Jeff McKenna, presenter, told the Fargo Board of Education that the district’s annual teacher evaluation, based on the Marzano framework, showed a marked increase in the share of teachers receiving the highest rating.

McKenna said the district revised the evaluation memo this year and “put a highlight … of the top maybe 8 to 10 things that you’d want to glean from that report as board members.” He singled out emphasis on pre-conference and post-conference meetings between evaluators and teachers, which he said “really allows both the evaluator and the teacher to have a deep understanding of what they’re going to see.”

The memo also calls attention to “task to target alignment,” McKenna said, explaining the term as whether instruction is at “the right level of rigor” and whether classroom activities align with tier 1 instruction. He added that the report highlights alignment between classroom practice and the district’s strategic plan.

McKenna reported that the percentage of teachers at the top level rose from 14% in 2023–24 to 24% in 2024–25. He attributed the increase to “very intentional targeted training” of evaluators and stronger inter-rater reliability: “our evaluators have been trained better and understand the model better,” he said.

Board member Greg (board member) asked whether the evaluation data should be integrated with academic growth and achievement metrics. McKenna and other administrators replied that coupling evaluation scores with academic growth and achievement is the district’s next step to determine whether higher evaluation ratings align with student outcomes.

Greg pressed on whether some teachers are being evaluated too late in the year to put them on improvement plans; McKenna and board members said timing and data-reporting lags can prevent immediate placement on formal improvement plans and that the district is reviewing how to identify and support those teachers earlier. Robin (board member) emphasized that coaching typically occurs before a formal improvement plan is issued.

The presentation closed with McKenna and administrators standing for questions; board members did not take formal action on the evaluation memo during the meeting.