Walkthroughs

I hear that that administrators are using the walkthroughs for evaluation and that they are downloading the data on their Blackberries and sending it to the district (or DOE).

The purpose of the walkthroughs has always been to observe instruction and the classroom environment for the purpose of shaping staff development activities. The Blackberry replaces the clip board in data collection but the purpose hasn't changed. The contract requires that observations "must be conducted openly and with the full knowledge of the teacher." When the administrator is in the room for purposes of observation for evaluation, the teacher must know that in advance of the observation. The walkthrough DOES NOT constitute an appropriate evaluation observation and cannot be used for that purpose.