Education Laws and Regulations
Final Regulations On Evaluation Of Educators
These regulations replace the current Regulations on Evaluation of Teachers and Administrators and accompanying Principles of Effective Teaching and Principles of Effective Administrative Leadership, as adopted in 1995.
603 CMR 35.00
Evaluation of Educators
|35.01: ||Scope, Purpose, and Authority|
|35.03:||Standards and Indicators of Effective Teaching Practice|
|35.04:||Standards and Indicators of Effective Administrative Leadership Practice|
|35.05:||Evaluation of Administrators under Individual Employment Contracts|
|35.07:||Evidence Used in Evaluation|
|35.08:||Performance Level Ratings|
|35.09:||Student Performance Measures|
|35.10:||Peer Assistance and Review|
|35.11:||Implementation and Reporting|
|View All Sections|
(1) 603 CMR 35.00 shall take effect according to the following schedule:
Districts with Level 4 schools, as defined in 603 CMR 2.05, shall adopt and implement in the Level 4 schools evaluation systems consistent with 603 CMR 35.00 for the 2011-2012 school year.
Districts that are participating in the Commonwealth's Race to the Top activities shall adopt and implement evaluation systems consistent with 603 CMR 35.00 for the 2012-2013 school year.
All school districts shall adopt and implement evaluation systems consistent with 603 CMR 35.00 by the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year.
A district may phase in implementation of its new evaluation system over a two-year period, with at least half of its educators being evaluated under the new system in the first year.
(2) All evaluation systems and changes to evaluation systems shall be subject to the Department's review to ensure the systems are consistent with the Boards' Principles of Evaluation. A District may continue to use its existing evaluation systems until the District has fully implemented its new system.
(3) The model system developed by the Department need not be submitted for review under 603 CMR 35.00 if the district implements it as written.
(4) By September 2013, each district shall identify and report to the Department a district-wide set of student performance measures for each grade and subject that permit a comparison of student learning gains.
The student performance measures shall be consistent with 603 CMR 35.09(2).
By July 2012, the Department shall supplement these regulations with additional guidance on the development and use of student performance measures.
Until such measures are identified and data is available for at least two years, educators will not be assessed as having high, moderate, or low impact on student learning outcomes consistent with 603 CMR 35.09(3).
(5) Districts shall provide the Department with individual educator evaluation data for each educator in the district in a form and manner prescribed by the Commissioner, including, but not limited to:
the educator's performance rating on each standard and overall;
the educator has Professional Teacher Status;
the educator's impact on student learning, growth, and achievement (high, moderate, low).
(6) Any data or information that school districts or the Department or both create, send, or receive in connection with educator evaluation that is evaluative in nature and may be linked to an individual educator, including information concerning an educator's formative assessment or evaluation or summative evaluation or performance rating or the student learning, growth, and achievement data that may be used as part of an individual educator's evaluation, shall be considered personnel information within the meaning of M.G.L. c. 4, § 7(26)(c) and shall not be subject to disclosure under the public records law.
(7) The superintendent is responsible for ensuring that all evaluators have training in the principles of supervision and evaluation. All evaluations should be free of racial, sexual, religious, and other illegal discrimination and biases as defined in state and federal laws.
(8) Nothing in these regulations shall abridge the provisions of the Massachusetts General Laws, including M.G.L. c. 69, c. 71 and c. 150E.
(9) If any section or portion of a section of 603 CMR 35.00, or the applicability of 603 CMR 35.00 to any person, entity, or circumstance is held invalid by a court, the remainder of 603 CMR 35.00 or the applicability of such provisions to other persons, entities, or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
(10) The Commissioner may, for good cause, modify the dates set forth in 603 CMR 35.00, including establishing new schedules for implementing regulatory requirements. Good cause may include the need to provide districts additional time in order to pilot for a limited period certain provisions of 603 CMR 35.00. The Commissioner shall provide notice of all such changes.
603 CMR 35.00: M.G.L. c.69, §1B; c.71, §38