The New Jersey Department of Education released a report on the State’s new evaluation system late last week. Among the key findings – teachers & principals are effective and improving!
Key Findings
- The overwhelming majority of teachers are doing a good job educating New Jersey students. In fact, 98.6 percent of teachers received ratings of Effective or Highly Effective. In the 2013-14 school year, 2,700 (2.9 percent) teachers were rated Ineffective or Partially Effective. This number decreased to 1,600 (1.6 percent) in the 2014-15 school year. An improvement in ratings at the upper end of the evaluation scale also occurred with about 10 percent more teachers in New Jersey receiving a rating of Highly Effective.
- When considering the individual performance of teachers, there are patterns of significant overall improvement, particularly for those who had poor evaluation ratings in Year 1. Nearly 50 percent of teachers rated Ineffective in 2013-14, who continued to teach in New Jersey, were rated Effective or Highly Effective in 2014-15. More than 80 percent of Partially Effective teachers in 2013-14 improved their ratings to Effective or Highly Effective in their second year of evaluation. In addition, about 20 percent of teachers rated Effective in 2013-14 improved their ratings to Highly Effective in 2014-15.
- Two years of AchieveNJ data indicate that districts are holding on to their best teachers at very high rates
- Districts are providing educators with training and support with the newer evaluations, and this is leading to more comfort with the system. In fact, 75 percent of teachers said that they are satisfied with the educator evaluation and support system in their school districts
- The growth in teachers’ evaluation ratings coincides with qualitative feedback that the Department continues to receive from educators. Teachers and administrators across the state report that AchieveNJ is helping them to develop a common vision of high expectations for all students and a shared understanding of what quality teaching encompasses.
- Highly Effective educators are leading professional development efforts and exploring methods to differentiate evaluations Eighty percent of teachers surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the PD they are receiving
- As in the case of teachers, the vast majority of principals, assistant principals and vice principals are doing a good job. There was a significant shift in leaders receiving a rating of Highly Effective in 2014-15