AN ACT relating to evaluations of certified educators.

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AN ACT relating to evaluations of certified educators. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 156.557 is amended to read as follows: 3
(1) As used in this section: 4
(a) "Formative evaluation" means a continuous cycle of collecting evaluation 5
information and providing feedback with suggestions regarding the certified 6
employee's professional growth and performance; and 7
(b) "Summative evaluation" means the summary of, and conclusions from, the 8
evaluation data, including formative evaluation data that: 9
1. Occur at the end of an evaluation cycle; and 10
2. Include a conference between the evaluator and the evaluated certified 11
employee and a written evaluation report. 12
(2) The Kentucky Department of Education, in consultation with the Kentucky teacher 13
and princip al steering committees and other groups deemed appropriate by the 14
commissioner of education, shall develop a statewide framework for teaching that 15
shall promote the continuous professional growth and development of skills needed 16
to be a highly effective te acher or a highly effective administrator in a school or 17
district. 18
(3) Each district shall develop and implement a personnel evaluation system aligned 19
with the statewide framework for teaching established in subsection (2) of this 20
section that shall: 21
(a) Use multiple measures of effectiveness; 22
(b) Include both formative and summative evaluation components; 23
(c) Measure professional effectiveness; 24
(d) Support professional growth; 25
(e) Have at least four (4) performance levels; 26
(f) Be used to inform personnel decisions; 27
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(g) Be considerate of the time requirements of evaluators at the local level and 1
shall not require that all certified school personnel have a formal summative 2
evaluation each year; and 3
(h) Rate teachers or administrators by multiple measures inst ead of a single 4
measure. 5
(4) The performance criteria by which teachers and administrators shall be evaluated 6
shall include but not be limited to: 7
(a) Performance of professional responsibilities related to his or her assignment, 8
including attendance and punctuality and evaluating results; 9
(b) Demonstration of effective planning of curricula, classroom instruction, and 10
classroom management, based on research -based instructional practices, or 11
school management skills based on validated managerial practices; 12
(c) Demonstration of knowledge and understanding of subject matter content or 13
administrative functions and effective leadership techniques; 14
(d) Promotion and incorporation of instructional strategies or management 15
techniques that are fair and respect diversity and individual differences; 16
(e) Demonstration of effective interpersonal, communication, and collaboration 17
skills among peers, students, parents, and others; 18
(f) Performance of duties consistent with the goals for Kentucky students and 19
mission of the school, the local community, laws, and administrative 20
regulations; 21
(g) Demonstration of the effective use of resources, including technology; 22
(h) Demonstration of professional growth; 23
(i) Adherence to the professional code of ethics; and 24
(j) Attainment of the teacher standards or the administrator standards as 25
established by the Education Professional Standards Board that are not 26
referenced in paragraphs (a) to (i) of this subsection. 27
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(5) The following provisions shall apply to each school district's person nel evaluation 1
system: 2
(a) Certified school personnel, below the level of superintendent, shall be 3
evaluated; 4
(b) The evaluation system shall include formative evaluation and summative 5
evaluation components; and 6
(c) The Kentucky Board of Education shall ad opt administrative regulations 7
incorporating written guidelines for a local school district to follow in 8
implementing the personnel evaluation system and shall require the following: 9
1. All evaluations of certified school personnel below the level of the 10
district superintendent shall be in writing on evaluation forms and under 11
evaluation procedures developed by a committee composed of an equal 12
number of teachers and administrators; 13
2. The immediate supervisor of the certified school personnel member 14
shall be designated as the primary evaluator. At the request of a teacher, 15
observations by other teachers trained in the teacher's content area or 16
curriculum content specialists may be incorpor ated into the formative 17
process for evaluating teachers; 18
3. All monitoring or observation of performance of a certified school 19
personnel member shall be conducted openly and with full knowledge of 20
the personnel member; 21
4. Evaluators shall be trained, teste d, and approved in accordance with 22
administrative regulations adopted by the Kentucky Board of Education 23
in the proper techniques for effectively evaluating certified school 24
personnel. Evaluators shall receive support and resources necessary to 25
ensure consistent and reliable ratings; 26
5. The personnel evaluation system shall include a plan whereby the 27
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person evaluated is given assistance for professional growth as a teacher 1
or administrator. The system shall also specify the processes to be used 2
when corrective actions are necessary in relation to the performance of 3
one's assignment; 4
6. The system shall require annual summative evaluations for each teacher 5
or other professional who has not attained continuing service status 6
under KRS 161.740 or continuing sta tus under KRS 156.800(7). The 7
system shall require summative evaluations once every five (5) years for 8
a teacher or other professional who has attained continuing service 9
status under KRS 161.740 or continuing status under KRS 156.800(7), 10
principals, assis tant principals, and other certified administrators. 11
Additional summative evaluations may be performed at the discretion of 12
the superintendent or the immediate supervisor of a teacher or other 13
professional based upon a case -by-case analysis of the performa nce 14
criteria set forth in subsection (4) of this section but shall not be 15
imposed as a uniform requirement across the system . Each summative 16
evaluation shall be presented to the local board of education; and 17
7. The training requirement for evaluators conta ined in subparagraph 4. of 18
this paragraph shall not apply to district board of education members. 19
(6) (a) Each superintendent shall be evaluated according to a policy and procedures 20
developed by the local board of education and approved by the department. 21
(b) The summative evaluation of the superintendent shall be in writing, discussed 22
and adopted in an open meeting of the board and reflected in the minutes, and 23
made available to the public upon request. 24
(c) Any preliminary discussions relating to the evalu ation of the superintendent 25
by the board or between the board and the superintendent prior to the 26
summative evaluation shall be conducted in closed session. 27
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(7) The Kentucky Board of Education shall establish an appeals procedure for certified 1
school perso nnel who believe that the local school district failed to properly 2
implement the evaluation system. The appeals procedure shall not involve requests 3
from individual certified school personnel members for review of the judgmental 4
conclusions of their personnel evaluations. 5
(8) The local board of education shall establish an evaluation appeals panel for certified 6
school personnel that shall consist of two (2) members elected by the certified 7
employees of the local district and one (1) member appointed by the board of 8
education who is a certified employee of the local board of education. Certified 9
school personnel who think they were not fairly evaluated may submit an appeal to 10
the panel for a timely review of their evaluation. 11
(9) The Kentucky Department of Ed ucation may annually provide for on -site visits by 12
trained personnel to review and ensure appropriate implementation of the 13
evaluation system by the local school district. The department shall provide 14
technical assistance to local districts to eliminate de ficiencies and to improve the 15
effectiveness of the evaluation system. 16
(10) The disclosure, pursuant to KRS Chapter 61, of any data or information, including 17
student growth data, that local school districts or the Kentucky Department of 18
Education collect on individual classroom teachers under this section is prohibited. 19
(11) The results of evaluations conducted under this section shall not be included in the 20
accountability system described in KRS 158.6455 and no reporting requirements 21
related to these result s shall be imposed upon the local school districts by the 22
Kentucky Department of Education. 23