In the 2011 legislative session, Act 1209 established the “Teacher Excellence and Support System” (TESS). TESS restructures the method of evaluating teachers by supporting collaboration, feedback, and targeted professional development opportunities to improve professional and student learning.
TESS states that student learning is the foundation of the system. The law requires that one-half of the artifacts (documentation) a teacher uses for the evaluation must be from external assessment measures. An external assessment is defined as a measure of student achievement or growth that is administered, developed, and scored by a person or entity other than the teacher being evaluated, except that the assessment may be administered by the teacher being evaluated if the assessment is monitored by a licensed individual designated by the evaluator.
Currently, tested content areas include grades 3-8 in math and literacy, grades 5 and 7 for science, and End of Course exams at the high school level. Nontested content areas and grades are also required to utilize one-half of the artifacts from external assessments. The Arkansas Department of Education is charged with determining what assessments will satisfy the requirement of the law for the nontested areas.
TESS will utilize Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching as the rubric for the evaluation system. Another issue to be determined is how to incorporate student learning, whether it is achievement or growth, into the rubric. Some states require a percentage of the overall evaluation to be tied to student achievement/growth; however, Act 1209 does not include any percentage or number tied to the overall evaluation.
The Arkansas Department of Education would appreciate your thoughts and opinions concerning teacher evaluation. You don’t have to answer every question, only those you choose to answer. Your time in responding is greatly appreciated, and your responses will be used to help draft the rules and regulations.