82R4425 GCB-D
By: Eissler H.B. No. 1587
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the evaluation of public school teachers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 7.055(b)(18), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(18) The commissioner shall adopt a recommended
performance evaluation system for teachers to evaluate teacher
effectiveness [appraisal process and criteria on which to appraise
the performance of teachers], a recommended appraisal process and
criteria on which to appraise the performance of administrators,
and a job description and evaluation form for use in evaluating
counselors, as provided by Subchapter H, Chapter 21.
SECTION 2. Section 11.201(d), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) The duties of the superintendent include:
(1) assuming administrative responsibility and
leadership for the planning, organization, operation, supervision,
and evaluation of the education programs, services, and facilities
of the district and for the annual performance evaluation or
appraisal of the district's other staff;
(2) except as provided by Section 11.202, assuming
administrative authority and responsibility for the assignment,
supervision, and evaluation of all personnel of the district other
than the superintendent;
(3) overseeing compliance with the standards for
school facilities established by the commissioner under Section
46.008;
(4) initiating the termination or suspension of an
employee or the nonrenewal of an employee's term contract;
(5) managing the day-to-day operations of the district
as its administrative manager, including implementing and
monitoring plans, procedures, programs, and systems to achieve
clearly defined and desired results in major areas of district
operations;
(6) preparing and submitting to the board of trustees
a proposed budget as provided by Section 44.002 and rules adopted
under that section, and administering the budget;
(7) preparing recommendations for policies to be
adopted by the board of trustees and overseeing the implementation
of adopted policies;
(8) developing or causing to be developed appropriate
administrative regulations to implement policies established by
the board of trustees;
(9) providing leadership for the attainment and, if
necessary, improvement of student performance in the district based
on the indicators adopted under Sections 39.053 and 39.301 and
other indicators adopted by the commissioner or the district's
board of trustees;
(10) organizing the district's central
administration;
(11) consulting with the district-level committee as
required under Section 11.252(f);
(12) ensuring:
(A) adoption of a student code of conduct as
required under Section 37.001 and enforcement of that code of
conduct; and
(B) adoption and enforcement of other student
disciplinary rules and procedures as necessary;
(13) submitting reports as required by state or
federal law, rule, or regulation;
(14) providing joint leadership with the board of
trustees to ensure that the responsibilities of the board and
superintendent team are carried out; and
(15) performing any other duties assigned by action of
the board of trustees.
SECTION 3. Section 21.041(b), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The board shall propose rules that:
(1) provide for the regulation of educators and the
general administration of this subchapter in a manner consistent
with this subchapter;
(2) specify the classes of educator certificates to be
issued, including emergency certificates;
(3) specify the period for which each class of
educator certificate is valid;
(4) specify the requirements for the issuance and
renewal of an educator certificate;
(5) provide for the issuance of an educator
certificate to a person who holds a similar certificate issued by
another state or foreign country, subject to Section 21.052;
(6) provide for special or restricted certification of
educators, including certification of instructors of American Sign
Language;
(7) provide for disciplinary proceedings, including
the suspension or revocation of an educator certificate, as
provided by Chapter 2001, Government Code;
(8) provide for the adoption, amendment, and
enforcement of an educator's code of ethics;
(9) provide for continuing education requirements;
and
(10) provide for certification of persons performing
evaluations or appraisals under Subchapter H, including annual
renewal of certification of persons performing evaluations of
teachers under Section 21.351.
SECTION 4. Section 21.045(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) The board shall propose rules establishing standards to
govern the approval and continuing accountability of all educator
preparation programs based on the following information that is
disaggregated with respect to sex and ethnicity:
(1) results of the certification examinations
prescribed under Section 21.048(a);
(2) performance based on the evaluation [appraisal]
system for beginning teachers adopted by the board;
(3) achievement, including improvement in
achievement, of students taught by beginning teachers for the first
three years following certification, to the extent practicable; and
(4) compliance with board requirements regarding the
frequency, duration, and quality of structural guidance and ongoing
support provided by field supervisors to beginning teachers during
their first year in the classroom.
SECTION 5. Section 21.256(g), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(g) A performance [An] evaluation [or appraisal] of the
teacher is presumed to be admissible at the hearing.
SECTION 6. The heading to Subchapter H, Chapter 21,
Education Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER H. EVALUATIONS, APPRAISALS, AND INCENTIVES
SECTION 7. Section 21.351, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 21.351. RECOMMENDED PERFORMANCE EVALUATION SYSTEM FOR
TEACHERS [APPRAISAL PROCESS AND PERFORMANCE CRITERIA]. (a) The
commissioner shall adopt a recommended performance evaluation
system for teachers to evaluate teacher effectiveness. The system
adopted must provide for basing a significant portion of the
evaluation on the teacher's student learning objectives and
outcomes, which must include student performance on assessment
instruments administered under Section 39.023 and other student
learning objectives and outcomes [appraisal process and criteria on
which to appraise the performance of teachers. The criteria must be
based on observable, job-related behavior, including:
[(1) teachers' implementation of discipline
management procedures; and
[(2) the performance of teachers' students].
