More than 50,000 teachers in 50 school districts across the state will pilot a new teacher evaluation system this year, aimed at providing more feedback for the state’s educators.

Teacher Keys will evaluate teachers under 10 standards, including professional knowledge, instructional strategies, professionalism, communication and assessment strategies. Both Gainesville and Hall school systems piloted the program last year.

Under the old model, teachers were issued either a “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory” rating following a 10 to 15 minute observation session from an administrator.

“The beauty of this system is that’s not the end of it,” said Priscilla Collins, who is heading the implementation for Gainesville schools. “Once you get your rating, typically in the past, you just carry on business as usual. What this system does, actually, is provide you with feedback so you can get better and student learning can increase.”

Collins said the city school system has been using “Class Keys” for the last three years — a similar system with 26 standards.

The change in the system was a condition under Georgia’s No Child Left Behind waiver and is slated to be fully implemented across the state by the 2014-15 school year.

“I think it’s a great feedback tool,” said Shane Rayburn, principal at Oakwood Elementary School. “The way that we are using it is trying to give effective feedback to teachers that go beyond just evaluative ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ but take a position of how we all can grow.”

Rayburn was trained on the new system last month and said it’s an improvement over the old structure.

“I think the power of it will be in how it can shape instruction,” he said. “An evaluation tool is only as good as the dialogue that happens after it.

“It only happens if we have that dialogue that’s authentic and genuine rather than saying: ‘You’re a good teacher.’”

He said administrators are now charged with providing specific feedback to teachers on both what they’re doing well and where they need to improve.

And, some teachers said, that’s a welcomed reprieve from the old system.

“I think it’s one step in the right direction on holding everyone accountable,” said Mary Welch, a third-grade teacher at Oakwood Elementary. “It doesn’t bother me. I don’t mind being held accountable to a high standard because I hold myself to one.”

But, she said, the only way the system will prove effective is if a line of clear communication is opened between evaluator and teacher.

“(There are some potential downfalls) if the feedback is not specific,” said Welch. “Because I get to first rate myself on where I think I am. So, when my administrator comes back and says: ‘Well, here you are,’ and if there are a lot of discrepancies there and you don’t provide me with the feedback, I’m not going to understand why or how to get better.”

Her school’s leader echoed similar thoughts.

“It behooves us on the administrator side of it to be very specific, authentic and genuine with the feedback or it’s no better than what we had before, honestly,” said Rayburn.

Hall County Schools pilot program last year was only on a small scale. This year, the entire system will fall under the new evaluation system.

“I think that no teacher wants to do a bad job and if they are doing a job that someone thinks is bad, just give them the feedback they need to get better,” said Collins. “I think this is the fairest way to do it.”

Since the system’s launch, however, the state has made some changes to the evaluation process, which prompted the U.S. Department of Education in July to declare Georgia at “high risk” of losing $33 million of its $400 million Race to the Top grant.

Other changes includes the state scrapping the idea of having kindergartners and first-and second-graders complete surveys on their teacher’s effectiveness.

Most of the system, however, remains intact.

“I think it could make a big difference,” said Rayburn. “It’s certainly better than anything we’ve had before.”