HF 1935

as introduced - 88th Legislature (2013 - 2014) Posted on 02/25/2014 01:54pm

A bill for an act
relating to education; establishing a prohibition against placing students with
ineffective teachers; amending Minnesota Statutes 2013 Supplement, sections
122A.40, subdivision 8; 122A.41, subdivision 5.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2013 Supplement, section 122A.40, subdivision 8,
is amended to read:

Subd. 8.

Development, evaluation, and peer coaching for continuing contract
teachers.

(a) To improve student learning and success, a school board and an exclusive
representative of the teachers in the district, consistent with paragraph (b), may develop
a teacher evaluation and peer review process for probationary and continuing contract
teachers through joint agreement. If a school board and the exclusive representative of the
teachers do not agree to an annual teacher evaluation and peer review process, then the
school board and the exclusive representative of the teachers must implement the plan
for evaluation and review under paragraph (c). The process must include having trained
observers serve as peer coaches or having teachers participate in professional learning
communities, consistent with paragraph (b).

(b) To develop, improve, and support qualified teachers and effective teaching
practices and improve student learning and success, the annual evaluation process for
teachers:

(1) must, for probationary teachers, provide for all evaluations required under
subdivision 5;

(2) must establish a three-year professional review cycle for each teacher that
includes an individual growth and development plan, a peer review process, the
opportunity to participate in a professional learning community under paragraph (a), and
at least one summative evaluation performed by a qualified and trained evaluator such as a
school administrator. For the years when a tenured teacher is not evaluated by a qualified
and trained evaluator, the teacher must be evaluated by a peer review;

(3) must be based on professional teaching standards established in rule;

(4) must coordinate staff development activities under sections 122A.60 and
122A.61 with this evaluation process and teachers' evaluation outcomes;

(5) may provide time during the school day and school year for peer coaching and
teacher collaboration;

(6) may include mentoring and induction programs;

(7) must include an option for teachers to develop and present a portfolio
demonstrating evidence of reflection and professional growth, consistent with section
122A.18, subdivision 4, paragraph (b), and include teachers' own performance assessment
based on student work samples and examples of teachers' work, which may include video
among other activities for the summative evaluation;

(8) must use data from valid and reliable assessments aligned to state and local
academic standards and must use state and local measures of student growth that may
include value-added models or student learning goals to determine 35 percent of teacher
evaluation results;

(9) must use longitudinal data on student engagement and connection, and other
student outcome measures explicitly aligned with the elements of curriculum for which
teachers are responsible;

(10) must require qualified and trained evaluators such as school administrators to
perform summative evaluations;

(11) must give teachers not meeting professional teaching standards under clauses
(3) through (10) support to improve through a teacher improvement process that includes
established goals and timelines; and

(12) must discipline a teacher for not making adequate progress in the teacher
improvement process under clause (11) that may include a last chance warning,
termination, discharge, nonrenewal, transfer to a different position, a leave of absence, or
other discipline a school administrator determines is appropriate.

Data on individual teachers generated under this subdivision are personnel data
under section 13.43.

(c) The department, in consultation with parents who may represent parent
organizations and teacher and administrator representatives appointed by their respective
organizations, representing the Board of Teaching, the Minnesota Association of School
Administrators, the Minnesota School Boards Association, the Minnesota Elementary
and Secondary Principals Associations, Education Minnesota, and representatives of
the Minnesota Assessment Group, the Minnesota Business Partnership, the Minnesota
Chamber of Commerce, and Minnesota postsecondary institutions with research expertise
in teacher evaluation, must create and publish a teacher evaluation process that complies
with the requirements in paragraph (b) and applies to all teachers under this section and
section 122A.41 for whom no agreement exists under paragraph (a) for an annual teacher
evaluation and peer review process. The teacher evaluation process created under this
subdivision does not create additional due process rights for probationary teachers under
subdivision 5.

new text begin (d) Consistent with the measures of teacher effectiveness under this subdivision:
new text end

new text begin (1) for students in kindergarten through grade 4, a school administrator must not
place a student in consecutive school years in the classroom of a teacher with the lowest
evaluation rating in the previous school year unless no other teacher at the school teaches
that grade; and
new text end

new text begin (2) for students in grades 5 through 12, a school administrator must not place
students in consecutive school years in the classroom of a teacher with the lowest
evaluation rating in the previous school year unless no other teacher at the school teaches
that subject area and grade.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective for the 2016-2017 school year and
later.
new text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2013 Supplement, section 122A.41, subdivision 5, is
amended to read:

Subd. 5.

