During the 2011 legislative special session, a statute requiring all teachers to be evaluated beginning in the 2014-15 school year was part of the overall compromise that ended the government shut down. The law has many specific provisions and directed MDE to create a model that will become the default process for every school district that does not have a teacher evaluation process jointly agreed to by the school board and the teacher bargaining group.
MDE assembled, in December 2011, a diverse working group of individuals who work in schools as well as those who have an interest or advocacy role in education policy. The group focuses on Growth and Evaluation Cycle Activities, Student Achievement Data, Implementation and LEA Support, Performance Standards, Student Engagement Data, and Professional Development.
What’s Needed
MREA supports the group’s efforts to create a clear, but flexible model that can be applied by districts of all sizes across the state. Key issues to consider include:
- What are the expectations for the statutorily required elements of teacher evaluation, such as qualified and trained evaluators, value-added measures of student growth, support to improve, and data on student engagement and connection?
- What role does educator evaluation play in Minnesota’s No Child Left Behind Waiver?
- What will be the costs of implementation?
- What will be the impacts on “lean” school districts with few administrative or support personnel?