SamTastic Weekly Tip: 8/11/25 - Automated Scheduling with Connected Events
- Jim Mercer
- Aug 11
- 2 min read
This week’s tip: Automated Scheduling with Connected Events
Dear Mark,
Thanks for your SamTastic Weekly Tip suggestion. I went ahead and scheduled all four parts of the formal evaluation system for the 52 teachers in our school. It took me three hours. Can’t you get TimeTrack to make this easier?
Thanks,
A frustrated SAM
That message from a New York City SAM led to the creation of Connected Events, an automated scheduling system in TimeTrack. It is an amazingly easy way to get the events on your TimeTrack within a date range you set and the sequence you want…and none of the events will conflict with what you’ve already scheduled. Best of all: it takes seconds, not hours.
There are two scheduling sequences for Connected Events:
Formal Evaluation: Four events in sequence: Pre-conference, Observation, Office Work to Prepare the forms, Post-Conference.
Coaching Rounds: One of more seeing instruction events followed by a feedback session.
Take-a-look at this video showing how to use Connected Events. It will save you a significant amount of time. It also removes the worry about meeting the district’s deadline for completion of formal evaluations of teachers and other staff members. Once you try it, I bet you will begin using it to schedule coaching rounds.
Finally, enjoy the comments about your work from NSIP Board member Jennifer Stapleton, below. Nice!
My name is Jennifer Stapleton. I am a NSIP Board Member and a SAM in Springfield, Illinois.
Time. Principals and teachers both say they need more time. The board spent part of the day talking about just that. The SAMS project can help improve principal and teacher practice by helping them to better use the time they have. With the amount of turnover and burnout, this process also helps with retention.
This is a huge benefit to school districts. The rubric shows that SAMS principals are in class 2 times more than non-SAMS. It also shows that SAMS Principals give 3 times more feedback. Both of these data points show that SAM principals provide improved and more effective teacher support, which is ultimately needed to increase student performance. The data points that the rubric is able to provide are eye-opening and encouraging. This process works!
To access the 2025 SAM Team Performance Report: http://bit.ly/44MbQ8t
To access the Executive Summary, 2025 SAM Team Performance Assessment: https://bit.ly/4fh2V2k
Registration for the 19th Annual National SAM Conference opens Labor Day. Go to www,SamProcess.com to register or use the direct link you will receive the day before.
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