Development, evaluation, and peer coaching for continuing contract
teachers.

(a) To improve student learning and success, a school board and an exclusive
representative of the teachers in the district, consistent with paragraph (b), may develop an
annual teacher evaluation and peer review process for probationary and nonprobationary
teachers through joint agreement. If a school board and the exclusive representative of
the teachers in the district do not agree to an annual teacher evaluation and peer review
process, then the school board and the exclusive representative of the teachers must
implement the plan for evaluation and review developed under paragraph (c). The process
must include having trained observers serve as peer coaches or having teachers participate
in professional learning communities, consistent with paragraph (b).

(b) To develop, improve, and support qualified teachers and effective teaching
practices and improve student learning and success, the annual evaluation process for
teachers:

(1) must, for probationary teachers, provide for all evaluations required under
subdivision 2;

(2) must establish a three-year professional review cycle for each teacher that
includes an individual growth and development plan, a peer review process, the
opportunity to participate in a professional learning community under paragraph (a), and
at least one summative evaluation performed by a qualified and trained evaluator such
as a school administrator;

(3) must be based on professional teaching standards established in rule;

(4) must coordinate staff development activities under sections 122A.60 and
122A.61 with this evaluation process and teachers' evaluation outcomes;

(5) may provide time during the school day and school year for peer coaching and
teacher collaboration;

(6) may include mentoring and induction programs;

(7) must include an option for teachers to develop and present a portfolio
demonstrating evidence of reflection and professional growth, consistent with section
122A.18, subdivision 4, paragraph (b), and include teachers' own performance assessment
based on student work samples and examples of teachers' work, which may include video
among other activities for the summative evaluation;

(8) must use data from valid and reliable assessments aligned to state and local
academic standards and must use state and local measures of student growth that may
include value-added models or student learning goals to determine 35 percent of teacher
evaluation results;

(9) must use longitudinal data on student engagement and connection and other
student outcome measures explicitly aligned with the elements of curriculum for which
teachers are responsible;

(10) must require qualified and trained evaluators such as school administrators to
perform summative evaluations;

(11) must give teachers not meeting professional teaching standards under clauses
(3) through (10) support to improve through a teacher improvement process that includes
established goals and timelines; and

(12) must discipline a teacher for not making adequate progress in the teacher
improvement process under clause (11) that may include a last chance warning,
termination, discharge, nonrenewal, transfer to a different position, a leave of absence, or
other discipline a school administrator determines is appropriate.

Data on individual teachers generated under this subdivision are personnel data
under section 13.43.

(c) The department, in consultation with parents who may represent parent
organizations and teacher and administrator representatives appointed by their respective
organizations, representing the Board of Teaching, the Minnesota Association of School
Administrators, the Minnesota School Boards Association, the Minnesota Elementary
and Secondary Principals Associations, Education Minnesota, and representatives of
the Minnesota Assessment Group, the Minnesota Business Partnership, the Minnesota
Chamber of Commerce, and Minnesota postsecondary institutions with research expertise
in teacher evaluation, must create and publish a teacher evaluation process that complies
with the requirements in paragraph (b) and applies to all teachers under this section and
section 122A.40 for whom no agreement exists under paragraph (a) for an annual teacher
evaluation and peer review process. The teacher evaluation process created under this
subdivision does not create additional due process rights for probationary teachers under
subdivision 2.

new text begin (d) Consistent with the measures of teacher effectiveness under this subdivision:
new text end

new text begin (1) for students in kindergarten through grade 4, a school administrator must not
place a student in consecutive school years in the classroom of a teacher with the lowest
evaluation rating in the previous school year unless no other teacher at the school teaches
that grade; and
new text end

new text begin (2) for students in grades 5 through 12, a school administrator must not place
students in consecutive school years in the classroom of a teacher with the lowest
evaluation rating in the previous school year unless no other teacher at the school teaches
that subject area and grade.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective for the 2016-2017 school year and
later.
new text end

Sec. 3. new text begin PROHIBITION AGAINST PLACING STUDENTS WITH
INEFFECTIVE TEACHERS; LEGISLATIVE REPORT.
new text end

new text begin The commissioner must consult with the education stakeholders listed under
Minnesota Statutes, sections 122A.40, subdivision 8, paragraph (c), in reviewing the
policies under Minnesota Statutes, sections 122A.40, subdivision 8, paragraph (b), and
122A.41, subdivision 5, paragraph (b), and recommend to the education policy and finance
committees of the legislature by January 15, 2015, the funding and other mechanisms
required to implement those policies.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end