STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator VIN GOPAL
District 11 (Monmouth)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Johnson and Steinhardt
SYNOPSIS
Revises schedule for summative evaluations of certain education professionals; limits collection of student growth data.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning evaluations of certain education professionals, amending and supplementing P.L.2012, c.26, and repealing section 25 of P.L.2012, c.26.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) a. Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.18A:6-11 or any other section of law to the contrary, in the case of a tenured teacher, principal, assistant principal, and vice-principal, summative evaluations shall occur on a schedule subject to the employees previous evaluation as set forth in this section.
(1) The first summative evaluation shall occur two years after tenure is acquired.
(2) If an employee receives a rating of highly effective in any summative evaluation, the next summative evaluation shall occur three years later, except as provided for in subparagraph (c) of paragraph (4) of this subsection.
(3) If an employee receives a rating of effective in any summative evaluation, the next summative evaluation shall occur either two or three years later, at the discretion of the employees supervisor and to be determined and made known to the employee by the annual summative conference.
(4) If an employee receives a rating of partially effective or ineffective in any summative evaluation, the employee shall receive annual summative evaluations in each of the following two years, which shall be conducted as follows:
(a) If the employee is rated ineffective or partially effective in an annual summative evaluation and the following year is rated ineffective in the annual summative evaluation, the superintendent shall promptly file with the secretary of the board of education a charge of inefficiency.
(b) If the employee is rated partially effective in two consecutive annual summative evaluations or is rated ineffective in an annual summative evaluation and the following year is rated partially effective in the annual summative evaluation, the superintendent shall promptly file with the secretary of the board of education a charge of inefficiency, except that the superintendent, upon a written finding of exceptional circumstances, may defer the filing of tenure charges and the employee shall continue to receive annual summative evaluations in each of the following two years. If the employee is not rated effective or highly effective on each of these two consecutive annual summative evaluations, the superintendent shall promptly file a charge of inefficiency.
(c) If the employee receives one rating of ineffective or partially effective and one rating of effective or highly effective, the employee shall continue to receive annual summative evaluations until the employee acquires two consecutive ratings of effective or highly effective on annual summative evaluations. Once two consecutive ratings of effective or highly effective are acquired, the employee shall be returned to the evaluation schedule set forth in paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subsection.
b. Each school district shall annually issue to the commissioner a statement of assurance which includes a list of all tenured teachers, principals, assistant principals, and vice-principals who did not receive a summative evaluation in that year and which affirms that these employees have all been rated effective or highly effective in their most recent evaluation.
c. (1) Teacher-generated student growth data shall not be collected by a teacher except in those years in which the teacher is subject to a summative evaluation pursuant to subsection a. of this section. In the case of a principal, assistant principal, or vice-principal, a summative evaluation may consider any available cumulative data but shall not require the collection of additional teacher-generated student growth data.
(2) As used in this section, teacher-generated student growth data means any data collected by a teacher to measure student progress toward individualized goals and does not include standardized testing performance data.
d. Within 30 days of filing a charge of inefficiency pursuant to subsection a. of this section, the board of education shall forward a written charge to the commissioner, unless the board determines that the evaluation process has not been followed.
e. Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.18A:6-16 or any other section of law to the contrary, upon receipt of a charge of inefficiency pursuant to subsection a. of this section, the commissioner shall examine the charge. The individual against whom the charges are filed shall have 10 days to submit a written response to the charges to the commissioner. The commissioner shall, within five days immediately following the period provided for a written response to the charges, refer the case to an arbitrator and appoint an arbitrator to hear the case, unless the commissioner determines that the evaluation process has not been followed.
f. The only evaluations which may be used for the purposes of this section are those evaluations conducted in accordance with a rubric adopted by the State Board of Education and approved by the commissioner pursuant to P.L.2012, c.26 (C.18A:6-117 et al.).
2. Section 17 of P.L.2012, c.26 (C.18A:6-123) is amended to read as follows:
17. a. The Commissioner of Education shall review and approve evaluation rubrics submitted by school districts pursuant to section 16 of P.L.2012, c.26 (C.18A:6-122). The board of education shall adopt a rubric approved by the commissioner.
b. The State Board of Education shall promulgate regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to set standards for the approval of evaluation rubrics for teachers, principals, assistant principals, and vice-principals. The standards at a minimum shall include:
(1) four defined annual rating categories for teachers, principals, assistant principals, and vice-principals: ineffective, partially effective, effective, and highly effective;
(2) a provision requiring that the rubric be partially based on multiple objective measures of student learning that use student growth from one year's measure to the next year's measure;
(3) a provision that allows the district, in grades in which a standardized test is not required, to determine the methods for measuring student growth;
(4) a provision that multiple measures of practice and student learning be used in conjunction with professional standards of practice using a comprehensive evaluation process in rating effectiveness with specific measures and implementation processes. Standardized assessments shall be used as a measure of student progress but shall not be the predominant factor in the overall evaluation of a teacher;
(5) a provision that the rubric be based on the professional standards for that employee;
(6) a provision ensuring that performance measures used in the ru