Teacher Evaluation Models (LD 1799)

INFORMATIONAL LETTER: 113
POLICY CODE: BJA

TO: Superintendents of Schools; Principals; Curriculum Coordinators
FROM: Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner of Education
DATE: April 14, 2010
RE: Teacher Evaluation Models (LD 1799)

This letter provides information regarding the passage and implementation of LD 1799, An Act to Encourage the Use of Models in the Collection and Use of Student Achievement Data, now Public Law, Chapter 646.

Please share this letter with principals, curriculum coordinators, teachers and other school personnel, as appropriate.

As many of you already know, the Legislature has passed and the Governor has signed LD 1799, An Act to Encourage the Use of Models in the Collection and Use of Student Achievement Data, now Public Law, Chapter 646. This law removes the prohibition that previously existed in law against linking state student achievement data to teacher and principal evaluations and will become effective on July 12, 2010. This means that school administrative units (SAUs) may consider using student achievement data, as one of multiple measures, in teacher and principal evaluations. If they choose to do so, they may only use one of the models developed by the Department and approved by a stakeholder group according to the provisions of LD 1799.

In order to meet the requirement of the federal Race to the Top competition that states have no barriers to such linkages and the June 1, 2010 deadline for submitting the application, Governor Baldacci today signed Executive Order #11, An Order to Convene Stakeholders to Begin Reviewing Evaluation Models that Meet Federal Race to the Top Criteria.

In the order, he directs the Department to convene the stakeholders group defined in LD 1799 as quickly as possible and to work toward approval of at least one model for the evaluation of professional performance of teachers and principals that includes student achievement data. This group, by law, is comprised of a representative of the Maine School Boards Association, the Maine Principals’ Association, the Maine Education Association, the Maine School Superintendents Association and the Maine Administrators of Services for Children with Disabilities.

The models developed by the Department and approved by the stakeholders group will be available to SAUs that participate with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) as part of Maine’s Race to the Top application. While the MOUs must be signed in May, SAUs will have 90 days from the date the U.S. Department of Education approves Maine’s application to choose an evaluation model from among the model(s) developed by the Department and approved by the stakeholders group. The Governor has asked for at least one model to be approved by May 14. Additional models may be developed and approved by the stakeholders group after May 14. It is essential for Maine’s Race to the Top application that we have at least one approved model available to SAUs before June 1, when our application is due so that Attorney General Janet Mills can sign an assurance that Maine does not have barriers to linking student achievement data to teacher or principal evaluations.

Because of this order, and because of the short time frame to submit Maine’s grant application in the Race to the Top Application, we are soliciting recommendations for teacher and principal evaluation models that include student achievement data as one of multiple measures.

We are interested in hearing about models your SAUs are using, considering, or would like to use, as well as comments, suggestions and recommendations regarding models you may be aware of from other states or countries that should be considered as the Department develops these models.

The National Education Association has a report available online at http://tinyurl.com/yyl7fdl which outlines an excellent framework for using student achievement data that involves teachers in deciding how to account for student learning and other outcomes in evaluation, using a combination of measures so teachers feel they are being evaluated comprehensively and fairly.

We will be asking the stakeholders group to look in particular at two of the models in the report – the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) and the Framework for Teaching (FFT). We learned from our earlier survey that some SAUs in Maine are using many of the elements of the FFT model.

Your responses will allow us to build on the information gathered in December and January from SAUs when many of you submitted information for the Educator Quality and Effectiveness Survey as part of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund about the teacher and principal evaluation systems you have in place. That survey was focused on current evaluation systems, so for this phase we are especially interested in the evaluation systems you would consider now that the law has changed to allow the inclusion of student achievement data as one of multiple measures.

Please submit your suggestions and comments to: Dan Conley at Dan.Conley@Maine.gov .

Here is a link to the final version of LD 1799 as enacted into Public Law 2009, Chapter 646:
http://tinyurl.com/y3ub8yp

Below is the text of the Governor’s Executive Order:

An Order to Convene Stakeholders to Begin Reviewing Evaluation Models that Meet Federal Race to the Top Criteria

WHEREAS, the Legislature has enacted and the Governor has approved LD 1799, an Act to Encourage the Use of Models in the Collection and Use of Student Achievement Data (Public Law 2009, Chapter 626); and

WHEREAS, the legislation is part of the state’s effort to achieve reforms needed to comply with current and expected changes in federal law and to improve the State’s chances for a significant grant under the federal Race to the Top competition; and

WHEREAS, one element of necessary reform is the ability for local school units to include student achievement as one of multiple elements in the process of evaluating teachers and principals; and

WHEREAS, the application to the federal government for Race to the Top must be completed before the effective date of LD 1799; and

WHEREAS, convening stakeholders immediately to begin considering evaluation models will speed the work required in LD 1799, and will provide evidence to the federal government in evaluating Maine’s reform efforts;

NOW THEREFORE, I, John E. Baldacci, Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby order the Commissioner of the Department of Education to:

Convene a group of stakeholders, as defined in LD 1799, comprised of a representative of the Maine School Boards Association, the Maine Principals’ Association, the Maine Education Association, the Maine School Superintendents Association and the Maine Administrators of Services for Children with Disabilities; and

Lead the stakeholder group in reviewing and approving, not later than May 14, 2010 at least one model for the evaluation of professional performance of teachers and principals that meets the federal Race to the Top criteria for improving teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance.

Effective Date

The effective date of this Executive Order is April 14, 2010.

John E. Baldacci, Governor