The Maryland State Board of Education on April 27, agreed to publish a new regulation that will add student achievement as a substantial part of the evaluation process for both teachers and principals.
Under the proposed regulation, the student growth component of the evaluation will be 50 percent of the evaluation for both teachers and principals. The regulations, which follow the action of the Maryland General Assembly, also would set in place the use of multiple measures when evaluating educators. The evaluation would use more than one measure to determine student growth. No single criterion would account for more than 35 percent of the total performance evaluation criteria.
A stakeholder group will be brought together to determined the evaluation structure, state and local responsibilities, and the specific elements of the evaluation. Following the work of the stakeholder group and the public input on the proposed regulation, another regulation will be proposed to further define the evaluation process.
The General Assembly’s this month passed the Education Reform Act of 2010, which called for changes in the system used to evaluate educators. The proposed regulation also moves Maryland’s evaluation system in line with those spotlighted by the Obama Administration in its Race to the Top program.
“Our primary duty as a school system is to improve student learning,” said State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick. “Adding growth in student achievement to our evaluation system is a sensible approach to strengthen learning. It places children and their learning exactly where they should be: at the center of what we do in Maryland Public Schools.”
There will be no change in the current evaluation program for two years. The proposed regulations would not go into effect until the 2012-2013 school year, allowing the State time for research and development of the details of the new evaluation system. The system would be piloted in selected schools and systems before going statewide.
In addition to placing student performance as a substantial component of teacher evaluation, the proposed regulations say that the new evaluation program would include planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibility. The new principal evaluation would also include the instructional leadership outcomes set forth in the Maryland Instructional Leadership Framework.
Maryland’s system of public education has been ranked number one in the nation for two straight years by Education Week, the nation’s leading education publication, and the State has been honored countless times by national organizations over the past decade. But Dr. Grasmick said there remains critical work to be done in improving chronically underperforming schools and in reducing gaps in achievement that have long been a problem for Maryland and other diverse states.
MSDE two weeks ago unveiled its draft plan to attack those critical areas. Maryland’s Race to the Top proposal, which has been embraced by most local school systems, will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education on June 1. If approved, the State stands to receive up to $250 million dollars.
Once published, the public will have the opportunity to submit commentary on the proposed new regulation. The State Board will review the commentary before taking final action on the regulation.
Maryland’s draft Race to the Top application can by found on the MSDE’s RTTT webpage,
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