EDU-23-11-00006-A Annual Professional Performance Reviews for Classroom Teachers and Building Principals

6/13/12 N.Y. St. Reg. EDU-23-11-00006-A

NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

VOLUME XXXIV, ISSUE 24

June 13, 2012

RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

NOTICE OF ADOPTION

 

I.D No. EDU-23-11-00006-A

Filing No. 486

Filing Date. May. 29, 2012

Effective Date. Jun. 13, 2012

Annual Professional Performance Reviews for Classroom Teachers and Building Principals

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following action:

Action taken:

Amendment of section 100.2(o); and addition of Subpart 30-2 to Title 8 NYCRR.

Statutory authority:

Education Law, sections 101 (not subdivided), 207 (not subdivided), 215 (not subdivided), 305(1) and (2), and 3012-c(1)-(9), as added by L. 2010, ch. 103 and amended by L. 2012, ch. 21

Subject:

Annual professional performance reviews for classroom teachers and building principals.

Purpose:

Establish standards and criteria for conducting annual professional performance reviews of classroom teachers and building principal.

Substance of final rule:

The Commissioner of Education proposes to amend section 100.2(o) of the Commissioner's Regulations and add a new Subpart 30-2 to the Rules of the Board of Regents, to implement Education Law section 3012-c, as added by Chapter 103 of the Laws of 2010 and as amended by Chapter 21of the Laws of 2012 (S.6732/ A.9554), by establishing standards and criteria for conducting annual professional performance reviews of classroom teachers and building principals employed by school districts and boards of cooperative educational services.

The following is a summary of the substance of the revised proposed rule.

Section 100.2(o) is amended to clarify that classroom teachers who are not subject to the provisions of Education Law section 3012-c in the 2011-2012 school year must still comply with the existing annual professional performance review set forth in section 100.2(o). A new provision was also added to section 100.2(o) to require that beginning July 1, 2011, all building principals that are not required to be evaluated under Education Law § 3012-c must be evaluated on an annual basis based on a plan agreed to by the building principal and the governing body of the school district or BOCES.

A new Subpart 30-2 is added to the Rules of the Board of Regents to establish requirements for the new annual professional performance review (APPR) system established by Education Law section 3012-c.

Section 30-2.1 sets forth applicability provisions. For the 2011-2012 school year, school districts shall ensure that the APPR of all classroom teachers of common branch subjects or English language arts or mathematics in grades four to eight, and of all building principals of schools in which such teachers are employed, are conducted in accordance with the requirements of section 3012-c and Subpart 30-2; and that reviews of classroom teachers and building principals (other than classroom teachers in the common branch subjects or English language arts (ELA) or mathematics in grades four to eight) are conducted in accordance with section 100.2(o) of the Commissioner's regulations.

For an APPR conducted in the 2012-2013 school year and thereafter, the school district or BOCES shall ensure that the reviews of all classroom teachers and building principals are conducted in accordance with the requirements of section 3012-c and Subpart 30-2. However, nothing shall be construed to preclude a school district or BOCES from adopting an APPR for the 2011-2012 school year that applies to all classroom teachers and building principals in accordance with this Subpart or for BOES, for classroom teachers of common branch subjects or English language arts or mathematics in grades four to eight and all building principals in which such teachers are employed.

The section also provides that nothing in Subpart 30-2 shall abrogate any conflicting provisions of any collective bargaining agreement in effect on July 1, 2010 during the term of such agreement and until the entry into a successor collective bargaining agreement, at which time the provisions in Subpart 30-2 will apply.

This section further provides that nothing shall be construed to affect the statutory rights of a school district or BOCES to terminate a probationary teacher or principal for statutorily and constitutionally permissible reasons other than the performance of the teacher or principal in the classroom or school, including but not limited to misconduct.

Section 30-2.2 provides definitions for certain terms used in the Subpart.

