In Springfield, 2,213 educators were evaluated and 11.7 percent were ranked exceptional, 74.8 were proficient and 11.9 need improvement.
This is an updated version of a story posted at 6:33 this evening.
More than 90 percent of teachers are making the grade and less than 1 percent are unsatisfactory, according to the results of the first new-and-improved teacher evaluations used in 213 school districts across the state last school year.
A total of 37,940 teachers and administrators were evaluated with the new tool under a new federally required system that is more thorough, calls for teachers to set goals for themselves, and requires administrators to visit classrooms unannounced and more frequently.
The most controversial part of the evaluation – using student test data to determine if teachers and administrators are effective – is not expected to be used until 2015.
State Education Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester said he was pleased with the first results. Across the state district leaders were told to evaluate 50 percent of the staff, but more than 60 percent were assessed and some districts, such as Springfield and Hadley, far exceeded that.
“These first year results are quite interesting and very positive,” he said.
The new evaluations are required by the federal Race To the Top program which provided the state with $250 million in funding. School Committees and teachers unions that agreed to the new evaluations received the extra money.
Chester said he always believed Massachusetts had a solid group of educators, and the data proved it.
The evaluations graded more than 85 percent of all teachers and administrators as proficient, 7 percent as exemplary and nearly 7 percent as needing improvement. Just .06 percent were unsatisfactory.
A teacher who received high marks keeps students interested and actively participating in class, changes instruction to meet different needs of children and quickly identifies and helps struggling students.
Districts were asked to focus on evaluating so-called non-professional teachers or those who have been teaching less than three years. The results show the percentage of those needing improvement grows to 13.5 percent and 1 percent were considered unsatisfactory, which was expected because the least experienced teachers usually need the most help, Chester said.
In the state’s underperforming or Level 4 and Level 5 schools, the percentage of teachers needing improvement climbs to 15 percent.
“In some ways that is to be expected, but these schools have also had substantial opportunity to re-staff and some have brought in new staff and recruited teachers because of their good reputations,” Chester said.
The evaluation includes a plan that will help each teacher improve no matter what their status, but those in the lowest rankings will be watched carefully, he said.
“Under our system if they can’t improve within a year or two it is time for people to talk about a different career path with those individuals,” he said.
In Springfield, 2,213 educators, or 82.2 percent of all teachers and administrators, were evaluated and 11.7 are exceptional, 74.8 are proficient, 11.9 need improvement and 1.5 percent were unsatisfactory.
“We put all of our effort into this and it will improve student achievement,” Springfield Superintendent Daniel Warwick said.
One of the biggest concerns among teachers is the evaluations are being implemented at the same time all teachers must start following the new national Common Core curriculum, the national exam is being tested and a new system for children who do not speak English well is being introduced, said Timothy T. Collins, president of the Springfield Teachers Association.
Each initiative could take three to five years to implement and educators are given just two years to do so with the evaluation tool.
“Any one of these programs, given the appropriate resources and time to learn it and internalize it could help our children,” he said.
In some schools the evaluations are being implemented properly so student achievement is at the forefront and there is a system that identifies strengths and highlights ways to turn around weaknesses. In other schools that is not happening, Collins said.
He said he is even more concerned about the eventual plan to tie evaluations into student achievement with evaluations, especially because the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam growth rate is done on a scale and does not truly measure the success or failure of each child.
“Every teacher should be trained with their evaluators so they are both on the same page and we haven’t had the time and resources to do that,” Collins said.
The Hadley public schools did that. All staff attended the same three-day summer training and participate in monthly follow-up meetings. It was more expensive but everyone together understood the assessment, said Donna Moyer, the interim superintendent.
The district also made a commitment to evaluate all educators, the exception was for staff on long-term leave, she said.
“The focus is on improving instruction so we can meet the needs of the students so why we wouldn’t include everyone,” Moyer said.
The evaluation determined 7.1 percent of teachers were exemplary, 89.3 percent were proficient and 3.6 percent need improvement.
There are flaws in the tool, including the fact that it is so detailed there is not time to evaluate each educator on all 33 indicators called for, but Moyer said she likes that it gives all educators the same standards to follow. It also requires superintendents to do evaluations with principals and other administrators so they can get better feedback together.
It is clear from school-to-school some educators are being graded differently than others with some evaluaters being easier and others having more difficult standards, Chester said.
“You are going to have some unevenness. That does not surprise me because this is the first year and people are getting used to the system,” he said.
In Ware, the process is evolving as educators become more experienced. Last year 56.5 percent of teachers were evaluated with 15.4 percent considered exceptional, 73.1 proficient and 11.5 percent needing improvement. Many of those evaluated were new teachers, Superintendent Mary-Elizabeth Beach said.
“We need to build up consistency across the district,” she said, adding in smaller districts it is easier to have the evaluation be instituted evenly at each school.
While Beach agreed it is a struggle to implement the new evaluations at the same time the Common Core and other programs are being started, she does see some benefits.
“It helps you focus on what students are learning when you are in a classroom. It also opens a dialogue between the teacher and the administrator,” she said.
