Cincinnati Public School teachers will be seeing a new system for evaluating their job performance. The board of education has adopted new state requirements that are based half on teacher performance. Superintendent Mary Ronan says the other half is based on several measures of student growth.
"I just want to make clear it's not raw test data. It's student growth looking at value added, looking at student learning objectives. But this is a big change in the way we've evaluated teachers in this past, so this year will be a trial year," said Ronan. "That was really the sticking point. The teachers didn't want something immediately or implemented a year early until everything was worked out."
The resolution the school board passed phases in the new system, which goes into full effect in 2014. The state didn't require boards to adopt it until July next year, but Ronan wants the district to have a head start so teachers can prepare for it.
Cincinnati Federation of Teachers president Julie Sellers agrees with the revised resolution that allows for the transitional period.
"This year it's safe for teachers so they can experiment in a safe environment, and that is one of the biggest changes we wanted," said Sellers. "We did not want teachers having to develop student learning objectives this year when they were unaware of those and then have to be held accountable for that."
The school board voted unanimously to approve the new evaluation policy