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The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Report of the Task Force on the Evaluation of Teachers and Administrators

To:
Members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
Commissioner Mitchell D. Chester
From:
Karla Brooks Baehr
Deputy Commissioner for Accountability, Partnership and Assistance
Date:
March 16, 2011

The Commissioner asked that I transmit the Report of the Task Force on Evaluation of Teachers and Administrators to members of the Board and the Commissioner himself as soon as it was completed. I am pleased to do so today.

The Board established the Task Force in May 2010. Task Force members have worked diligently over the past seven months to craft recommendations for transforming educator evaluation in the Commonwealth. They have given generously of their expertise, experience and time to develop recommendations that have much promise for transforming educator evaluation in the Commonwealth.

That said, they are seeing this final version of the report for the first time today, just as you are seeing it. As you learned at the February 2011 Board meeting, several snow cancellations disrupted the schedule of the Task Force, making the already challenging task of forging consensus on myriad small and large issues even more difficult. The Task Force held its final meeting on March 7 when it reviewed a first draft of its report and used the draft to identify, discuss, debate and decide still more issues. Task Force members offered many suggestions for improving the clarity, focus and coherence of the draft.

Task Force members who were present near the end of the all-day meeting on March 7 (well over 20 members, constituting a quorum) took up the question of how the Task Force could have further input on the final report. Because of the difficulty of achieving a quorum on short notice, they decided not to hold another meeting. After some discussion, they decided that all Task Force members could submit their final comments to the DESE staff through Wednesday, March 9. The Task Force voted to approve the report in draft form with the understanding that DESE staff would incorporate as many of the suggestions as possible and produce a report that was clear, coherent, and true to the decisions and deliberations of the Task Force.

Since March 9, DESE staff members have worked diligently to revise the initial draft, drawing on extensive written feedback provided by Task Force members. The result is a document that lays out key features and a "road map" for educator evaluation that emerges from the votes and discussion of the Task Force. DESE staff strived to reflect the views of the majority while capturing important nuances of the Task Force deliberations.

Once again, we will invite members of the Task Force to join the Board at its meeting on March 22. We look forward to an engaging and productive session.

Enclosure:

Download PDF Document
Task Force Report: "Building a Breakthrough Framework for Educator Evaluation in the Commonwealth"