T-TESS: First Impressions


T-TESS (Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System) is the state-adopted teacher appraisal tool that is replacing good, ole PDAS (Professional Development and Appraisal System).  

Here are my first impressions based on the T-TESS appraiser training handbook and this slide deck from an ESC 7 workshop.

  • T-TESS looks much more thoughtfully prepared than PDAS.
    • Rubric-based
    • Supportive process
  • It's a huge amount of work
    • Yikes, principals and appraisers! 
    • Asks teachers to be more active in their own learning
  • More rigorous
    • Tied to evidence, data, and improvement
    • Rubric moves "proficient" to starting point
  • Success/failure depends on district/campus implementation
    • Much more work, tracking, documentation to make it work properly
    • If district/campus didn't utilize PDAS correctly, will be a challenge to move to T-TESS



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