School districts will be required to use a teacher evaluation system developed by the state to gauge educator effectiveness unless they create their own system and opt out — a change from recommendations made by a state-appointed council that now has some school boards crying foul.
The state Department of Education is developing rules for teacher evaluation. An earlier draft followed guidelines from the state Educator Effectiveness Council and would have allowed districts to choose between their own systems or the state’s without having to first seek approval.
A process for opting out has not yet been developed, which, for some, is adding to the anxiety.
The state board will vote on the rules in November. The legislature will then adopt or change them during next year’s session.
Jane Urschel, deputy executive director for the Colorado Association of School Boards, questioned the change during a public hearing Tuesday, saying it does not align with the intent of Senate Bill 191, which linked student performance to teacher evaluations.
“We think the law says districts can develop their own systems with help and resources from the state,” Urschel said. “Communities want to have a say in developing, not just rubber stamping, a system of evaluation.”
The long-running discussion of the rules has at times bogged down in minutiae, but the result will be critical to teachers and principals who will one day be judged on whether students in their care are making progress.
The current draft rules also require each district to assemble a panel to advise the district about the fairness and effectiveness of the evaluation system.
“Just looking at it from a superintendent’s point of view, I have to set up this evaluation council and work with parents and work with the teachers and work with the community, just to evaluate the effectiveness of a model that’s basically handed to me?” said Douglas Bissonette, Elizabeth School District superintendent. “Why do I waste my time?”
The state evaluation system would allow districts to develop some elements, depending on their needs.
“It’s like taking you to the 80-yard line,” said Ulcca Joshi Hansen, associate director of educator effectiveness for the state Department of Education. “It only goes so far.”
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372 or yrobles@denverpost.com
