TITLE 6               PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

CHAPTER 69     SCHOOL PERSONNEL - PERFORMANCE

PART 8                 TEACHER AND SCHOOL LEADER EFFECTIVENESS

 

6.69.8.1                 ISSUING AGENCY:  Public Education Department (PED).

[6.69.8.1 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.1 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.2                 SCOPE:  This rule governs standards for determining and measuring teacher and school leader effectiveness.

[6.69.8.2 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.2 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.3                 STATUTORY AUTHORITY:  Sections 22-2-1, 22-2-2, 22-10A-18, 22-10A-19 and 22-10A-19.2, NMSA 1978.

[6.69.8.3 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.3 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.4                 DURATION:  Permanent.

[6.69.8.4 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.4 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.5                 EFFECTIVE DATE:  August 15, 2017 unless a later date is cited at the end of a section.

[6.69.8.5 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.5 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.6                 OBJECTIVE:  This rule establishes uniform procedures for conducting annual evaluations of licensed school employees, for setting the standards for each effectiveness level, for measuring and implementing student achievement growth, and for monitoring each school district’s implementation of its teacher and school leader effectiveness evaluation system.  This rule also seeks to change the dynamic of placing emphasis on teacher effectiveness and provide the opportunity to acknowledge excellence.  Continuing advancement and licensure determinations will be guided pursuant to 6.60.6.9 NMAC.

[6.69.8.6 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.6 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.7                 DEFINITIONS:

                A.            “Assistant principal” means a properly licensed instructional leader who assists a principal in a public school.

                B.            BIE school” means a bureau of Indian education school that is governmentally owned and controlled, located in New Mexico, provides instruction for first through twelfth grades and is not sectarian or denominational.

                C.            “Certified observer” means an individual who:

                                (1)           holds an active level 3-B license or an active teaching license;

                                (2)           is employed by a school district or charter school as an administrator or a teacher as defined by this rule;

                                (3)           completes the PED’s teacher observation training and who passes the PED’s assessment of the adopted observation protocol;

                                (4)           receives a highly effective or exemplary rating during the previous school year; and

                                (5)           completes follow-up training and who passes the PED’s assessment of the adopted observation protocol on an annual basis; for purposes of this subsection, annual basis means the earlier of August 1 of a given school year or 90 days after hire; provided, however, that the annual training and certification is transferable within the state.

                D.            “Department” means the New Mexico public education department or PED.

                E.            “EES” means effectiveness evaluation systems developed by the department.

                F.            “Fidelity observations” means the requirement of school leaders to periodically observe and evaluate assigned teachers in the classroom with observations that have been documented and are verifiable.

                G.            “Licensed school employee” means teachers and school leaders employed in a public school.

                H.            “Novice Teacher” means a person who holds a level one or a level one alternative license and is in their first year three years of teaching.

                I.             “Principal” means the chief instructional leader and administrative head of a public school.

                J.             “School district” means one of the 89 political subdivisions of the state created for the administration of public schools and includes those state-authorized charter schools that have not requested waiver of evaluation standards for school personnel.  District-authorized charter schools are excluded from being considered a school district for purposes of this rule.

                K.            “School district superintendent” means the chief executive officer of a school district and the head administrator of a charter school.

                L.            “School leader” means a principal or assistant principal employed in a public school.

                M.           “State agency” means the New Mexico military institute, the New Mexico school for the blind and visually impaired, the New Mexico school for the deaf, any juvenile detention center or facility served by the juvenile justice service of the children youth and families department, the New Mexico youth diagnostic and development center, the Sequoyah adolescent treatment center of the department of health, Carrie Tingley crippled children's hospital, the New Mexico behavioral health institute at Las Vegas and any other state agency responsible for educating resident children.

                N.            “Teacher” means a person who holds a level 1, 2, or 3-A license and whose primary duty is classroom instruction or the supervision, below the school principal level, of an instructional program or whose duties include curriculum development, peer intervention, peer coaching or mentoring or serving as a resource teacher for other teachers.  “Teacher” shall not include any person issued a Native American language and culture certificate pursuant to the School Personnel Act [Sections 22-10A-1 to 22-10A-39 NMSA 1978].

[6.69.8.7 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.7 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.8                 EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION SYSTEMS:

                A.            Nothing in this rule shall be construed to infringe upon the local superintendent's discretion to make decisions about discharge and termination or to make recommendations about licensure advancement or renewal.

                B.            Each school district shall report annually to the department the results of its effectiveness evaluations of its licensed school employees and the alignment of its effectiveness evaluation system with the three-tiered licensure system.

