Senate Bill No. 69
(By Senators Facemyer, Hunter, Bowman, Caldwell, Deem, Redd,
Mitchell and Edgell)
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[Introduced; referred to the Committee
on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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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 the
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 the
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 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.
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.