Evaluation

NJEA supports reforms to evaluation that will help ensure a great teacher in every classroom.  NJEA believes that teacher evaluation must be strengthened.  We call for a system of more frequent evaluations, using proven research-based evaluation models.  While NJEA’s system would place great emphasis on student learning, it would not rely heavily on standardized test scores, which research shows are not reliable indicators of teacher effectiveness.  Proposals from Gov. Christie and the Department of Education would place undue emphasis on State standardized test scores, and require massive expansion of standardized testing.

Evaluation regs move to proposal level

Published on Friday, May 2, 2013

A new evaluation system for New Jersey’s teachers is one step closer to implementation.  At the May 1 State Board of Education meeting, board members voted to officially propose the regulations governing teacher evaluation in New Jersey. Learn more 

• Frequently asked questions
• Highlights of NJDOE Proposed Evaluation Regulations
• Advisory on proposed evaluation regs: What's new? What's next?
• NJEA testimony on NJTEACH
• State Board of Education Administrative Code
  

Resources

• NJEA Resource Guide on Evaluation for Teachers
• NJEA's recommendations on comprehensive training for the teacher evaluation system
• Learn more about AchieveNJ from the NJDOE website
• Using student test scores to evaluate teachers: What's at stake for your child? - Brochure
• Using student test scores to evaluate teachers: What's at stake for your child? - Spanish version
• Teaching practice evaluation instraments
• NJDOE video on Using Student Growth Percentiles

NJEA's position on teacher evaluation

• Establishing a Strong Evaluation System
• NJEA proposes framework for improved teacher evaluation system - May 17, 2011
• Education reform done right – Oct. 28, 2011
• NJEA urges caution in tying test scores to teacher evaluation  - March 2, 2011
• An unproven step in the wrong direction - Feb. 16, 2011

Testing

• Why SGP’s can’t evaluate teachers- In this post, the blogger JerseyJazzman exposes the reasons why the Student Growth Percentile (SGP) is an inaccurate – and potentially disastrous – means of evaluating teacher effectiveness.
• Merit Pay, Teacher Pay, and Value Added Measures 
• Evaluation & Standardized Tests - What's Happening - Sept. 2012
• What you should know about Value Added Assessment (VAM)
• Getting Teacher Evaluation Right: A Background Paper for Policymakers
• Standardized Tests & Teacher Accountability: The Research
• Teacher evaluation: Research vs. Rhetoric – Feb. 18, 2011
• EPI Study on Test Scores and Evaluation

Merit Pay

• POINT Study on Merit Pay
• Performance Pay Doesn't Work - Kappan, March 2012
• Stop Tying Pay to Performance - Harvard Business Review, Jan.-Feb. 2012  
• Merit Pay’s Trap: When Lawmakers Are Clueless About Teachers’ Classroom Realities - NEA Today, April 3, 2011
• International merit pay study inadequate for making policy decisions, independent review finds - March 31, 2011 
• Questions to ask about merit pay

Related Articles

• Evaluation symposium a success - June 1, 2012
• Task force calls for use of test scores to evaluate teachers - May 24, 2011
• Governor announces his education reform package - April 25, 2011
• Getting teacher evaluation right - Washinton Post, Sept. 15, 2011