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The State Education Department today announced the distribution to school districts of the State-provided growth scores for Grades 4-8 English Language Arts and Math teachers and their principals based on the 2011-12 school year. The educator measures are calculated based on the growth of each student on State assessments between two years as compared to similar students on the basis of past test scores and certain demographic information.Ìý Each educator earns one of four growth ratings (Highly Effective, Effective, Developing, Ineffective) and a growth score from 0-20 points.Ìý A limited number of districts that have 2011-12 Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) plans (under Section 3012-c of the Education Law) will use the scores as the 20 percent growth subcomponent for the educators covered under the plans.Ìý

Growth report files will be available for districts to download.

"This marks another major step toward implementing the reforms the Board of Regents has adopted," Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said.Ìý "Growth scores are just one of the multiple measures included in the new evaluation law, but they are an important tool to help principals and teachers improve their practice and help students graduate college and career ready.Ìý The growth scores include and account for a number of factors – prior academic history, student poverty, English Language Learners, students with disabilities, and test measurement variance – to make sure they paint a fair and accurate picture."

"The scores are just one of the multiple measures that will be used to evaluate teachers and principals," Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. said.Ìý "The evaluations will help teachers and principals improve teaching and learning.Ìý The goal of evaluations and all the Regents Reforms is to help all our students graduate from high school with the skills they need to succeed in college and careers.

"The evaluation law won’t be fully implemented until the coming school year, so most districts won’t be using the scores we’re releasing today for evaluations. But they can use the scores to help improve instruction."

Growth measures are one of multiple measures that contribute to the evaluation of teacher and principal effectiveness, and account for 20 percent of an educator’s evaluation. The remaining 80 percent include options selected locally, consistent with collective bargaining and distributed as follows: 20 percent for locally selected measures of student growth or achievement, and 60 percent for other measures, such as observations by supervisors using rubrics, and parent and student surveys.Ìý

King noted that only 3,556 principals and approximately 15 percent (33,129) of teachers statewide will have growth scores based on State assessments in 2011-12, and the growth scores will represent only one-fifth of the overall evaluation.Ìý He said for most school districts in the State, under the new law passed earlier this year, evaluations will be implemented over the course of the 2012-13 school year and full evaluation scores will not be available until Fall 2013.Ìý King added that in accordance with measures enacted in State law earlier this year (Chapter 68 of the Laws of 2012), the identities and individual scores of teachers and principals will not be identifiable when the scores are publicly disclosed.Ìý Aggregate 2011-12 scores will be released later this year.ÌýÌý

Under the State’s evaluation system, educators earn one of four overall ratingsÌýon theirÌýfinal performanceÌýevaluations – Highly Effective, Effective, Developing or Ineffective.Ìý (These categories are also assigned based on each of the subcomponents of evaluation.)Ìý Using the 2011-12 State growth scores, approximately 7% of teachers earned Highly Effective, or student growth was "well above the State average for similar students"; 77% of teachers earned Effective, or student growth "equal to the average for similar students"; 10% earned Developing or "below average growth for similar students"; and 6% earned Ineffective or "well-below average growth for similar students."Ìý The distribution of principal-level scores was 6% Highly Effective; 79% Effective; 8% Developing; and 7% Ineffective.

Earlier this year, districts provided information to SED about which students were taught by which teachers in 2011-12.Ìý Teachers were given the opportunity to verify this information.

A small number of school districts have implemented APPR plans for the 2011-12 school year in some or all of their schools.Ìý Those districts need to incorporate the overall growth scores released today into the APPR results for applicable educators. Other districts can use the information to support instructional improvement in conjunction with other information about educator effectiveness.Ìý

In addition to the data files and reports distributedÌý to school districts today, this Fall SED willÌý provide educators access to a secure,Ìý password-protectedÌý online reporting system that will be accessible only to district and school personnel. Using this system, superintendents will be able to view growth data for schools within the district, including teacher-level scores; principals will be able to view growth data for schools to which they are assigned, including teacher-level scores; and teachers will be able to view their own growth scores.

Consistent with Chapter 68 of the Laws of 2012, SED will also release to the public aggregated overall evaluation ratings, composite scores, and subcomponent ratings and scores including State-provided growth scores.Ìý King said SED will take every precaution to ensure that such public release of data does not include personally identifiable information for any teacher or principal.

SED has provided a variety of materials to help districts and educators understand and use the State-provided growth scores.Ìý The resources, along with additional materials including a technical report, a user guide, and a reference manual, can be found on the ‘Resources about State Growth’ page on EngageNY.org:

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Attached is a chart detailing the release of growth score related data and reports.

ATTACHMENT

NEW YORK STATE EVALUATION SYSTEM RESULTS 2011-12
What will be provided when?

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