Florida Senate - 2013 SB 980 By Senator Flores 37-00879-13 2013980__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to educational personnel evaluations; 3 amending s. 1012.34, F.S.; authorizing a school 4 district to reduce the percentage of the performance 5 evaluation of instructional personnel which is based 6 on student performance if the school district uses 7 specified, multiple measures of instructional 8 practice; providing an effective date. 9 10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 11 12 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section 13 1012.34, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 14 1012.34 Personnel evaluation procedures and criteria.— 15 (3) EVALUATION PROCEDURES AND CRITERIA.—Instructional 16 personnel and school administrator performance evaluations must 17 be based upon the performance of students assigned to their 18 classrooms or schools, as provided in this section. Pursuant to 19 this section, a school district’s performance evaluation is not 20 limited to basing unsatisfactory performance of instructional 21 personnel and school administrators solely upon student 22 performance, but may include other criteria approved to evaluate 23 instructional personnel and school administrators’ performance, 24 or any combination of student performance and other approved 25 criteria. Evaluation procedures and criteria must comply with, 26 but are not limited to, the following: 27 (a) A performance evaluation must be conducted for each 28 employee at least once a year, except that a classroom teacher, 29 as defined in s. 1012.01(2)(a), excluding substitute teachers, 30 who is newly hired by the district school board must be observed 31 and evaluated at least twice in the first year of teaching in 32 the school district. The performance evaluation must be based 33 upon sound educational principles and contemporary research in 34 effective educational practices. The evaluation criteria must 35 include: 36 1. Performance of students.—At least 50 percent of a 37 performance evaluation must be based upon data and indicators of 38 student learning growth assessed annually by statewide 39 assessments or, for subjects and grade levels not measured by 40 statewide assessments, by school district assessments as 41 provided in s. 1008.22(8). Each school district must use the 42 formula adopted pursuant to paragraph (7)(a) for measuring 43 student learning growth in all courses associated with statewide 44 assessments and must select an equally appropriate formula for 45 measuring student learning growth for all other grades and 46 subjects, except as otherwise provided in subsection (7). 47 a. For classroom teachers, as defined in s. 1012.01(2)(a), 48 excluding substitute teachers, the student learning growth 49 portion of the evaluation must include growth data for students 50 assigned to the teacher over the course of at least 3 years. If 51 less than 3 years of data are available, the years for which 52 data are available must be used and the percentage of the 53 evaluation based upon student learning growth may be reduced to 54 not less than 40 percent. 55 b. For instructional personnel who are not classroom 56 teachers, the student learning growth portion of the evaluation 57 must include growth data on statewide assessments for students 58 assigned to the instructional personnel over the course of at 59 least 3 years, or may include a combination of student learning 60 growth data and other measurable student outcomes that are 61 specific to the assigned position, provided that the student 62 learning growth data accounts for not less than 30 percent of 63 the evaluation. If less than 3 years of student growth data are 64 available, the years for which data are available must be used 65 and the percentage of the evaluation based upon student learning 66 growth may be reduced to not less than 20 percent. 67 c. For school administrators, the student learning growth 68 portion of the evaluation must include growth data for students 69 assigned to the school over the course of at least 3 years. If 70 less than 3 years of data are available, the years for which 71 data are available must be used and the percentage of the 72 evaluation based upon student learning growth may be reduced to 73 not less than 40 percent. 74 2. Instructional practice.—Evaluation criteria used when 75 annually observing classroom teachers, as defined in s. 76 1012.01(2)(a), excluding substitute teachers, must include 77 indicators based upon each of the Florida Educator Accomplished 78 Practices adopted by the State Board of Education. For 79 instructional personnel who are not classroom teachers, 80 evaluation criteria must be based upon indicators of the Florida 81 Educator Accomplished Practices and may include specific job 82 expectations related to student support. 83 3. Instructional leadership.—For school administrators, 84 evaluation criteria must include indicators based upon each of 85 the leadership standards adopted by the State Board of Education 86 under s. 1012.986, including performance measures related to the 87 effectiveness of classroom teachers in the school, the 88 administrator’s appropriate use of evaluation criteria and 89 procedures, recruitment and retention of effective and highly 90 effective classroom teachers, improvement in the percentage of 91 instructional personnel evaluated at the highly effective or 92 effective level, and other leadership practices that result in 93 student learning growth. The system may include a means to give 94 parents and instructional personnel an opportunity to provide 95 input into the administrator’s performance evaluation. 96 4. Professional and job responsibilities.—For instructional 97 personnel and school administrators, other professional and job 98 responsibilities must be included as adopted by the State Board 99 of Education. The district school board may identify additional 100 professional and job responsibilities. 101 102 A school district may reduce the percentage of the performance 103 evaluation of instructional personnel described in sub 104 subparagraphs a. and b. which is based on student performance to 105 not less than 40 percent if the school district uses multiple 106 measures of instructional practice, including principal 107 observation, peer review, student surveys of instructional 108 personnel performance, or other valid and reliable indicators of 109 instructional practice. 110 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.