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Offering school districts a share of $1.1 million to participate

The state Department of Education is offering $1.1 million in aid to school districts that are willing to participate in what Acting Commissioner Chris Cerf described on Tuesday as an innovative teacher evaluation pilot program.

The Excellent Educators for New Jersey funds would be awarded for the 2011-12 school year to districts and charter schools that offer to work with the Education Department to implement evaluation systems focused on teaching ability and student performance.

The pilot program is part of Gov. Chris Christie’s effort to base teacher tenure on ability and not seniority, an idea opposed by the New Jersey Education Association, the statewide teachers’ union.

A district would not need the cooperation of the NJEA to begin a pilot program. Presently, the union cannot negotiate evaluation procedures. A district is entitled to develop its teacher evaluation procedures and educators must comply.

The program was recommended by the governor’s Task Force on Educator Effectiveness in March and includes the development of a new teacher evaluation system based on student learning, measuring student achievement by student growth and school-wide performance, and evaluating teacher practices using new national core standards

“New Jersey educators deserve timely, meaningful, and actionable feedback about the work they do to help students learn,” Cerf said. “This pilot system offers a tremendous opportunity for us to collaborate with our local partners on the best way to support our educators as they prepare New Jersey’s students for college and careers. I strongly encourage all school districts and charter schools to consider participating in this innovative and critical initiative.”

Participating districts would help design the new evaluation system and provide regular feedback to the Education Department on the pilot system’s progress. Districts would have to follow specific implementation requirements, but would be given flexibility to develop certain elements of their own. The limited-competitive project year is Sept. 1 through Sept. 30, 2012. The deadline for applications is July 28.

The program would give school districts the opportunity to access additional funding while gaining familiarity with a system that Cerf and Christie believe will ultimately apply across New Jersey. Educators from pilot districts would be fully engaged in the program and would receive training. They would also have the opportunity to join or provide feedback to district advisory committees, which would regularly inform the state on successes, challenges, and opportunities for improvement.

At the core of the program is an evaluation system that Cerf said would fairly assess teacher practice in the classroom, would accurately measure student progress, and provide useful information to educators, administrators, policymakers, and families.

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM