HARTFORD—The Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC), a statewide group of stakeholders working on educator evaluations, today agreed on a set of guidelines that will inform their recommendations to the State Board of Education on February 10. These guidelines represent a major step forward in Connecticut, a state that lacks a framework for a robust educator evaluation system.

The guidelines outline the key factors to be used and the weights for each factor in districts’ educator evaluations. If approved, these guidelines will also serve as the foundation for a statewide model evaluation system. The largest component within the evaluation framework is student learning, half of which must be accounted for through state tests. The other components are teacher observations and peer/student/parent feedback, all of which can and should help evaluations focus on student achievement.

“If these guidelines are approved by the State Board of Education, they will serve as an unprecedented baseline for developing smart, fair, and rigorous educator evaluations in Connecticut,” said Patrick Riccards, ConnCAN’s CEO. “Never before have we seen a commitment from the state and this group to evaluate educators’ effectiveness and include student achievement as a primary factor in that evaluation. This is a key first step to using evaluation results to inform staffing decisions of all kinds, from hiring and promotions to dismissals and tenure.”

Riccards continued, “As with so many things, the devil will be in the details and it’s critical that student learning remains front and center. The importance of providing clear standards, training, and guidance to those responsible for implementing evaluations will also be essential to the success of any evaluation program.”

Since 2010, as part of the “Our Race to the Top” campaign, ConnCAN has been advocating for rigorous educator evaluations based on multiple measures with a focus on student achievement and learning. The campaign was geared toward helping Connecticut win the federal Race to the Top competition. Public Act 10-111, passed in 2010, created the PEAC but did not go far enough to prove to federal policy makers that Connecticut was committed to rigorous educator evaluations.

Riccards said: “The PEAC’s decisions today are a testament to the hard work of the PEAC members, as well as to the unwavering leadership of Commissioner Pryor in finding common ground on even the most challenging of policy issues. If this is where ‘The Year for Education Reform’ is headed, we are indeed on a path to making the kinds of bold policy changes our students need.”