To aid in these efforts, Teachscape Reflect Video provides the tools to help improve teaching effectiveness throughout the selected charter schools by capturing classroom video of instructional practices. Using the Teachscape 360-degree Camera Kit, MAPSA teachers can reflect on their teaching, share instructional practices, develop professional learning communities and receive timely coaching support based on the Danielson Framework for Teaching (FFT).
As a component of MAPSA’s observation- and incentive-based teacher evaluation program, Teachscape Reflect Video also provides video-based footage that allows for fair and reliable assessment of teacher practice. After the video is captured, third party evaluators score the footage using the FFT and categorize teachers based on their performance level, which determines the incentives that those teachers will receive.
“Compared to in-person evaluations, the 360-degree video capture allows us to view and examine much more teaching and classroom evidence to make a more accurate assessment of teaching practice,” said May. “Using the system, evaluators can refer back to the footage and reflect on evidence that might have been missed during live observations.”
