Florida Senate - 2013                                    SB 1474
       
       
       
       By Senator Bullard
       
       
       
       
       39-00874-13                                           20131474__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to education personnel evaluation;
    3         amending s. 1012.34, F.S.; revising the criteria upon
    4         which the performance evaluation of instructional
    5         personnel and school administrators is measured;
    6         providing an effective date.
    7  
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) and paragraph
   11  (e) of subsection (7) of section 1012.34, Florida Statutes, are
   12  amended to read:
   13         1012.34 Personnel evaluation procedures and criteria.—
   14         (3) EVALUATION PROCEDURES AND CRITERIA.—Instructional
   15  personnel and school administrator performance evaluations must
   16  be based upon the performance of students assigned to their
   17  classrooms or schools, as provided in this section. Pursuant to
   18  this section, a school district’s performance evaluation is not
   19  limited to basing unsatisfactory performance of instructional
   20  personnel and school administrators solely upon student
   21  performance, but may include other criteria approved to evaluate
   22  instructional personnel and school administrators’ performance,
   23  or any combination of student performance and other approved
   24  criteria. Evaluation procedures and criteria must comply with,
   25  but are not limited to, the following:
   26         (a) A performance evaluation must be conducted for each
   27  employee at least once a year, except that a classroom teacher,
   28  as defined in s. 1012.01(2)(a), excluding substitute teachers,
   29  who is newly hired by the district school board must be observed
   30  and evaluated at least twice in the first year of teaching in
   31  the school district. The performance evaluation must be based
   32  upon sound educational principles and contemporary research in
   33  effective educational practices. The evaluation criteria must
   34  include:
   35         1. Performance of students.—At least 50 percent of a
   36  performance evaluation must be based upon data and indicators of
   37  student learning growth assessed annually by statewide
   38  assessments or, for subjects and grade levels not measured by
   39  statewide assessments, by school district end-of-course
   40  assessments that are preceded by pretests administered during
   41  the first week of class as provided in s. 1008.22(8). Each
   42  school district must use the formula adopted pursuant to
   43  paragraph (7)(a) for measuring student learning growth in all
   44  courses associated with statewide assessments and must select an
   45  equally appropriate formula for measuring student learning
   46  growth for all other grades and subjects, except as otherwise
   47  provided in subsection (7).
   48         a. For classroom teachers, as defined in s. 1012.01(2)(a),
   49  excluding substitute teachers, the student learning growth
   50  portion of the evaluation must include growth data for students
   51  assigned to the teacher, specific to the content and common core
   52  state standards, where applicable, for the course or grade level
   53  taught by the teacher. The data may be derived from comparisons
   54  to “like” students statewide or nationally using 3 years of data
   55  or the use of school district end-of-course assessments that are
   56  preceded by pretests administered during the first week of class
   57  over the course of at least 3 years. If less than 3 years of
   58  data are available, the years for which data are available must
   59  be used and the percentage of the evaluation based upon student
   60  learning growth may be reduced to not less than 40 percent.
   61         b. For instructional personnel who are not classroom
   62  teachers, the student learning growth portion of the evaluation
   63  must include growth data on statewide assessments for students
   64  assigned to the instructional personnel over the course of at
   65  least 3 years, or may include a combination of student learning
   66  growth data and other measurable student outcomes that are
   67  specific to the assigned position, provided that the student
   68  learning growth data accounts for at least not less than 30
   69  percent of the evaluation. If less than 3 years of student
   70  growth data are available, the years for which data are
   71  available must be used and the percentage of the evaluation
   72  based upon student learning growth may be reduced to not less
   73  than 20 percent.
   74         c. For school administrators, the student learning growth
   75  portion of the evaluation must include growth data for students
   76  assigned to the school over the course of at least 3 years. If
   77  less than 3 years of data are available, the years for which
   78  data are available must be used and the percentage of the
   79  evaluation based upon student learning growth may be reduced to
   80  not less than 40 percent.
   81         2. Instructional practice.—Evaluation criteria used when
   82  annually observing classroom teachers, as defined in s.
   83  1012.01(2)(a), excluding substitute teachers, must include
   84  indicators based upon each of the Florida Educator Accomplished
   85  Practices adopted by the State Board of Education. For
   86  instructional personnel who are not classroom teachers,
   87  evaluation criteria must be based upon indicators of the Florida
   88  Educator Accomplished Practices and may include specific job
   89  expectations related to student support.
   90         3. Instructional leadership.—For school administrators,
   91  evaluation criteria must include indicators based upon each of
   92  the leadership standards adopted by the State Board of Education
   93  under s. 1012.986, including performance measures related to the
   94  effectiveness of classroom teachers in the school, the
   95  administrator’s appropriate use of evaluation criteria and
   96  procedures, recruitment and retention of effective and highly
   97  effective classroom teachers, improvement in the percentage of
   98  instructional personnel evaluated at the highly effective or
   99  effective level, and other leadership practices that result in
  100  student learning growth. The system may include a means to give
  101  parents and instructional personnel an opportunity to provide
  102  input into the administrator’s performance evaluation.
  103         4. Professional and job responsibilities.—For instructional
  104  personnel and school administrators, other professional and job
  105  responsibilities must be included as adopted by the State Board
  106  of Education. The district school board may identify additional
  107  professional and job responsibilities.
  108         (7) MEASUREMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING GROWTH.—
  109         (e) For classroom teachers of courses for which the
  110  district has not implemented appropriate assessments under s.
  111  1008.22(8) or for which the school district has not adopted an
  112  equally appropriate measure of student learning growth under
  113  paragraphs (b)-(d), student learning growth must be measured by
  114  the growth in learning of the classroom teacher’s students on
  115  statewide assessments, or, for courses in which enrolled
  116  students do not take the statewide assessments, school district
  117  end-of-course assessments that are preceded by pretests
  118  administered during the first week of class measurable learning
  119  targets must be established based upon the goals of the school
  120  improvement plan and approved by the school principal. A
  121  district school superintendent may assign to instructional
  122  personnel in an instructional team the student learning growth
  123  of the instructional team’s students on statewide assessments.
  124  This paragraph expires July 1, 2015.
  125         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.