Administrators in Maui's public schools are charting new courses for their teachers’ professional growth and development thanks to a unique pairing of the online educator observation tool TeacherCompass and the now ubiquitous Apple iPad.
Starting in January on-the-go administrators began loading up their new-issue iPads with Teacher Compass, an online program that provides the ability to observe, collect, organize, and analyze data to personalize professional development plans for teachers.
The goal of this initiative is to help Maui’s educators observe instructional practices in the classroom and provide coaching and support that may be needed.
Teacher Compass, from Pearson, is a research-based solution for teacher evaluation and support, developed by Johns Hopkins University Center for Technology in Education with the help of K-12 school administrators.
Wireless access to Teacher Compass will allow educators to input data via the iPad, disaggregate results, and generate reports and graphs related to various performance indicators.
Because Teacher Compass can be customized, Maui’s teaching effectiveness specifications are fully integrated into the program.
Teacher Compass on the iPad will also be tied to the district’s professional development program conducted under the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol Model (SIOP®), a research-driven approach to teaching English learners. Three years ago, Maui adopted the “sheltered instruction” design to teach math, science and social studies — a method that makes subject area concepts easier to understand, while also strengthening a student’s academic English language development.
