Legislative Update

Testimony on Teacher/Administrator Evaluations Legislation Moves to Senate Floor

The Senate Education Committee this week moved Senate Bill 103 to the Senate floor, which is the first movement this session of legislation establishing new guidelines for teacher & administrator evaluations.  Following are the latest highlights of the legislation as passed out of committee:

• The percentage of an evaluation based on student growth and assessment data will be 25% in the 2017-2018 school year and 40% in the 2018-2019 and following school years.
• Student growth and assessment data will not be utilized until the 2017-2018 school year, in order to provide continuity and uniform data with implementation the new test in the current school year.
• School districts, ISDs, or PSAs are authorized to either utilize evaluation tools prescribed by the state or adopt their own evaluation tool provided the tool is research-based.  In either case, the tool must be utilized consistently throughout the district.
• Evaluation feedback must be given to teachers and administrators within 30 days.
• A school district, ISD, or PSA is prohibited from assigning a pupil to be taught in the same subject area for two consecutive years by a teacher who is rated ineffective.  If the school district, ISD, or PSA cannot comply, parental notification is required.
• Beginning July 1, 2018, an individual cannot receive a teaching certificate unless they complete three years of classroom teaching and were rated as effective or highly-effective for three consecutive years, or three nonconsecutive school years with recommendation from the chief school administrator, and have completed at least six semester credit hours in a planned program at an approved teacher preparation institution.
• No funding is included for evaluations.  Rather, the intent of Sen. Pavlov is for districts to make this item a priority within the foundation allowance.

Given the flexibility provided for districts to utilize their own evaluation tools and a reduction in the percentage of student growth and assessment utilized in evaluations from 45% to 40%, a number of groups supported the bill with these amendments in committee. Generally, larger districts already have evaluation frameworks in place, so the lack of funding for evaluations is a more critical issue for smaller districts.

It is important to remember that this legislation is a work in progress and will see a number of proposed amendments going forward both on the Senate floor and in the House.  MEMSPA will be working to include language in the bill that requires evaluator training in order to ensure reliability and rigor throughout the evaluation process, and we continue to advocate for funding for evaluations to ensure a degree of fairness between larger and smaller school districts.