Engrossments
Introduction		Posted on 03/23/2016

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2015 Supplement, section 122A.40, subdivision 8,
is amended to read:

Subd. 8.

Development, evaluation, and peer coaching for continuing contract
teachers, and performance-linked pay.

(a) To improve student learning and success and
to support teachers' roles in improving students' educational achievement, 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 and, consistent with paragraph (e),
may develop a performance pay system. 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 state
teacher evaluation plan 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, 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 job-embedded learning opportunities such as professional learning
communities;

(7) may include mentoring and induction programs;

(8) 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;

(9) 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 and literacy
that may include value-added models or student learning goals to determine 35 percent of
teacher evaluation results;

(10) 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, including academic literacy, oral academic language, and
achievement of content areas of English learners;

(11) must require qualified and trained evaluators such as school administrators to
perform summative evaluations and ensure school districts and charter schools provide for
effective evaluator training specific to teacher development and evaluation;

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

(13) must discipline a teacher for not making adequate progress in the teacher
improvement process under clause (12) 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. The observation and interview notes of peer coaches may only be
disclosed to other school officials with the consent of the teacher being coached.

(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.

(d) Consistent with the measures of teacher effectiveness under this subdivision:

(1) for students in kindergarten through grade 4, a school administrator must not
place or approve the placement of a student in the classroom of a teacher who is in the
improvement process referenced in paragraph (b), clause (12), or has not had a summative
evaluation if, in the prior year, that student was in the classroom of a teacher who received
discipline pursuant to paragraph (b), clause (13), unless no other teacher at the school
teaches that grade; and

(2) for students in grades 5 through 12, a school administrator must not place
or approve the placement of a student in the classroom of a teacher who is in the
improvement process referenced in paragraph (b), clause (12), or has not had a summative
evaluation if, in the prior year, that student was in the classroom of a teacher who received
discipline pursuant to paragraph (b), clause (13), unless no other teacher at the school
teaches that subject area and grade.

All data created and used under this paragraph retains its classification under chapter 13.

(e) To provide incentives to encourage teachers to improve their knowledge and
instructional skills to improve student learning and for school districts to recruit and retain
qualified teachers and encourage qualified teachers to undertake challenging assignments,
the performance pay system must, consistent with paragraph (b):

(1) identify assessment and evaluation tools to measure student performance and
progress;

(2) establish performance goals and benchmarks for improvement;

(3) describe how teachers can achieve career advancement and additional
compensation;

(4) describe how the school district will provide teachers with career advancement
options that allow teachers to retain primary roles in student instruction and facilitate
site-focused professional development that helps other teachers improve their skills;

(5) reform the "steps and lanes" salary schedule, prevent any teacher's compensation
paid before implementing the pay system from being reduced as a result of participating
in this system, and base all compensation increases while the performance pay system
is in place on teacher performance; and

(6) be negotiated and adopted according to the Public Employment Labor Relations
Act under chapter 179A, except that notwithstanding section 179A.20, subdivision 3, a
district may enter into a contract for a term of two or four years.

(f) Notwithstanding section 179A.20 or other law to the contrary, a school board and
the exclusive representative of the teachers may agree to reopen a collective bargaining
agreement for the purpose of entering into a performance pay system agreement under
paragraph (e). Negotiations for a contract reopened under this section must be limited to
issues related to the performance pay system.

EFFECTIVE DATE.

This section is effective the day following final enactment
and applies to the 2016-2017 school year and later.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2015 Supplement, section 122A.41, subdivision 5, is
amended to read:

Subd. 5.

Development, evaluation, and peer coaching for continuing contract
teachers, and performance-linked pay.

(a) To improve student learning and success and
to support teachers' roles in improving students' educational achievement, 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 and consistent with paragraph (e),
may develop a performance pay system. 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 state teacher evaluation plan 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, 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 job-embedded learning opportunities such as professional learning
communities;

(7) may include mentoring and induction programs;

(8) 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;

(9) 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 and literacy
that may include value-added models or student learning goals to determine 35 percent of
teacher evaluation results;

(10) 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, including academic literacy, oral academic language, and
achievement of English learners;

(11) must require qualified and trained evaluators such as school administrators to
perform summative evaluations and ensure school districts and charter schools provide for
effective evaluator training specific to teacher development and evaluation;

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

(13) must discipline a teacher for not making adequate progress in the teacher
improvement process under clause (12) 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. The observation and interview notes of peer coaches may only be
disclosed to other school officials with the consent of the teacher being coached.

(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.