BILL NUMBER:S7792

TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring public
disclosure of the results of annual professional performance reviews of
teachers and principals

PURPOSE:

This bill would require public disclosure of the new Annual Professional
Performance Reviews ("APPRs") of teachers and principals (L. 2012, ch.
21).

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 would amend Education Law § 3012-c by adding a new subdivision
10 that would:

o Require school districts and boards of cooperative educational
services ("BOCES") to fully disclose and release to the public and the
department the final quality--Highly Effective, Effective, Developing
and Ineffective, or "HEDI" ratings and composite effectiveness scores--
the 0-100 point system to determine the final HEDI rating--from the
annual professional performance reviews of its teachers and principals.

              

o Require the Commissioner of Education to fully disclose APPR data on
its website and by other means to make such data widely available to the
public.  This APPR data must be suitable for research, analysis and
comparison and shall include, but not be limited to:

- the final HEDI ratings and composite effectiveness scores by school
district for principal evaluation data, by school building for teacher
evaluation data and, within each district and school building, by class,
subject and grade;

- final HEDI ratings and composite effectiveness scores by region,
district wealth, district need category, student enrollment, type of
school (i.e.  elementary, middle and high school), student need (e.g.,
poverty level), and district spending;

- final HEDI ratings and composite effectiveness scores by the percent-
age or number of teachers and principals in each rating category, moving
to a higher rating category than the previous year, moving to a lower
rating category than the previous year, and retained in each rating
category; and

- data on tenure granting and denial based on the final HEDI rating
categories.

o Require school districts and BOCES to fully disclose and release to
the parents and legal guardians of a student, in any manner, including
by phone or in person, the final HEDI rating and composite effectiveness
score for each of the teachers and for the principal of the school
building to which the student is assigned for the current school year
upon the request of such parents and legal guardians.  Districts would
also be required to:

- give all parents and legal guardians conspicuous notice of their right
to obtain this information;

- explain the scoring ranges for the HEDI ratings to parents and legal
guardians orally or in writing;

- offer parents and legal guardians opportunities to understand the
scores in the context of teacher evaluation and student performance; and

- make reasonable efforts to verify that any review request is a bona
fide request by a parent or guardian entitled to review and receive the
requested data.

o Require the State Education Department ("SED") and each school
district and BOCES to ensure that any public release of APPR data,
including APPR component data, does not contain personally identifying
information for any teacher or principal (without impairing the APPR
review rights of parents and legal guardians) and provide that individ-
ual APPR results are not subject to release pursuant to Article 6 of the
Public Officers Law; and

o Ensure that SED can collect the data and materials it needs to meet
its Race to the Top obligations and carry out its other functions and
duties.

These provisions would apply to the new APPR systems being implemented
by districts pursuant to L. 2012, ch. 21.

Section 2 would provide for a July 1, 2012 effective date.

PURPOSE:

Section 3012-c of the Education Law, as amended by L. 2012, ch. 21,
requires school districts and BOCES to conduct APPRs for teachers and
principals.

JUSTIFICATION:

The enhanced APPR, also known as the teacher and principal evaluation
system law, created a tool to improve teaching and learning in the
classroom, as well as principal leadership, by providing an accountabil-
ity system for student achievement and targeted professional development
that will strengthen teacher and principal effectiveness.

The teacher and principal evaluation system offers an opportunity for
parents and the general public to assess how schools across New York are
performing. Accordingly, this legislation would require school districts
and BOCES to fully disclose their APPR results to the public and require
SED to post and make widely available important data that will allow the
public to analyze and compare how schools are performing. School
districts and BOCES would also be required to fully disclose to parents
and legal guardians the final HEDI ratings and composite evaluation
scores of the teachers and principals to which their student is
assigned.

This legislation would protect the rights of parents and the public to
access information about how the teachers, principals and schools
charged with educating New York's children are performing, while also
respecting teacher and principal privacy.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

BUDGET IMPLICATIONS:

This legislation has no fiscal implications for the state.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

The bill would take effect July 1, 2012 and would, therefore, apply to
teacher and principal evaluation systems being implemented under the new
teacher and principal evaluation system pursuant to L. 2012, ch.  21.