                C.            A teacher and school leader EES shall:

                                (1)           be designed to support effective instruction and student achievement, with the results used to inform school district and school level improvement plans;

                                (2)           provide appropriate instruments, procedures and criteria and continuous quality improvement of professional skills, with results used to support the professional development of licensed school employees;

                                (3)           include a mechanism to examine effectiveness data from multiple sources, which may include giving parents and students opportunities to provide input into effectiveness evaluations when appropriate;

                                (4)           identify those teaching fields for which special evaluation procedures and criteria may be developed in a manner that is consistent and reliable;

                                (5)           include measures of student achievement growth worth thirty-five percent, observations worth forty percent, and other multiple measures worth twenty-five percent, unless otherwise provided for;

                                (6)           differentiate among at least five levels of performance, which include the following:

                                                (a)           exemplary, meets competency;

                                                (b)           highly effective, meets competency;

                                                (c)           effective, meets competency;

                                                (d)           minimally effective, does not meet competency; and

                                                (e)           ineffective, does not meet competency.

                D.            Teacher and school leader effectiveness evaluation procedures for licensed school employees shall be based on the performance of students assigned to their classrooms or public schools.

                E.            Every public school classroom teacher who teaches in a grade or subject that has a standards-based assessment that would permit the calculation of student achievement growth, must have an annual effectiveness evaluation, provided that:

                                (1)           each evaluation shall be based on sound educational principles and contemporary research in effective educational practices; and

                                (2)           the student achievement growth component of a teacher’s effectiveness evaluation shall be based on:

                                                (a)           valid and reliable data and indicators of teacher impact on student achievement growth assessed annually and based upon department-approved assessments, provided that this calculation shall not be based on a single test score;

                                                (b)           thirty-five percent of a teacher's evaluation will be comprised of this calculation.

                F.            Every public school classroom teacher who teaches in a grade or subject that does not have a standards-based assessment, also must have an annual effectiveness evaluation, provided that:

                                (1)           each evaluation shall be based on sound educational principles and contemporary research in effective educational practices; and

                                (2)           the student achievement growth component of a teacher’s effectiveness evaluation shall be based on valid and reliable data and indicators of teacher impact on student achievement growth assessed annually.

                G.            An EES shall base at least forty percent of the results on data and indicators of instructional practice for teachers. School leaders shall observe instructional practice of teachers using common research-based observational protocol approved by the department that correlates observations to improved student achievement.

                H.            An EES shall base at least twenty-five percent of the results on other measures of teacher effectiveness, of which fifteen percent are planning, preparation and professionalism, five percent are associated with a teacher’s attendance, provided that a teacher may use up to six days of leave before it is calculated into the summative report, and five percent with student and parent perception surveys.

                I.             Effectiveness evaluation criteria for evaluating classroom teachers shall include indicators based on research-based instructional practices as determined by the department.

                J.             School districts that receive funding under the Bilingual Multicultural Education Act [Sections 22-23-1 to 22-23-6 NMSA 1978] or with students possessing limited English proficiency should ensure that they are doing all they can to carry out all state and federal activities and programs to assist those student populations.

                K.            Individual teacher evaluations and effectiveness ratings (including components of the evaluation such as observations, student achievement growth data, and any other measures of effectiveness) that are collected or maintained by the PED or any local board of education or governing authority shall not constitute public records and shall not be subject to disclosure pursuant to 14-2-1 NMSA 1978.

                L.            The department maintains a list of approved assessment options and effectiveness evaluation measures and criteria for evaluating classroom teachers on its website, which can be accessed at http://ped.state.nm.us/ and used by school districts for determining the student achievement growth component and evaluation criteria in a teacher’s effectiveness evaluation.

[6.69.8.8 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.8 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.9                 STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT GROWTH AND STUDENT ASSESSMENT PROGRAMS:

                A.            School districts shall use the department-adopted student achievement growth measure to measure the growth in achievement of each student as applied to the teacher's effectiveness rating.

                B.            Whenever possible, an EES rating the performance of a classroom teacher shall include three years of student achievement growth data.

                C.            Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, each school district shall administer a student assessment for each course they offer that measures mastery of the content as described in the state-adopted course description at the necessary level of rigor for the course. The student assessments may include:

                                (1)           statewide assessments currently administered in mathematics, reading, science and early literacy; and

                                (2)           department-approved end-of-course assessments.

[6.69.8.9 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.9 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.10               EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATIONS OF SCHOOL LEADERS:

                A.            Every school leader must have an annual effectiveness evaluation, which shall be conducted by a qualified person and approved by PED.

                B.            All EES ratings for the performance of a school leader shall be based thirty-five percent on the growth measures in a school’s A through F letter grade that has been assigned pursuant to 6.19.8 NMAC, twenty-five percent based on the school’s multiple measures and forty percent based upon quality criteria of school leaders classroom observations of teachers as determined by the department.

                C.            The effectiveness evaluation of school leaders shall, whenever possible, include growth based on three years of data for students assigned to the public school, provided that, the student achievement growth component of the effectiveness evaluation shall be based on the growth measures in the school’s A through F letter grade pursuant to 6.19.8 NMAC.