Section 30-2.3 sets forth the content requirements for APPR plans submitted under Subpart 30-2. By September 1, 2011, each school district shall adopt an APPR plan for its classroom teachers of common branch subjects, ELA or mathematics in grades four to eight and building principals of schools in which such teachers are employed. By July 1, 2012, each school district/BOCES shall adopt and submit an APPR plan to the Commissioner for approval, on a form prescribed by the Commissioner, which may be an annual or multi-year plan, for the APPR of all of its classroom teachers and building principals. The Commissioner shall be required to approve or reject the plan by September 1, 2012. To the extent that by July 1, 2012 or by July 1 of any subsequent year, any of the items required to be included in the plan are not finalized by such date, as a result of unresolved collective bargaining negotiations, the entire plan shall be submitted to the Commissioner upon resolution of its terms.

Section 30-2.4 sets forth requirements for evaluating classroom teachers of common branch subjects, ELA or mathematics in grades four to eight for the 2011-2012 school year. 20 points of the evaluation will be based on student growth on State assessments or other comparable measures and 20 points will be based on locally selected measures as described in the section. 60 points of the evaluation will be based on multiple measures of teacher and principal effectiveness as described in this section. A teacher's performance must be assessed based on a teacher practice rubric(s) approved by the Department. A principal's performance must be assessed based on an approved principal practice rubric. Provision is made for granting a variance for use of existing rubrics. At least 31 of the 60 points for teachers shall be based on multiple classroom observations. At least 31 of the 60 points for principals shall be based on a broad assessment of the principal's leadership and management actions by the principal's supervisor or a trained independent evaluator. This section also prescribes options for any remaining points of the 60 points.

Section 30-2.5 sets forth requirements for evaluating all classroom teachers and building principals for the 2012-2013 school year and thereafter. The section explains how the requirements for the State assessment and locally selected measures subcomponents will differ, including the points assigned for each subcomponent, depending on whether the Board of Regents has approved a value-added growth model for particular grades, courses. This section also describes the options that may be used for the State assessment subcomponent for non-tested subjects, the options for locally selected measures and the other measures of teacher and principal effectiveness.

Section 30-2.6 describes the procedures for scoring and rating the evaluations, including a requirement that the rating category ("Highly Effective", "Effective", "Developing", or "Ineffective") assigned to teacher and building principal is determined by a single composite effectiveness score that is calculated based on the scores received by the teacher or principal in each of the subcomponents. This section prescribes specific scoring ranges for each rating category for the State assessment subcomponent and the locally selected measures subcomponent and the overall rating categories.

Section 30-2.7 describes the criteria and approval process for teacher and principal practice rubrics to be used in the evaluation of teachers and building principals.

Section 30-2.8 describes the criteria and approval process for student assessments to be used in the evaluation of teachers and building principals.

Section 30-2.9 describes requirements for the training of evaluators and the training and certification of lead evaluators.

Section 30-2.10 describes requirements for teacher and principal improvement plans.

Section 30-2.11 describes requirements for appeals procedures through which an evaluated teacher or principal may challenge their APPR and provides that appeals must be timely and expeditious.

Section 30-2.12 provides that the Department will annually monitor and analyze trends and patterns in teacher and principal evaluation results and data to identify districts, BOCES and/or schools where evidence suggests that a more rigorous evaluation system is needed to improve educator effectiveness and student learning outcomes. A school, district or BOCES identified by the Department may be highlighted in public reports and/or the Commissioner may order a corrective action plan, which may include, but not be limited to, a requirement that the school district or BOCES arrange for additional professional development, provide in-service training and/or utilize independent trained evaluators to review the efficacy of the evaluation system, where appropriate.

Final rule as compared with last published rule:

Nonsubstantial changes were made in section 30-2.5(d)(1).

Revised rule making(s) were previously published in the State Register on

April 11, 2012.

