Board of Ed: New Policies for Teacher Evaluations
The Hawaii State Board of Education approved new performance management policies for teachers on Tuesday that might be the most tangible progress the state has made in its Race to the Top since December.
That’s when the U.S. Department of Education criticized Hawaii for failing to make sufficient headway on promises the state made in its federal grant application in 2010. Teacher evaluations and performance-based pay were two key reforms the feds said appeared to have stalled, after labor negotiations between the state and Hawaii State Teachers Association broke down last year.
But Gov. Neil Abercrombie, the Hawaii Legislature and the Board of Education have been working to implement the reforms anyway, with or without the union.
The board at its regular meeting Tuesday passed policies that would require for teachers before they receive tenure, and for teachers and principals to .
The governor’s education policy adviser, Tammi Chun, told the board Tuesday that the Abercrombie administration already has the legal authority to move forward with most aspects of a performance management system, although it could be challenged under the current law.
These new policies, along with the legislative proposal, will help affirm and clarify the state’s authority to move forward with its plan to pilot and then implement teacher evaluations statewide, Chun said.
In a letter to the board, the governor said that Race to the Top is not his only motivation for seeking evaluations and performance pay for educators. Evaluations will help reward the effective ones, remediate the marginal ones, dismiss ineffective ones and provide the right personnel development for all of them.
“It is the right thing to do for the children,” the governor wrote. “It is also the national and federal direction for educational improvement.”
Human Resources Committee Chairman Jim Williams explained to the board that the policies are written to require the teachers’ and principals’ collective bargaining units to participate in developing their respective evaluations.
“This is really constructed in a very positive way,” he said. “One, it mandates full participation by those affected, so I think those concerns should be allayed. The only thing we can’t do: We can’t have it both ways. We can’t have participation in development and at the same time know what the final outcome is going to be. You either know the final outcome and approve it, or you establish a process that includes the stakeholders and have them participate.”
The new policies were approved unanimously Tuesday, subject to a consult and confer period with the unions.
