Schools to Research Using 'Teacher Evaluation' Tool

Hopatcong's not just changing its students' curriculum. Its teachers could be in for a new way of learning, too.

Hopatcong schools Director of Curriculum Jeff Hallenbeck said recently the district would research implementing a classroom assessment tool "that would allow administrators to develop, create and utilize teacher evaluations thought a wireless [and] web-based platform."

The program, OASYS, is part of Hopatcong's MyLearningPlan software, which, according to its website, is a "learning organization."

Hallenbeck said the program should not only allow the schools to better train teachers, but it should also help supervisors stay in better contact with instructors and reduce costs by cutting the amount of workshops teachers attend a year.

It also would also help the school cut down on paper usage and store many of its evaluations in an easily accessible database, which teachers and supervisors could reach virtually any time.

"Teacher evaluations would be available in a digital portfolio and could be viewed in real time by individual administrators," Hallenbeck said. "This process would provide administrators with a tool to view and discuss evaluations of teachers completed by administrators not based in their buildings.

"The program would greatly reduce costs associated with reproducing multiple copies of evaluation documents for each district office," he said. "And [it] would allow evaluations to be viewed from any networked computer."