Evaluation Frequency

How frequently is educator evaluation required?

The federal incentives. To receive an ESEA waiver states must require evaluation of teachers and principals "for continual improvement of instruction . . . on a regular basis. . . ."  (FAQ C-51). That was a change from the Race to the Top grant competition, which required "annual evaluation of teachers and principals," so in looking at what "most" states are doing, it is important to distinguish the Race to the Top states from the other waiver states.

States. State law also impacts how frequently educators must be evaluated. Although many states began with an annual, full evaluation, some are not pulling back to require limited, informal, or less frequent review. For example, Rhode Island's General Assembly amended its laws to require review every three years for "highly effective" teachers, every two for "effective" rated teachers, and annual review for all others. Another proposal would have reduced the interval to every 4 or 5 years. Arkansas and Virginia have reviews every three years.

South Carolina. In SC, "continuing contract teachers must be evaluated on a continuous basis," which may be "formal or informal." S.C. Code 59-26-30(B)(5); S.C. Reg. 43-205.1.V.B. The 2006 ADEPT guidelines interpret "continuous basis" as "every year." Those guidelines refer to goals-based evaluation as "informal" evaluation, which may be on a 5-year cycle with annual review. Continuing contract teachers recommended for "formal" evaluation "must be notified in writing no later than April 15," with written notice of the reasons and description of the process. S.C. Reg. 43-205.1.V.B. The June 11, 2014 guidelines require that "[a]ll educators must be evaluated on an annual basis." "However, the type and extent of the evaluation must be based on the intended purpose of the evaluation (see Section 7 below), the educator's level of experience, the educator's prior effectiveness rating(s), and the educator's current performance." (pp. 25-26)

Although the SC statute calls for principals to be evaluated "at least once every three years," the regulations for tier 2 principals require a full evaluation of all principal standards "every other year" with at least Standard 2, Instructional Leadership, in the alternate year. S.C. Reg. 43-165.1.III.B.(1). Again the June 2014 guidelines require "on an annual basis" subject to purpose, experience, prior ratings, and current performance.

Questions. While a full, annual evaluation might be desirable for giving educators feedback to improve instruction, questions remain about how that gets implemented well and whether evaluators have capacity to complete that number of annual evaluations. How the evaluation elements are defined also matters. E.g., how many observations by how many people for how long? The experiment that is underway because of Race to the Top and the ESEA waivers could give us interesting information on these questions.