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Teacher Assessments · Professional

Teacher assessment software for South African preschools and ECD centres

One teacher at a time, any time in any term. The school, the teacher herself, and a colleague each score the same scorecard without seeing each other's numbers. The result seals itself, the feedback meeting goes on the record, both sides sign, and the report files itself - with POPIA duties handled from the first click. Included in the Professional plan at no extra cost.

  • School, self and peer assessment on one scorecard, chosen per teacher, per assessment
  • Blind scoring on a named 1-to-4 scale - nobody sees a number until the result seals
  • Signed reports with the teacher's own comment, plus POPIA corrections, holds and retention built in
EarlyTrack teacher assessment dashboard on a tablet showing progress counters and completed assessments with score badges for a South African preschool

Most teacher appraisals are one person's opinion on a photocopied form, and they collapse the day anyone questions them

A form photocopied from another school
One person's opinion, one sitting
The teacher sees it after the fact
Nothing signed, nothing dated
When it matters, nothing stands up

Almost every preschool means to assess its teachers. What actually happens, in most South African ECD centres, is a form borrowed from another school, filled in by one person, in one sitting, once a year if the year is not too busy. The teacher hears about the outcome afterwards, sometimes in passing. Nothing is signed. The form goes into a file, or a drawer, or nowhere.

That works until the day it has to work. A performance conversation turns difficult, and the appraisal is the school's only evidence of what was said, when, and what help was offered. A one-sided, unsigned form with no date does not defend anybody - not the school, and not the teacher. Labour disputes are decided on records, and this record proves nothing except that a form once existed.

It is not fair on the teacher either. One person's mood on one morning becomes her rating for the year. She has no structured way to score herself, no colleague's view to balance the principal's, no place to put her own side of the story, and no signature confirming she ever saw the result.

And staff assessments are personal information under POPIA. A teacher has the right to ask what the school holds about her and to demand correction of what she believes is wrong. Very few schools have any way to honour those requests, restrict a disputed record while it is being decided, or prove who has seen it.

None of this is bad faith. It is what happens when a fair process, with its scoring rules, signatures, disputes and retention duties, is run on a photocopied form.

Three perspectives, one sealed result, one signed report

EarlyTrack turns a teacher assessment into a process instead of a form: more than one honest view of the same teacher, scored blind against the same standard, discussed face to face, and signed by both sides.

Choose who scores

The school, the teacher herself, a colleague she works with - any or all of the three, chosen per assessment. Nothing is pre-ticked for you.

Everyone scores blind

The same items, the same named 1-to-4 scale, from each person's own login. Nobody sees anybody else's numbers until the last person submits.

Discuss, sign, file

The result seals itself. You record the feedback meeting, the teacher adds her own comment and signs, the school signs, and the PDF is filed - audited.

Everything a fair teacher assessment needs, nothing it does not

Eight pieces that carry an assessment from "we should really do these" to a signed report the school can stand behind.

Starting one

Start an assessment in under a minute

Pick the teacher, tick who assesses her, set a due date, start. The three assessment types are spelled out in plain language on the screen, so nobody has to know the system to use it. Everyone you tick is notified immediately.

School, self and peer - any or all, per assessment
Type-ahead pickers for the teacher and the colleague
A due date on the record, with overdue tracked for you
A teacher can never be her own peer
Starting a teacher assessment in EarlyTrack with three assessment types explained in plain language: the school assesses, teacher self-assessment, and peer assessment
The scorecard

A scorecard your school owns, in both languages

EarlyTrack ships a ready-made, NCF-aligned teacher scorecard. Copy it, reword items, add your own, adjust the section weights, and publish your school's version. History keeps every version it was scored against.

Weighted sections that always total 100%
Items in English and Afrikaans, side by side
Publishing affects new assessments only
Retire a card without losing its history
EarlyTrack teacher assessment scorecard library with an editable NCF-aligned scorecard for a South African preschool
Scoring

Blind scoring on a scale everyone understands

One item at a time, four named levels, and a "What good looks like" description under every item so the school, the teacher and her colleague all score against the same picture - not against their mood.