Text of rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:

Mary Gammon, NYS Education Department, Office of Counsel, 89 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12234, [phone], email: [e-mail]

Revised Regulatory Impact Statement

Since publication of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the State Register on April 11, 2012, the following nonsubstantial revisions were made to the proposed rule:

Section 30-2.5(d)(1)(iv)(a) of the Rules of the Board of Regents was amended to add "and/or" after this clause to clarify that it is one of four options.

The above revisions do not require any further changes to the previously published Regulatory Impact Statement.

Revised Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

Since publication of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the State Register on April 11, 2012, nonsubstantial revisions were made to the proposed rule, as described in the Statement Concerning the Regulatory Impact Statement submitted herewith.

The revisions do not require any further changes to the previously published Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for Small Businesses and Local Government.

Revised Rural Area Flexibility Analysis

Since publication of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the State Register on April 11, 2012, nonsubstantial revisions were made to the proposed rule, as described in the Statement Concerning the Regulatory Impact Statement submitted herewith.

The revisions do not require any further changes to the previously published Rural Area Flexibility Analysis.

Revised Job Impact Statement

Since publication of a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the State Register on April 11, 2012, nonsubstantial revisions have been made to the proposed rule as described in the Revised Regulatory Impact Statement published herewith. The proposed amendment establishes the requirements for annual professional performance reviews of classroom teachers and building principals to implement section 3012-c of the Education Law, as amended by Chapter 21 of the Laws of 2012. The proposed revised rule will not have an adverse impact on jobs or employment opportunities. Because it is evident from the nature of the rule that it will have a positive impact, or no impact, on jobs or employment opportunities, no further steps were needed to ascertain those facts and none were taken. Accordingly, a job impact statement is not required and one has not been prepared.

Assessment of Public Comment

Since publication of a Notice of Revised Rule Making in the State Register on April 11, 2012, the State Education Department received the following comments.

1. COMMENT:

Section 30-2.5(d)(1)(iv) of the Commissioner's regulations lists four options for the any remaining points of the 60 points for classroom teachers for 2012-2013. As a matter of clarity, the commenter requested that "and/or" be inserted after 30-2.5(d)(1)(iv)(a).

DEPARTMENT RESPONSE:

The Department has revised the regulation to insert "and/or" for clarity.

2. COMMENT:

Education Law section 3012-c(2)(h)(5) details the remaining points applicable to other measures of principal performance for the 2012-2013 school year after meeting the requirement that a majority of the 60 points be based upon a broad assessment of the principal's leadership and management. Phrasing of that provision as the option for the "remaining portion of the 60 points" in the legislation includes "in addition to the requirements of subparagraph 3 of this paragraph" at least two other sources of evidence from a list of options. Subparagraph 3, however, pertains to the points applicable to teachers and, therefore, it is unclear as how this is to be utilized when making a determination as to the allocation of the remaining 60 points. The commenter notes that the regulations do not contain that phrasing and ask that if this phrasing was inserted inadvertently, clarification should be issued.

DEPARTMENT RESPONSE:

As the commenter notes, subparagraph 3 refers to requirements for classroom teachers and not building principals. Therefore, the regulation does not contain this language because the Department believes that the legislation inadvertently references to subparagraph 3 instead of subparagraph 4.

3. COMMENT: Education Law section 3012-c(2)(j)(3) and section 30-2.6(d)(5) obligate the superintendent, district superintendent or chancellor and the president of the collective bargaining representative (where one exists) to jointly certify in its APPR plan that the process will use the narrative descriptions for the standards for the scoring ranges provided in the Commissioner's regulations to effectively differentiate a teacher or principal's performance. The commenter requests clarification that the joint certification is explicitly limited to the use of the narrative descriptions and is not a certification as to any other aspects of the APPR plan.

DEPARTMENT RESPONSE:

The superintendent, district superintendent or chancellor and the president of the collective bargaining representative (where one exists) must sign off on the entire APPR plan, including any certifications in the APPR plan, which include a certification that the school district or BOCES will use the narrative descriptions provided in the statute and regulation.