A Professional Growth Folder is the place where teachers at the American School of Bombay store
all of the information about their teaching performance collected from multiple
sources of input (self, students, colleagues (as applicable), parents,
evaluators). Periodically, during the professional growth and evaluation
process, teachers will analyze this information about their performance in
order to reflect and support conversations around professional goal setting.
The gathering of data, letters, artifacts of teaching and students
work should be a natural process. The professional growth folder is a place to store information that is meaningful and relates to the 17 teaching standards held at ASB. The documents and reflections posted here are meant to:
Identify strengths and weaknesses so that set annual professional
goal(s) can be aligned with one or more of the 17 teaching standards;
Develop a Professional Growth Plan that will serve as a guide to
help achieve professional goal(s);
Engage in substantive, data-driven conversations with colleagues,
goal setting facilitators and evaluators about teaching performance and
professional goal attainment;
Complete a comprehensive self-assessment that requires teachers to
make informed judgments about their performance in relation to the 17 teaching
standards.
What Are The Standards?
These 17 standards are a teacher's job description for the American School of Bombay. They define specific teaching behaviors that based on research and current practice, influence student achievement. Similar standards for specified positions such as counselor, athletic director, librarian, and academic support teacher have also been developed. Administration performance is also assessed against established standards.
Each standard is measured on three levels, does not meet standard, meets standard, and exceeds standard. Descriptors under each level help define teacher behaviors in each level.
By clearly stating expectations in the form of teaching standards, faculty members are provided a great breadth of indicators on which to reflect on their teaching performance, analyze strengths and weaknesses, and integrate what is learned from the student and parent feedback process into future teaching practices. By defining expectations through the ASB Teaching Standards, thus allowing greater responsibility by faculty to take ownership in their professional growth, a considerable amount of professional development decision-making is given back to each teacher.
Our school's definition of professionalism is to meet the teaching standards, to have strong and current content knowledge, to take initiative, to take risks, and take responsibility for continuously improving instructional practices to add value for our students, colleagues and our school.