1 Needs urgent support, 2 Developing, 3 Meets the standard, 4 Strong practice
"Does not apply to this teacher" instead of a forced number
Progress shown as you go - no lost work
The sheet locks for good on submit
Blind scoring a teacher assessment item in EarlyTrack on a named 1 to 4 scale with What good looks like guidance
Progress

Everyone knows whose turn it is

A banner tells each person when it is their turn to score, and the dashboard counts what is in progress, what is waiting for signatures, and what is overdue. Teachers see only their own records - never anybody else's.

"It is your turn" banners you cannot miss
Assessed this year, in progress, awaiting sign-off, overdue
Reassign, finalise or close a stalled assessment, with a reason
Strict privacy: a teacher sees her own record only
EarlyTrack teacher assessment dashboard with your-turn banners and progress counters for in-progress teacher assessments
The result

The result seals itself - then everyone sees the same truth

The moment the last assessor submits, the result seals: a band, the per-assessment breakdown, and the final score out of 100. Nobody can nudge a number afterwards. Completed records carry their score right on the card.

School, self and peer scores shown side by side
Strongest areas and areas to work on, named
Score badge and status on every completed card
Sealed means sealed - corrections attach alongside, never overwrite
A sealed teacher assessment result in EarlyTrack showing the band, school, self and peer scores and the final score out of 100
Sign-off

A recorded conversation and real signatures

Record when you met and what was discussed. The teacher adds her own comment - nobody at the school can edit or delete it - then acknowledges with a drawn signature, or declines, which is recorded just as honestly. The school signs the same way.

Feedback meeting on the record, not in someone's memory
Drawn signatures stamped with who signed and when
Paper route: print, sign with a witness, upload the scan
PDF report: management-only download, every download audited
Teacher assessment feedback conversation and signing off in EarlyTrack with the teacher's protected comment and drawn signatures
On her phone

The teacher's own phone is enough

She scores herself from her own login, and if sharing is on she reads her own report there too - the same band, sections and score that management sees. Nothing about her is decided on a screen she cannot see.

Self-assessment from her own login, on any device
Sharing her report is a school setting, not an accident
Her comment travels with the report, permanently
Fully responsive - phone, tablet or desktop
A teacher reading her own sealed assessment result on her phone in EarlyTrack, showing the band and final score
Safeguards

POPIA safeguards you do not have to remember

A teacher can ask to see her record or challenge it. The moment she challenges it, the record is restricted automatically - no sharing, no download, no employment decisions - until the school decides the request and notifies everyone who already saw it.

Correction requests restrict the record automatically
Access requests, answered on the record
Retention rules, plus holds that block deletion during a dispute
A confidential concerns channel, visible only to the responsible person
EarlyTrack teacher assessment settings showing assessment types, report sharing and record retention rules for POPIA compliance

From switched on to signed report

1
Turn it on and set your rules
Choose which assessment types your school uses, whether teachers see their own reports, and how long records are kept.
2
Make the scorecard yours
Copy the NCF-aligned card, edit items and weights, and publish your school's version in English and Afrikaans.
3
Start an assessment
Pick the teacher, tick who assesses her, set a due date. Everyone involved is notified the moment you start.
4
Everyone scores blind
Each assessor works through the same items on the named 1-to-4 scale, from their own login, seeing nobody else's numbers.
5
The result seals and you meet
The last submission seals the result. You sit down with the teacher and record the meeting on the record itself.
6
Sign, file, stand behind it
She comments and signs, the school signs, and the PDF report is filed - with every view and download audited.

Fair from every side of the table

The principal

A defensible development process without the paperwork: structured scoring, sealed results, a recorded conversation and a signed report, all without chasing anyone.

