Your Evaluation Year
A Guide for Professional Staff
Portsmouth School Department, SAU 52 | School Year 2026 to 2027
This page covers the annual timeline, goals, and the forms. Start with the Teacher Effectiveness Plan for the evaluation categories and how yours is determined.
On This Page
Your Year
The collective bargaining agreement sets the formal evaluation year as April 1 through March 31. The practical work cycle begins in September. First-year staff are the sole exception, evaluated September through June unless their plan specifies otherwise, and they move to the standard cycle in their second year.
| What varies by category is the observation activity that feeds it. Walkthrough feedback reaches you within five school days. |
| When | What happens | Who |
|---|---|---|
| By September 30 | Evaluation category confirmed for every staff member | All |
| By September 30 | PLC SMART Goal and Professional Practice Goal entered in Frontline. Firm date. | All |
| Within 60 days of the first day of school | First walkthrough complete. With a late August start this lands in late October, and the runway is deliberate so initial goal-setting conversations with new staff can happen first. | Induction, first year |
| By November 30 | Annual formal observation complete, with pre-conference and post-conference | Induction, first year |
| By November 30 | Second walkthrough with feedback complete | Induction |
| By January 31 | Third walkthrough with feedback complete | Induction |
| By February 15 | Annual walkthrough complete | Established |
| By February 15 | Annual formal observation complete, with pre-conference and post-conference | Induction |
| By March 1 | Annual written evaluations drafted | All |
| By March 31 | Evaluation year closes; signed evaluations and any written comments filed | All |
| By April 1 | New evaluation year begins | All |
Staff on a Collaborative Growth Plan or a Directed Improvement Plan follow the timeline set out in their own plan, which their administrator reviews with them directly.
Goals
Your PLC SMART Goal and your Professional Practice Goal go into Frontline, the same place as always, by September 30. That is roughly two weeks earlier than past practice, and the date is firm.
The reason for moving it is that your goals now shape what an administrator looks for when they visit. If your goal is deeper questioning, that is the lens brought into your room, and the feedback you receive is about the thing you actually care about rather than whatever happened to catch an observer's eye. For that to work, goals have to exist before walkthrough season begins.
Nothing else about the goal process changed, and nothing is entered twice. Goals live in Frontline. You will never be asked to copy them onto a paper form.
The self-evaluation
The self-evaluation remains where it has been, in the spring. It is a reflective exercise, and it is valuable as one. It is not an input to your written evaluation, because under an annual cycle it arrives after that document is drafted and after the evaluation year has closed. Whether that timing should change is an open question this year, and it is not one the District can settle on its own.
The Forms
Evaluations, growth plans, and improvement plans are paper this year, with wet signatures. You keep a copy of anything you sign. Originals travel to central office as they are completed.
| Form | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Form 1 | Induction Annual Evaluation. Formal observation cycle dates, walkthrough log, domain summaries, and the recommendation to continue on Induction or move to Established. |
| Form 2 | Established Annual Evaluation. The annual walkthrough, confirmation that goals are on file, domain summaries, and the recommendation to remain Established or to open a Collaborative Growth Plan. |
| Form 3 | Collaborative Growth Plan. Opens the plan. The first field records which door the plan came through, staff-requested or supervisor-assigned, because that determines whether a two-year cap applies. Then the single area of focus, collaboratively set goals, District support, and the timeline. |
| Form 4 | Collaborative Growth Plan Evaluation. Closes each cycle: observations conducted, progress, and the determination. |
| Form 5 | Directed Improvement Plan. Opens the plan: basis for entry, District-directed goals and goalposts, and the observation plan. |
| Form 6 | Directed Improvement Plan Evaluation. Concludes the plan: observation record, progress against goalposts, and the determination. |
| Form 7 | Walkthrough and Observation Notes. An optional capture tool for in-the-moment notes. It stays in the building and never enters the personnel file. |
Questions
Is this more work for me?
The goal deadline moved earlier. Otherwise the work asked of you is what it has always been. The change is that you receive more feedback for it.
Do I need to enter my goals anywhere besides Frontline?
No. Goals live in Frontline and are entered once. The paper forms confirm that goals are on file; they do not ask you to restate them.
What if I am on a Collaborative Growth Plan or a Directed Improvement Plan? Does this timeline apply to me?
Your plan sets its own timeline, and your administrator reviews it with you directly. The dates above describe the ordinary Induction and Established cycles.
Continue
- Teacher Effectiveness Plan: why this changed, key terms, and the four evaluation categories.
- Your Rights and Status: probationary status, continuing contract, and your rights.