H. B. 4406
(By Delegates Perry, Pino, Beach, Williams,
Duke, Campbell, Poling and Sumner)
[Introduced February 6, 2006; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-2-12 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to professional evaluations of
classroom teachers; removing the requirement to evaluate
certain classroom teachers at least every three years; and
making technical changes.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18A-2-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. SCHOOL PERSONNEL.
§18A-2-12. Performance evaluations of school personnel;
professional personnel evaluation process.
(a) The state board of Education shall adopt a written system
for the evaluation of the employment performance of personnel,
which system shall be applied uniformly by county boards of
education in the evaluation of the employment performance of personnel employed by the board.
(b) The system adopted by the state board of Education for
evaluating the employment performance of professional personnel
shall be in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(c) For purposes of this section, "professional personnel",
"professional" or "professionals", means professional personnel as
defined in section one, article one of this chapter.
(d) In developing the professional personnel performance
evaluation system, and amendments thereto, the state board shall
consult with the professional development project of the Center for
Professional Development created in section three article three-a
of this chapter. The center shall participate actively with the
state board in developing written standards for evaluation which
clearly specify satisfactory performance and the criteria to be
used to determine whether the performance of each professional
meets such standards.
(e) The performance evaluation system shall contain, but shall
not be limited to, the following information:
(1) The professional personnel positions to be evaluated,
whether they be teachers, substitute teachers, administrators,
principals or others;
(2) The frequency and duration of the evaluations, which shall
be on a regular basis and of such frequency and duration as to
insure the collection of a sufficient amount of data from which reliable conclusions and findings may be drawn: Provided, That for
school personnel with five or more years of experience, who have
not received an unsatisfactory rating, evaluations shall be
conducted no more than once every three years unless the principal
determines an evaluation for a particular school employee is needed
more frequently: Provided, however, That for classroom teachers
with five or more years of experience who have not received an
unsatisfactory rating, an evaluation shall be conducted or
professional growth and development plan required only when the
principal determines it to be necessary for a particular classroom
teacher, or when a classroom teacher may exercise exercises the
option of being evaluated at more frequent intervals;
(3) The evaluation shall serve the following purposes:
(A) Serve as a basis for the improvement of the performance of
the personnel in their assigned duties;
(B) Provide an indicator of satisfactory performance for
individual professionals;
(C) Serve as documentation for a dismissal on the grounds of
unsatisfactory performance; and
(D) Serve as a basis for programs to increase the professional
growth and development of professional personnel;
(4) The standards for satisfactory performance for
professional personnel and the criteria to be used to determine
whether the performance of each professional meets such standards and other criteria for evaluation for each professional position
evaluated. Effective the first day of July, two thousand three and
thereafter, professional personnel, as appropriate, shall
demonstrate competency in the knowledge and implementation of the
technology standards adopted by the state board. If a professional
fails to demonstrate competency, in the knowledge and
implementation of these standards, he or she will be subject to an
improvement plan to correct the deficiencies; and
(5) Provisions for a written improvement plan, which shall be
specific as to what improvements, if any, are needed in the
performance of the professional and shall clearly set forth
recommendations for improvements, including recommendations for
additional education and training during the professional's
recertification process.
(f) A professional whose performance is considered to be
unsatisfactory shall be given notice of deficiencies. A
remediation plan to correct deficiencies shall be developed by the
employing county board of education and the professional. The
professional shall be given a reasonable period of time for
remediation of the deficiencies and shall receive a statement of
the resources and assistance available for the purposes of
correcting the deficiencies.
(g) No person may evaluate professional personnel for the
purposes of this section unless the person has an administrative certificate issued by the state superintendent and has successfully
completed education and training in evaluation skills through the
center for professional development, or equivalent education
training approved by the state board, which will enable the person
to make fair, professional, and credible evaluations of the
personnel whom the person is responsible for evaluating. After the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, no person
may be issued an administrative certificate or have an
administrative certificate renewed unless the state board
determines that the person has successfully completed education and
training in evaluation skills through the center for professional
development, or equivalent education and training approved by the
state board.
(h) Any professional whose performance evaluation includes a
written improvement plan shall be given an opportunity to improve
his or her performance through the implementation of the plan. If
the next performance evaluation shows that the professional is now
performing satisfactorily, no further action may be taken
concerning the original performance evaluation. If the evaluation
shows that the professional is still not performing satisfactorily,
the evaluator either shall make additional recommendations for
improvement or may recommend the dismissal of the professional in
accordance with the provisions of section eight of this article.
(i) Lesson plans are intended to serve as a daily guide for teachers and substitutes for the orderly presentation of the
curriculum. Lesson plans may not be used as a substitute for
observations by an administrator in the performance evaluation
process. A classroom teacher, as defined in section one, article
one of this chapter, may not be required to post his or her lesson
plans on the internet or otherwise make them available to students
and parents or to include in his or her lesson plans any of the
following:
(1) Teach and re-teach strategies;
(2) Write to learn activities;
(3) Cultural diversity;
(4) Color coding; or
(5) Any other similar items which are not required to serve as
a guide to the teacher or substitute for daily instruction; and
(j) The Legislature finds that classroom teachers must be free
of unnecessary paper work so that they can focus their time on
instruction. Therefore, classroom teachers may not be required to
keep records or logs of routine contacts with parents or guardians.
(k) Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit
classroom teachers from voluntarily posting material on the
internet.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement
to evaluate classroom teachers with at least five years of
experience and no unsatisfactory evaluations for at least a period of three years. These teachers would be evaluated only when the
principal determines it to be necessary or the teacher requests it.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.