The teacher

Her own structured self-assessment, a colleague's view beside the school's, her own words on the record, and rights over her record that the system enforces - not promises.

The owner or governing body

Evidence that teacher development actually happens: who was assessed, when, with what outcome, and what support was agreed - across every teacher, every year.

Built for the day somebody questions the record

Blind by design, not by policy

No assessor can see another assessor's numbers while scoring - the system does not show them, to anyone, until the result seals. Fairness is enforced, not requested.

Sealed results never change

Once the result seals, no score can be edited by anybody. If a correction is agreed later, it is attached beside the original - the original is never overwritten.

Every look at a record is on the record

Views and downloads of a result are written to an audit trail with the person's name and the time. If a record was shared, the school can prove exactly who saw it.

POPIA rights are enforced by the system

Access requests, correction requests with automatic restriction of the disputed record, notices to everyone who already saw it, and lawful retention with dispute holds - built in, not bolted on.

Signatures that mean something

Acknowledging and signing are separate, deliberate acts, stamped with the person and the time - and declining to sign is recorded with the same honesty.

English and Afrikaans throughout

The interface and the scorecard items run in both languages, so every assessor scores in the language they teach in.

Teacher assessment FAQs

The basics
Yes. The Teacher Assessments module runs structured teacher assessments - school, self and peer scoring on one scorecard, blind results, feedback meetings, signatures and a filed PDF report. It is part of the Professional plan, alongside Staff Management and Leave Management.
Up to three assessments per teacher: the school (an admin or principal), the teacher herself, and a colleague she works with. You choose any or all of the three per assessment - nothing is pre-selected, so each assessment is a deliberate decision.
No. Scoring is blind by design. Nobody sees anybody else's numbers while scoring, and no result exists until the last assessor submits - at that moment the result seals and the band, breakdown and final score appear for everyone entitled to see them.
A plain 1-to-4 scale with named anchors: 1 Needs urgent support, 2 Developing, 3 Meets the standard, 4 Strong practice - plus "Does not apply to this teacher". Every item carries a "What good looks like" description so all three assessors score against the same picture.
The scorecard
Yes. EarlyTrack ships a ready-made, NCF-aligned teacher scorecard. Copy it, reword or add items, adjust the section weights (they always total 100%), and publish your school's version. Publishing affects new assessments only - completed records keep the exact version they were scored against.
Yes. The interface runs in English and Afrikaans, and scorecard items carry both languages, so every assessor scores in the language they teach in. See bilingual support for how this works across the whole platform.
The teacher's side
That is a school setting. With sharing on, she opens her own report from her own login - the same band, sections and score that management sees - and can add her own comment before acknowledging. With sharing off, the result is discussed in the feedback meeting instead.
Three protections, all recorded: she can comment in her own words on the report, and nobody at the school can edit or delete that comment; she can decline to sign, which is recorded honestly; and under POPIA she can request a correction, which automatically restricts the record - no sharing, no downloads, no employment decisions - until the school decides the request.
Yes. Scoring works in any browser on any shared device, and for sign-off the school can record an assisted paper acknowledgement: print the report, let her read and sign on paper with a witness present, and upload a scan of the signed page.
Compliance and the record
The module is built around POPIA duties for staff records: access requests, correction requests with automatic restriction, notices to everyone who already saw a corrected record, retention rules, retention holds during disputes, and an audit trail of every view and download.
Yes. The teacher acknowledges with a drawn signature and the school signs the same way, both stamped with who signed and when. The PDF report can then be downloaded by management only, and every download is recorded.
Teacher Assessments is on the Professional plan, with the rest of the staff family. The 14-day free trial gives you full Professional access - no credit card required - so you can run a real assessment before paying anything.

Run teacher growth on the same platform as everything else

Assessments, attendance, incidents, leave and fees in one system - so a teacher's development record lives where the rest of her working life already does.

Full Professional access for 14 days. No credit card required.

Start your free 14-day trial