(b) The commissioner shall solicit and consider the advice
of teachers in developing the recommended performance evaluation
system for teachers [appraisal process and performance criteria].
(c) Under the recommended performance evaluation system for
teachers [appraisal process], an evaluator [appraiser] must be
certified as provided by Section 21.041(b)(10), be the teacher's
supervisor or a person approved by the board of trustees, and be
monitored as necessary to ensure fairness, thoroughness, and
accuracy of the system. An evaluator [appraiser] who is a classroom
teacher may not evaluate [appraise] the performance of another
classroom teacher who teaches at the same school campus at which the
evaluator [appraiser] teaches, unless it is impractical because of
the number of campuses or unless the evaluator [appraiser] is the
chair of a department or grade level whose job description includes
classroom observation responsibilities.
(d) The recommended performance evaluation system for
teachers must provide that:
(1) a teacher be evaluated at least once each school
year;
(2) each evaluation be based on not fewer than three
classroom observations of the teacher;
(3) consistent and clear expectations regarding
teacher performance be communicated to the teacher at least once
each year before the first observation under Subdivision (2);
(4) at least one classroom observation of a teacher be
unannounced;
(5) a self-evaluation completed by the teacher after
the final observation under Subdivision (2) be considered by the
evaluator before the teacher's evaluation is complete; and
(6) a teacher's overall performance, based on the
evaluation, be assigned one of five ratings, as applicable, though
a greater number of separate ratings may be used to detail
performance under each [Under the recommended appraisal process,
appraisal for teachers must be detailed by] category of
professional skill and characteristic evaluated as part of the
evaluation of the teacher's overall performance [and must provide
for separate ratings for each category].
(e) The recommended performance evaluation system for
teachers must [appraisal process shall] guarantee that a conference
between the teacher and the evaluator will occur not later than the
third working day after the date of each observation and a final
conference will occur not later than the third working day after the
date the teacher's evaluation under this section is completed
[appraiser]. The conference must [shall] be diagnostic and
prescriptive with regard to remediation needed in overall
performance and by category.
SECTION 8. Section 21.352, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 21.352. LOCAL ROLE. (a) In evaluating [appraising]
teachers, each school district shall use:
(1) the performance evaluation system for teachers
[appraisal process and performance criteria] developed by the
commissioner under Section 21.351; or
(2) a performance evaluation system for teachers [an
appraisal process and performance criteria]:
(A) developed by the district- and campus-level
committees established under Section 11.251;
(B) containing the items described by Sections
21.351(a) and (d) [21.351(a)(1) and (2)]; and
(C) adopted by the board of trustees.
(b) The board of trustees may reject a performance
evaluation system for teachers [an appraisal process and
performance criteria] developed by the district- and campus-level
committees but may not modify the process or criteria.
(c) A performance evaluation of a teacher [Except as
otherwise provided by this subsection, appraisal] must be done at
least once during each school year. [A teacher may be appraised
less frequently if the teacher agrees in writing and the teacher's
most recent evaluation rated the teacher as at least proficient, or
the equivalent, and did not identify any area of deficiency. A
teacher who is appraised less frequently than annually must be
appraised at least once during each period of five school years.]
The district shall maintain a written copy of the evaluation of each
teacher's performance in the teacher's personnel file. Each
teacher is entitled to receive a written copy of the evaluation on
its completion. After receiving a written copy of the evaluation, a
teacher is entitled to a second evaluation [appraisal] by a
different evaluator [appraiser] or to submit a written rebuttal to
the evaluation to be attached to the evaluation in the teacher's
personnel file. The evaluation and any rebuttal may be given to
another school district at which the teacher has applied for
employment at the request of that district.
(d) Except as provided by Section 21.351(d)(4), a [A]
teacher may be given advance notice of the date or time of an
evaluation [appraisal], but advance notice is not required.
SECTION 9. Section 21.353, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 21.353. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION [APPRAISAL] ON BASIS OF
CLASSROOM TEACHING PERFORMANCE. A teacher who directs
extracurricular activities in addition to performing classroom
teaching duties shall be evaluated [appraised] only on the basis of
classroom teaching performance and not on performance in connection
with the extracurricular activities.
SECTION 10. Section 28.006(e), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(e) The results of reading instruments administered under
this section may not be used for purposes of evaluations,
appraisals, and incentives under Chapter 21 or accountability under
Chapter 39.
SECTION 11. Section 28.007(b), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The results of assessment instruments developed under
Subsection (a) may not be used for purposes of evaluations,
appraisals, and incentives under Chapter 21 or accountability under
Chapter 39.
SECTION 12. (a) Not later than September 1, 2013, the
commissioner of education shall develop the performance evaluation
system for teachers required under Section 21.351, Education Code,
as amended by this Act.
(b) Notwithstanding Sections 21.351 and 21.352, Education
Code, as amended by this Act, until the recommended performance
evaluation system for public school teachers is implemented, public
school teachers shall be appraised as provided by Sections 21.351
and 21.352, Education Code, as those sections existed before
amendment by this Act.
SECTION 13. This Act takes effect immediately if it
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2011.