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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6757
AN ACT CONCERNING TEACHER PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS.
SUMMARY
By law, each public school district’s superintendent must annually
evaluate each teacher or have each teacher be evaluated. The evaluation
process must follow the teacher evaluation and support program
adopted by the district’s board of education and be aligned with the
State Board of Education’s (SBE) guidelines and model program. The
district must develop its program through mutual agreement between
the school board and the district’s professional development and
evaluation committee.
This bill makes various changes in the teacher evaluation laws,
requiring local and regional boards of education to adopt revised
teacher evaluation programs and SBE to adopt revised program
guidelines that use new (1) student indicators and assessment methods
and (2) teacher feedback mechanisms.
The bill also removes obsolete language, including references to a
now obsolete teacher evaluation and support pilot program and a
UConn study of the pilot program. It also makes technical and
conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2023, except the provisions on revised
evaluation and support plans and models adopted by boards of
education and SBE (§ 1) take effect on July 1, 2024.
TEACHER EVALUATION A ND SUPPORT PROGRAM
SBE Program
The bill requires SBE to adopt, by July 1, 2025, revised guidelines for
a teacher evaluation and support program, in consultation with the 2023HB-06757-R000585-BA.DOCX
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Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC; see below). It also
requires SBE to adopt a revised model teacher evaluation and support
program that aligns with these guidelines. The bill makes the following
changes to revise the guidelines that current law required SBE to adopt
for its model program in 2012:
1. removes the requirement that the guidelines include four
performance evaluation designators for teachers (i.e., exemplary,
proficient, developing, and below standard);
2. requires the guidelines to use student learning, growth, and
achievement, rather than student academic growth and
development, as indicators in teacher evaluations;
3. requires the guidelines to include methods for assessing student
learning, growth, and achievement rather than student academic
growth and development;
4. requires the guidelines to remove references to teacher “ratings”;
5. requires the guidelines to use an evaluator-provided annual
summary of teacher growth, rather than a scoring system with
performance evaluation designators, for the minimum
requirements for teacher evaluation instruments and procedures;
6. requires the guidelines to address creating individual
improvement and remediation plans for teachers who need
additional support, rather than for teachers who have a rating of
“developing” or “below standard”;
7. removes the requirement that these individual improvement and
remediation plans include a summative rating of proficient or
better as indicators of success at the plan’s conclusion; and
8. requires the guidelines to include a validation procedure for the
State Department of Education (SDE) or a third party to audit all
remediation plans, not just those plans with a rating of
“exemplary” or “below standard.” 2023HB-06757-R000585-BA.DOCX
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District Program
The bill requires each local and regional board of education, by
September 1, 2024, to adopt and implement a revised teacher evaluation
and support program that follows SBE’s revised guidelines.
The bill allows the education commissioner to waive the requirement
that a board adopt a program consistent with SBE’s model revised
program for any board that has expressed an intent to adopt a program
by July 1, 2024, that requires a waiver from these requirements.
Additionally, beginning with the 2023-24 school year, each board of
education must incorporate the revised elements of their evaluation and
support program into the following training programs it must offer
under current law: (1) training programs and orientation (conducted at
least annually, rather than biennially, under the bill) for all evaluators
and teachers it employs; (2) training programs for all new evaluators
before they conduct any evaluations; and (3) orientation for all new
teachers hired by the board before they receive an evaluation.
OTHER EVALUATION PRO CESS CHANGES
The bill also makes the following changes to the state’s teacher
evaluation process:
1. requires teachers who do not receive a summative evaluation
during the school year to be recorded as “not evaluated” rather
than “not rated” as current law requires and
2. removes the requirement that superintendents report aggregate
evaluation ratings to the education commissioner by September
15 each year.
PEAC
Under existing law, PEAC is a council within SDE, led by the
education commissioner with members from various education interest
groups. The bill maintains PEAC’s tasks under current law to assist SBE
with (1) developing guidelines for a teacher evaluation and support
program and (2) the data collection and evaluation support system;
however, it removes the requirement that PEAC assist SBE with 2023HB-06757-R000585-BA.DOCX
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developing a (1) model teacher evaluation and support program and (2)
teacher evaluation and support program implementation plan.
TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS
By law, teacher preparation programs leading to certification must
require students to participate in a clinical, field, or student teaching
experience over four semesters. The bill removes the requirement that
any cooperating teacher who is part of this experience must have earned
a performance evaluation designation of “exemplary” or “proficient” in
the prior school year to serve as a mentor to student teachers.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Education Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 44 Nay 0 (03/24/2023)