                D.            The department maintains a list of leadership standards on its website, which can be accessed at http://ped.state.nm.us/ and used by school districts in establishing indicators for conducting effectiveness evaluation of school leaders.

[6.69.8.10 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.10 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.11               EVALUATIONS, OBSERVATIONS, REPORTS AND POST-EVALUATION CONFERENCES:

                A.            Beginning with 2017-2018 school year and during each succeeding school year, every classroom teacher must be formally observed using one of the following options, with at least one of the required observations conducted by the school principal or assistant principal:

                                (1)           three observations conducted by the same certified observer; or

                                (2)           two observations, consisting of one observation by each of two different certified observers.

                                (3)           one observation by a certified observer for teachers that have received a highly effective or exemplary rating on their most recent NMTEACH summative report, inclusive of fifty percent of the possible student achievement points.

                B.            In addition to formal observations, an informal walkthrough observation shall be conducted aligned to district priorities, with feedback provided, for each teacher within the first 45 days of the teacher's first day of instruction.

                C.            An approved or certified observer must use a PED-developed protocol and form that contains at a minimum the observer’s name, the classroom teacher’s name, the date, the start and stop time of the observation, the number of students present, space for subjective and objective observation, and a total point score for that teacher.  An external observer must further:

                                (1)           complete the written observation of a classroom teacher before leaving the school on the day of the observation;

                                (2)           agree to maintain confidentiality of the observation and agree not to discuss the observations with anyone except the principal; and

                                (3)           verify that the observer has not retained or removed a copy of the observation or field notes from school premises.

                D.            Written feedback from a school leader and an approved or certified observer shall be provided to an observed classroom teacher within ten calendar days after observation is completed, which observation can occur over more than one day, provided that a school district’s EES permits this.

                E.            The school leader responsible for supervising a licensed school employee shall be the one who evaluates that employee’s performance.  The school district’s EES:

                                (1)           may provide for the supervisor to consider input from other trained evaluators and observers provided that they are not also supervised by the supervisor nor are related by blood or marriage to the supervisor; and

                                (2)           shall provide for contingencies if a supervisor leaves a school district for any reason prior to completing the required effectiveness evaluations of all teachers within that supervisor’s responsibilities.

[6.69.8.11 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.11 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.12               APPEAL OF EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATIONS:

                A.            A school district shall adopt procedures for permitting expedited review for the purpose of a licensed school employee requesting an exemption from being rated during a given school year under the school district’s EES based only upon extraordinary circumstances.

                B.            The procedures shall require a written appeal to be submitted to the appellate reviewer within no more than 15 calendar days of receipt of a written notice that the licensed employee’s performances deficiencies have not been satisfactorily corrected.

                C.            Appeals shall be received in a manner that permits verification of the date of receipt.

                D.            The person who evaluated the licensed school employee shall not be same person who receives and determines the appeal.

                E.            An exemption from the provisions of this rule can only be granted for one school year based upon extraordinary circumstances, which shall consist of:

                                (1)           a licensed school employee’s not having performed services during an entire school year, excluding days out for approved leave and school holidays or closure days, for reasons beyond the employee’s control;

                                (2)           a licensed school employee’s not being able to perform services for extended periods during a school year due to documented medical reasons of the employee or of the employee’s spouse, live-in partner or a child;

                                (3)           a licensed school employee’s not being able to perform services for extended periods during a school year due to the death of the employee’s spouse, live-in partner or a child; or

                                (4)           a licensed school employee’s not having been afforded a full 90 days to demonstrate growth in performance for any reason including the employee’s own illness, provided that it shall be the employee’s burden to provide verification of not being afforded the full 90 days.

                F.            All decisions on appeals rendered under this section shall be final and not further reviewable by anyone else at the school district or by the PED.

[6.69.8.12 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.12 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

6.69.8.13               TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS IN NON-PUBLIC SCHOOLS:

                A.            Only licensed teachers and school leaders employed in schools subject to the A-B-C-D-F Schools Rating Act [Sections 22-2E-1 to 22-2E-4 NMSA 1978] shall be governed by any requirement or provision of this rule.

                B.            Specifically, neither licensed teachers nor administrators employed in private schools, BIE schools or state agencies shall be governed by any requirement or provision of this rule.

[6.69.8.13 NMAC - Rp, 6.69.8.13 NMAC, 08/15/2017]

 

HISTORY OF 6.69.8 NMAC:  [RESERVED]

 

HISTORY OF REPEALED MATERIAL:  6.69.8 NMAC, Teacher and School Leader Effectiveness, filed 08/30/2012 - Repealed effective 08/15/2017.

 

OTHER HISTORY:  6.69.8 NMAC, Teacher and School Leader Effectiveness, filed 08/30/2012 was replaced by 6.69.8 NMAC, Teacher and School Leader Effectiveness, effective 8/15/2017.