Credit: (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)New Jersey lawmakers are planning to revisit rules for how and when teachers and principals are evaluated in public schools.
Lawmakers had tried to extend the time between evaluations to up to three years at the end of the lame-duck legislative session earlier this month. The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, supported the move but other education groups pushed back, saying changes to teacher tenure require more time and thought. The new legislation, which cleared the Senate Education Committee on Thursday, would establish a task force to consider the matter more thoroughly before any changes are made.
The amended legislation passed the Assembly at the end of the last session but did not pass the Senate. It would establish the New Jersey Educator Evaluation Review Task Force and limit the collection of student growth objectives while the task force is studying the matter. Student growth objectives, known as SGOs, are long-term academic goals set by teachers in consultation with their supervisors; they’re used as part of the summative evaluation process for teachers.
“Obviously I know there was a push to have this bill done in lame duck. I appreciate all the stakeholders who worked on a number of amendments to get everybody in as close to a comfortable place as possible,” Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth) said at Thursday’s Senate Education Committee meeting.
This marks the first time the Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey, or TEACHNJ Act, will be revisited since it was enacted in 2012. Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), the author of TEACHNJ, said she supports revisiting the law. Currently, certified educators are required to receive an evaluation each year.
Struggle to recruit, retain
New Jersey, along with many other states, has been struggling to recruit and retain teachers. The Task Force on Public School Staff Shortages recommended administrative burdens that pull teachers from classroom instruction be reassessed and reduced, which could include changes to the evaluation process.
‘We cannot fix the recruitment problem until we address the retention problem.’ — Deb Cornavaca, NJEA
“In response to the ongoing and widespread staffing challenges facing New Jersey schools, and considering the recommendations of the task force report, it is fitting and proper to examine revisions to the TEACHNJ Act,” the latest legislation reads.
Deb Cornavaca, NJEA government relations director, said making changes to the evaluation process could help improve teacher retention. She cited an NJEA member survey that said 25% of current educators in the classroom plan to leave before they reach full pension eligibility and 65% are discouraging others from becoming teachers.
“They want to be in the classroom with their students, they want to teach, they want to thrive in that environment. But they are so overburdened and so overworked that they are telling other people it’s not worth it, don’t do it,” Cornavaca said. “We cannot fix the recruitment problem until we address the retention problem.”
The task force will be charged with gathering and evaluating data to make recommendations regarding the annual evaluation process for teachers, principals, vice principals and assistant principals. It will include 12 members with a background in educator evaluation.
Some members will be appointed by the governor, Senate president and Assembly speaker, while others will be representatives from the NJEA, the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association, the New Jersey School Boards Association, the New Jersey Association of School Administrators and the Garden State Coalition of Schools. Some of the members are required to be public school teachers and school leaders.
Who gets a say
The recommendations must be presented to the governor, Legislature, Department of Education and the public by July 31, according to the bill. The task force must also hold at least one public hearing to get input from educators, parents, students and others.
It will take a close look at student growth objectives. Members will examine the educational value, administrative burden and impact on teachers and principals of using growth objectives in annual evaluations.
The legislation also says teachers shall not collect new SGO data in the 2024-2025 school year except in limited circumstances. In the following school year, districts will implement guidelines for data collection on growth objectives that align with laws or regulations enacted based on the task force report.
Cornavaca said this will provide immediate relief to educators by giving them a break from collecting student growth data, which she called the “most burdensome part” of the evaluation process.
“We have a 10-year-old evaluation system which has done some really good things and it’s done some not so good things, and so together with stakeholders, with your participation, that of the administration, everybody is ready, willing and able to sit down and say what is the good, the bad and the ugly of the system and what do we need to adjust?” Cornavaca said.
— Editor’s note: The New Jersey Education Association financially supports NJ Spotlight News.
