Morgan: Cobb Schools to Unveil New Evaluation Tool

Parents will soon see large signs with grades in the windows of their children’s schools. The signs will be similar to those posted in restaurants with health scores.

Cobb school board member David Morgan told about 35 constituents about the new evaluation model at his first monthly town hall meeting of the school year on Saturday at .

Morgan said every district school would have one number reflecting its overall score, which reflects its performance in specific areas. Just like the health scores posted in restaurants, beneath the overall score will be the school's scores in various areas. This one-page evaluation will be available to parents and will be rolled out this school year, Morgan said.

“Test scores will be part of it, but that won’t be the end-all, be-all,” Morgan said. “You need to have a deep analysis of that one school.”

As part of the evaluation, the school’s leadership will be observed and evaluators will “pop up at the school unannounced,” Morgan said.

Schools will also be graded on how the evaluations have been used to improve. Each school has a “data team,” which evaluates the performance data– test scores, grades, retention of information– of their students to drive instruction.

A man who teaches gifted students at an Austell middle school said, “I’m not comfortable with some of the powers that be coming in and telling you what you need to change,” especially if students have not improved while that person has been at the helm. He said he was concerned about subjectivity.

Morgan admitted that as humans, subjectivity is inevitable, but he hopes that the school district can “lay out to the public the training and rigor the evaluator went through.” 

He understands that there could be some backlash to this evaluation model. “It’s like taking something and tearing it off so you can see how ugly the wound can be.”

If the district’s evaluations come back “too rosy,” Morgan said they will consider hiring an outside third-party firm to evaluate the schools.

In addition to the restaurant score-model, Morgan is proposing the district implement “accountability triggers,” which would allow school board members, parents and school officials to see red flags of schools that are experiencing achievement, leadership or other problems. Schools with red flags would be placed on a certain plan to help get it back on track.

Imagine Mableton's charter: Also, at the Saturday meeting, Morgan reiterated many of the issues he discussed at the Imagine Mableton town hall on Thursday. The school’s fate will be decided at the Cobb Board of Education meeting on Sept. 29 when the board members vote to approve or reject the school’s charter petition.

Morgan said he will not vote to renew the school’s charter because he felt the school failed to meet the goals laid out in its charter.

“I have no clue” how the other board members will vote, he said.

Morgan also said he is working to make the Cobb County School District one that is more welcoming to charter schools, which receive about $6,200 per student to the $8,700 spent on each CCSD student. Morgan said that is "fundamentally unfair."

Other issues discussed:

• The South Cobb area schools are set to be redistricted due to the new and replacement schools being built in Austell, Mableton and Smyrna. Morgan said the next redistricting meeting will take place in October.

• Morgan discussed a plan for a superintendent evaluation, which would check the superintendent’s performance on various issues at varying times.