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Peer Assistance and Review Staff Directory
What is PAR?
PAR stands for Peer Assistance and Review Program. The purpose of the PAR Program, is for highly effective teachers to provide regular, intensive, and consistent support to non-tenured teachers in need of assistance.
What is a CT?
A Consulting Teacher (CT) provides high levels of differentiated support for non-tenured teachers in need of additional support in professional practice. A CT receives extensive training in conducting formal observations utilizing Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (FfT), analyzing a teacher’s area(s) of growth, and coaching the teachers so their pedagogy aligns with the best practices outline in the Framework for Teaching.
What can a CT do for client teachers?
The CTs observe classroom instruction formally and informally and provide support for teachers in their growth areas. This support can be in the following areas:
- Coaching and mentoring
- Lesson Planning and implementation
- Co-teaching and lesson demonstration
- Professional development across the Domains
How do CTs and Principals work together?
CTs and principals work separately with the client but towards the same goals:
- To improve teacher quality
- To improve teacher retention
- To improve student achievement
This term is called Parallel Paths. In order to maintain the integrity of the program, it is important for CTs to work separately from anyone evaluating the client.
To which office does the PAR program belong?
The PAR program is part of the Office of Employee Performance, in the Division of Human Resources
Who supervises CTs?
The CTs report to the PAR Instruction Supervisor
The PAR Panel is charged with making recommendations to the Employee Labor Relations Office regarding the renewal of contracts with non-tenured members of Unit I who have been referred by their principal to the Peer Assistance & Review Program, AND have received the intensive support of a Consulting Teacher (CT).
Each member of the PAR Panel will be placed into PAR Pairs consisting of one member of ASASP and one member of PGCEA. The Peer Assistance & Review Program will assign a number of Consulting Teachers (CT’s) to each PAR Pair. PAR Pairs will meet periodically during the school year with CT’s to discuss the progress of the PAR Client Teachers on their caseload, offer insights and or make suggestions regarding alternative strategies that might be employed to enhance the effectiveness of the Client Teachers.
What is PDR?
The Performance Data Review (PDR) is the process Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) and Prince George’s County Educators’ Association (PGCEA) have agreed to make employment recommendations to the Board of Education. This process reviews data submitted by the client teacher, administrator and consulting teacher.
Mission and Vision
The mission of the Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) program is to provide intensive and differentiated support to non-tenured teachers who are in need of improvement in the area of professional practice. The vision of the program is to ensure that highly effective teachers are in every classroom.
The vision of the Prince George’s County Educators’ Association (PGCEA), Association of Supervisory and Administrative School Personnel (ASASP), and Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) PAR program is for all teachers in PGCPS to receive support that allows them to exemplify the highest standards of instructional delivery and to facilitate the highest levels of student achievement.
Goals
The primary purpose of PAR at this time is for highly effective teachers to provide regular, consistent support (particularly peer-coaching and peer-observations) to non-tenured teachers, who have been referred by their principals, with support to select tenured teachers being phased in over time. The ultimate goal of such support is to increase student achievement by ensuring that the pedagogy of all teachers aligns with the best practices outlined in Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (FfT).
PGCEA and PGCPS will work to attain this goal through shared accountability, collaboration, open communication, professionalism, high expectations, commitment, mutual respect, and a high level of confidentiality.
Program Description
The PAR program contains several key components:
- A joint labor-management practitioner committee (PAR Advisory Board) manages and oversees the program.
- A panel of expert practitioners (PAR Panel) ensures that teachers receive appropriate levels of support and fair evaluations.
- Expert teachers (Consulting Teachers and Classroom Laboratory Teachers) provide high levels of differentiated support for novice teachers and eventually veteran teachers in need of additional support. This support culminates in personnel decisions that heavily consider the reports of these supporting expert teachers along with principal evaluations.
Partnerships
OEPE continues to build partnerships that strengthen our work and align with strategic focus areas of a High Performing Workforce included in the Promise of PGCPS. PAR represents a partnership between Prince George’s Educators Association (PGCEA) and Association of Supervisory and Administrative School Personnel (ASASP), with Panel members equally representing both organizations.
Peer Assistance and Review Performance Data