What will be the format for entering teachers' evaluations?

[ders_dad]

DS and I met with his career counselor this morning to kick-off his application process. We were happy to hear that his math and english teachers are both known to give excellent recommendations. The counselor said DS should talk to his teachers now (March) and give them the resume packet he has developed (1-page professional resume and a series of paragraphs that each elaborate on his ECs, goals, and why he wants to go to SA - also, a copy of the Class of 2021 profile). Counselor understands that teachers will be contacted by USNA to provide evaluation electronically after applications open up.

DS wants to give his teachers a heads-up on the format for the evaluation. Are they a series of "short answers" or will teachers be able to elaborate (by copy and pasting into evaluation)? DS would like to ask them to write letters for MOC noms and tell them that they will be able to cut and paste, as appropriate, from those letters into USNA evaluations. Also, does anyone know if the teacher evaluation approach is similar for USAFA? (I think they require a science or history teacher rec in addition to math and english, but I could be wrong - we need to get a good matrix set up for all these moving parts and timelines.

 

[Kierkegaard]

You'll be able to do that. The evaluation consists first of a questionaire where it asks them to rate the candidate's academic aptitude, work ethic, trustworthiness, etc. There is then a box where they are free to write remarks, where they could paste in contents from a letter of recommendation.

 

[THParent]

USNA asks only for a Math Teacher Recommendation and an English Teacher Recommendation.

The required Application Documents section list is as follows;
Personal Data Record (Submit Online)
Candidate Fitness Assessment (Submit Online)
Candidate Activities Record (Submit Online)
English Teacher Recommendation
Math Teacher Recommendation (Guidance Counselor)
Candidate Academic Recommendation
High School Transcript
College Transcript (if he's in High School, this will be marked 'N/A")
Commanding Officer Recommendation (Unless he is already active duty, this will be marked 'N/A")

 

[falconchic88]

The recommendations will be electronic. Your DS will put their emails into the system once his portal opens, then USNA will send them an email requesting they fill out the recommendation. I would strongly suggest having your DS get emails from his teachers that they will be checking regularly through the summer. If he uses the school email, and portal doesn't open until July, it may be until school starts in the fall before the teachers check that email.

 

[Old Navy BGO]

The Teacher "recommendations" are really more "evaluations". USNA Admissions will send an email, asking the Teachers to evaluate specific areas. This really isn't a creative writing contest, and probably not conducive to a cut and paste approach.

Probably the most important thing to tell the Teachers is when to expect the email from Admissions, and to check their SPAM/Junk mail folders if the email is not received. I have seen and heard of issues gettting the email through.

 

[THParent]

And how. USNA email is notorious for ending up in the Junk/SPAM abyss of many High School EMail servers.
It is best to ask your teachers to provide a personal EMail address (which they use at home, but they can check when at school) for you to input in the CIS portal. This was especially important for my DS when he was trying to get his CFA stats uploaded from his Coach. Two weeks went by, with more than one "reset" required (to put in an alternate EMail address) before his coach was able to upload the data.

 

[ders_dad]

The Teacher "recommendations" are really more "evaluations". USNA Admissions will send an email, asking the Teachers to evaluate specific areas. This really isn't a creative writing contest, and probably not conducive to a cut and paste approach.

Probably the most important thing to tell the Teachers is when to expect the email from Admissions, and to check their SPAM/Junk mail folders if the email is not received. I have seen and heard of issues gettting the email through.

Having no access to the application, can someone indicate what specific areas/questions are asked for in these evaluations?

 

[Old Navy BGO]

And how. USNA email is notorious for ending up in the Junk/SPAM abyss of many High School EMail servers.

I'm sure there are people who are a lot more tech savvy than I am, well perhaps everybody .... but there is something in the DOD servers that doesn't play well with us mere mortals. I get a warning about security everytime I try to log onto the BGO system

Having no access to the application, can someone indicate what specific areas/questions are asked for in these evaluations?

I don't believe I've ever seen the actual form, and perhaps no one else but the teacher has seen it -- but it is in essence an evaluation of how well the student is prepared to handle rigorouse college level academics, and perhaps observations about the students demeanor and leadership in the school.

The truth is., specific areas or questions are probably not important at this point -- I would suspect that the teachers have already established their opinions on how DS (or any other candidate) performs or is perceived by this time in their high school career. These are the things that people who are interested in Service Academies should keep in mind very early in their HS career. While most USNA awareness programs, like OPINFO , NASS and College Fairs are targeted at HS Juniors, much of the record is established or in the works well before that. Thats why I often encourage my OPINFO Midshipman to try to visit their old Middle School, when they have a better chance to help shape the candidates' record.

 

[THParent]

...While most USNA awareness programs, like OPINFO , NASS and College Fairs are targeted at HS Juniors, much of the record is established or in the works well before that. That's why I often encourage my OPINFO Midshipmen to try to visit their old Middle School, when they have a better chance to help shape the candidates' record...

The Middle School angle is genius.
By the time my DS was in Middle School - he already had a plan to attend USNA - although no one had attempted to "recruit" him.
Since the Academy only looks at those first six (6) semester grades (9th grade through 11th grade), it makes perfect sense to talk to these kids in 8th grade.