Wyoming was not alone in updating its teacher evaluation systems, but it didn’t go far enough, according to a report released today by the National Council on Teaching Quality.
The report, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates and the Joyce foundations, was prepared to analyze the use of student performance data in evaluations and highlight the more ambitious state systems.
Wyoming, along with 32 states and the District of Columbia, made major changes to how schools evaluate teachers, principals and other certified personnel from 2009 to 2011.
“We’re taking big leaps forward even though there are some unanswered questions,” said Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council for Teacher Quality.
The report rightly supports annual evaluations and high-quality evaluators but goes too far in suggesting student performance data be the heaviest-weighted factor in an evaluation, said Kathryn Valido, president of the Wyoming Education Association.
Valido said the union and its members support a rigorous evaluation based on multiple measures and completed by trained evaluators.
Valido also said the evaluation should be what determines whether or not a teacher is performing adequately to keep his or her job.
The State Board of Education approved new guidelines, referred to as the Chapter 29 rules, for Wyoming school district personnel evaluations in 2010. All districts were required to review their evaluation systems and submit revisions to the state for approval.
All 48 school districts submitted evaluation systems to the Wyoming Department of Education for review earlier this year, said department spokesman Jerry Zellars.
Department staff members reviewed the systems according to attributes identified by district superintendents and other educators. Evaluators determined 23 districts met all the guidelines and 25 districts needed to make adjustments. Zellars said not all the suggested changes have been made.
The state Legislature wrote “student achievement measures” into its Teacher Accountability Act. The law also requires local school boards to review a list of all teachers determined inadequate or unsatisfactory and the measures taken toward improvement.
The report noted 18 states require evaluations to be “significantly” informed by student performance data or that student achievement and growth be the dominant factor in the evaluation. Wyoming’s guidelines require the evaluation to include student performance growth data but do not recommend how much the data should be worth.
Valido said student data will be significant in conversations between an educator and his or her evaluator, but good teachers are not only defined by numbers.
“Teaching is not only a practice, it’s an art,” Valido said. “You can’t measure that artistry of teaching with a formula.”
The report did not favor any one method of evaluating teachers, and states that allow districts to develop their evaluation systems were among those highlighted as leading the pack.
“There needs to be a state role in assisting districts that don’t have the capacity or resources to build this on their own,” Jacobs said. “To reinvent the wheel lots of times might not be very efficient or effective, especially when you’re talking about building growth models with data that comes from the state anyway.”
Wyoming officials offered two nationally recognized evaluation models that fit the guidelines. All districts are required to follow the guidelines during the 2011-12 school year.
The report, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates and the Joyce foundations, was prepared to analyze the use of student performance data in evaluations and highlight the more ambitious state systems.
Wyoming, along with 32 states and the District of Columbia, made major changes to how schools evaluate teachers, principals and other certified personnel from 2009 to 2011.
“We’re taking big leaps forward even though there are some unanswered questions,” said Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council for Teacher Quality.
The report rightly supports annual evaluations and high-quality evaluators but goes too far in suggesting student performance data be the heaviest-weighted factor in an evaluation, said Kathryn Valido, president of the Wyoming Education Association.
Valido said the union and its members support a rigorous evaluation based on multiple measures and completed by trained evaluators.
Valido also said the evaluation should be what determines whether or not a teacher is performing adequately to keep his or her job.
The State Board of Education approved new guidelines, referred to as the Chapter 29 rules, for Wyoming school district personnel evaluations in 2010. All districts were required to review their evaluation systems and submit revisions to the state for approval.
All 48 school districts submitted evaluation systems to the Wyoming Department of Education for review earlier this year, said department spokesman Jerry Zellars.
Department staff members reviewed the systems according to attributes identified by district superintendents and other educators. Evaluators determined 23 districts met all the guidelines and 25 districts needed to make adjustments. Zellars said not all the suggested changes have been made.
The state Legislature wrote “student achievement measures” into its Teacher Accountability Act. The law also requires local school boards to review a list of all teachers determined inadequate or unsatisfactory and the measures taken toward improvement.
The report noted 18 states require evaluations to be “significantly” informed by student performance data or that student achievement and growth be the dominant factor in the evaluation. Wyoming’s guidelines require the evaluation to include student performance growth data but do not recommend how much the data should be worth.
Valido said student data will be significant in conversations between an educator and his or her evaluator, but good teachers are not only defined by numbers.
“Teaching is not only a practice, it’s an art,” Valido said. “You can’t measure that artistry of teaching with a formula.”
The report did not favor any one method of evaluating teachers, and states that allow districts to develop their evaluation systems were among those highlighted as leading the pack.
“There needs to be a state role in assisting districts that don’t have the capacity or resources to build this on their own,” Jacobs said. “To reinvent the wheel lots of times might not be very efficient or effective, especially when you’re talking about building growth models with data that comes from the state anyway.”
Wyoming officials offered two nationally recognized evaluation models that fit the guidelines. All districts are required to follow the guidelines during the 2011-12 school year.
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