Oklahoma law sets criteria for educators' performance ratings

Under a new Oklahoma law, educators will have to follow a new ratings system for performance evaluations.

BY ANDREA EGER - Tulsa World Comment on this article

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Evaluations

Ratings: Superior, Highly Effective, Effective, Needs Improvement or Ineffective.

Breakdown: Based on 50 percent quantitative measurements, of which 35 percentage points is to be based on student academic growth and 15 percentage points is to be based on other academic measurements; and 50 percent qualitative measurements.

For teachers: That includes organizational and classroom management skills, ability to provide effective instruction, focus on continuous improvement and professional growth, interpersonal skills and leadership skills.

For school leaders: That includes organizational and school management, instructional leadership, professional growth and responsibility, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, and stakeholder perceptions.

Source:

Senate Bill 2033

Gov. Brad Henry recently signed into law Senate Bill 2033, or the Oklahoma Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Act, which calls for a new system of evaluating public school educators to be in place no later than December 2011.

The Oklahoma Education Association supported the legislation, which was written to strengthen the state's chances in a federal education grant competition called Race to the Top.

But local teachers union leaders say they didn't sign off on a letter of support for the state's latest Race to the Top application, in large part because of their concerns about the new statewide evaluation system.

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