Senate Bill No. 208
(By Senators Facemyer, Bowman, Hunter, Caldwell, Deem and Redd)
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[Introduced February 22, 2001; referred to the Committee
on Education.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twelve, article two, chapter
eighteen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the evaluation of
performance of classroom teachers by adding a provision
prohibiting the use of standardized test scores in that
process.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twelve, article two, chapter eighteen-a of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, 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.
Professional personnel means professional personnel as defined in
section one, article one of this chapter. 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 actively participate 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 personnel
meets such standards.
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;
(3) The purposes of the evaluation, which shall serve as a
basis for the improvement of the performance of the personnel in
their assigned duties, serve as an indicator of satisfactory
performance for individual professional personnel and serve as
documentation for a dismissal on the grounds of unsatisfactory
performance, and 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: and Provided, That student performance or scores on
standardized tests may not be used as a criterion for evaluating
the performance of individual classroom teachers; 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.
A professional whose performance is deemed 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.
No person may evaluate professional personnel for the purposes
of this section unless such that 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 such 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.
Any professional personnel 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
shall be taken concerning the original performance evaluation. If
such the
evaluation shows that the professional is still not
performing satisfactorily, the evaluator shall either make
additional recommendations for improvement or may recommend the
dismissal of such the
professional in accordance with the
provisions of section eight of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the use of
student performance or score on standardized tests in an individual teacher's performance evaluations, since many factors leading to
those scores are outside of the individual teacher's control and
the tests were not made to be a valid indicator of individual
teacher performance.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.