Office of Shared Accountability Reports

Evaluation of the Implementation of the Supporting Services Professional Growth System (SSPGS): Final Report

Description:

This report explores the implementation of SSPGS for the cohort entering SSPGS on July 1, 2006. The findings indicate that those who supervise and evaluate support professionals see SSPGS as a positive process that provides clear, schoolwide and districtwide expectations for evaluating personnel. As SSPGS is still a relatively new initiative for many MCPS personnel, additional guidance on evaluation models, core competencies and the professional development cycle are indicated for both supervisors and support professionals.

Recommendations:

  • Clarify expectations for supervisors to ensure that they develop their evaluation abilities. A majority of supervisors are not mandated to attend evaluator training.
  • Create an annual e-mail to all support professionals due for evaluation during the coming fiscal year, informing them of their evaluation date. Include the job description.
  • Provide support to support professionals to attend skills training and professional development programs. Identify a larger pool of substitutes who can fill in for support professionals.
  • Train evaluators in how to apply SSPGS competencies to specific job responsibilities.
  • Continue working to establish a culture in which support professionals feel comfortable having conversations with supervisors and asking questions about how to do their job.
  • Consider translating written documents about SSPGS (including the evaluation form) into additional languages.

    File Name: SSPGS Final Report _11-3-08_.pdf (340KB PDF)