IDOE releases teacher grades for 2012-2013

The Indiana Department of Education released the results of the 2012-2013 new teacher evaluations yesterday.

The 2012-2013 school year was the first time this new model was implemented, which rates teachers at four levels: highly effective, effective, improvement necessary and ineffective.

According to an Indiana State Teacher’s Association press release, more than 87 percent of teachers in Indiana received a rating of highly effective or effective.

There is no information listed for the Monroe County Community School Corporation. MCCSC has 839 teachers listed as employed, but no schools reported to the IDOE.

State law states “each school corporation shall provide the disaggregated results of staff performance evaluations.”

MCCSC was one of six school corporations in Indiana that failed to report for the 2012-2013 academic year. There are 318 school corporations in Indiana.

Information about MCCSC teachers is not currently available. Beverly Smith, director of school and community services, said the new teacher evaluation model coincides with collective bargaining agreements within corporations.

Collective bargaining agreements are negotiations between an employer and a group of employees to decide on the conditions of employment.

The MCCSC agreement with teachers remains in effect through 2015, when it expires and the  new evaluation model will become relevant to MCCSC teachers, Smith said.

According to an IDOE press release, only three percent of teachers were ranked as “needs improvement” or “ineffective.”

“Hopefully these results show what we have known to be true for some time,” ISTA President Teresa Meredith said in a press release. “For the most part our teachers are doing a superior job in Indiana schools. Now educators can stop holding their breath and take a look at the results themselves.”

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz also said in the press release that the results show success in Indiana schools.

“I am encouraged by these numbers,” Ritz said in an IDOE press release. “For the most part, they confirm what we already knew: that public schools throughout Indiana are filled with effective and highly effective teachers.”

Ritz said the evaluation also shows where Indiana can make improvements. She said there is disparity between low and high-performing schools.

Thirty-two percent of teachers in “A” schools were rated highly effective, while 11 percent of teachers in “F” schools were rated as highly effective. The Monroe County Community School Corporation received an “A” rating for the 2012-2013 school year.

“Highly effective educators are vital to school turnaround and my department will be working to address this gap moving forward,” Ritz said in the IDOE release.

Sydney Murray