State releases evaluation data

97.3 percent rated effective or higher

Published on June 1, 2015

NJEA president Wendell Steinhauer released the following statement in response to the June 1 report released by the New Jersey Department of Education showing that 97.3 percent of New Jersey teacher met or exceeded expectations under the new AchieveNJ evaluation system: “It is encouraging, but not surprising, that 97.3 percent of New Jersey’s teachers were rated effective or highly effective in the first year of the new evaluation system. That says a lot about the exceptional quality of New Jersey’s teaching force and helps explain why our public schools are among the very best in the nation. Given the challenges teachers, administrators and districts faced in the first year of evaluations under AchieveNJ, these results are exceptional. Read more

More information on the system

• It’s that time of year – Preparation is the key to a successful summative evaluation – May 2014
• Take charge of your PDP – March 2014
• NJEA Evaluation Advisory: Median Student Growth Percentile (mSGP) Data – Jan. 2014
• School Improvement Panels: What are they and how should they operate? – Dec. 2013
• NJDOE releases evaluation summative scoring ranges – Nov. 15, 2013
• OMG…I have to create my SGOs
• Frequently asked questions
• Highlights of NJDOE Evaluation Regulations – March 2014
• Learn more about AchieveNJ
• DEAC (District Evaluation Advisory Committee) – Recommendations and suggestions for effective DEACs, FAQs, suggested agenda items, and other resources from the NJ Department of Education’s website.

Resources

• Thoughts on Teacher Compensation, Evaluation, and Measuring Teacher Effectiveness – Bruce Baker, Rutgers University
• Decoding the new evaluation system
• Evaluations by the numbers
• NJEA Resource Guide on Evaluation for Teachers
• ScIP Frequently Asked Questions
• NJEA’s recommendations on comprehensive training for the teacher evaluation system
• Parent Brochure: Using student test scores to evaluate teachers: What’s at stake for your child? – English version
• Parent Brochure: Using student test scores to evaluate teachers: What’s at stake for your child? – Spanish version
• Teaching practice evaluation instruments
• NJDOE video on Using Student Growth Percentiles

NJEA’s position on teacher evaluation

• Establishing a Strong Evaluation System
• NJEA proposes framework for improved teacher evaluation system – May 17, 2011
• Education reform done right – Oct. 28, 2011
• NJEA urges caution in tying test scores to teacher evaluation  – March 2, 2011
• An unproven step in the wrong direction – Feb. 16, 2011

Testing

• Why SGP’s can’t evaluate teachers– In this post, the blogger JerseyJazzman exposes the reasons why the Student Growth Percentile (SGP) is an inaccurate – and potentially disastrous – means of evaluating teacher effectiveness.
• Merit Pay, Teacher Pay, and Value Added Measures 
• Evaluation & Standardized Tests – What’s Happening – Sept. 2012
• What you should know about Value Added Assessment (VAM)
• Getting Teacher Evaluation Right: A Background Paper for Policymakers
• Standardized Tests & Teacher Accountability: The Research
• Teacher evaluation: Research vs. Rhetoric – Feb. 18, 2011
• EPI Study on Test Scores and Evaluation

Merit Pay

• POINT Study on Merit Pay
• Performance Pay Doesn’t Work – Kappan, March 2012
• Stop Tying Pay to Performance – Harvard Business Review, Jan.-Feb. 2012  
• Merit Pay’s Trap: When Lawmakers Are Clueless About Teachers’ Classroom Realities – NEA Today, April 3, 2011
• International merit pay study inadequate for making policy decisions, independent review finds – March 31, 2011
• Questions to ask about merit pay

Related Articles

• Evaluation symposium a success – June 1, 2012
• Task force calls for use of test scores to evaluate teachers – May 24, 2011
• Governor announces his education reform package – April 25, 2011
• Getting teacher evaluation right – Washinton Post, Sept. 15, 2011

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