Recently, the N.J. Department of Education announced that it will launch a grant program to have selected districts pilot the evaluation proposals of Gov. Christie’s Educator Effectiveness Task Force, beginning in September. District superintendents have been asked to reach out to educators and other stakeholders to discuss the possibility of participating in the pilot program.
To date, very little information about the pilot has been provided. Most importantly, we do not know what impact it would have on members in the pilot districts. It is also unclear what additional standardized testing districts would be required to implement and how the new evaluation system would affect teaching and learning.
Because of the uncertainty and lack of information, at this time NJEA recommends that local associations not volunteer to participate in the pilot program. While it is not clear that local association sign off will be necessary for a district to participate, we recommend that local leaders wait until more information is available from the Department of Education before adding their endorsement to any district’s application.
Please contact your local presidents and ask them to alert you if they are approached about participating in the pilot program.
We expect more information to be available this summer, some time prior to an anticipated August deadline to apply for the pilot program. As more information is available, NJEA will analyze it and update this advice as appropriate.
In the meantime, we recommend that any local leader who is approached to discuss proposed changes to teacher evaluation should share NJEA’s evaluation proposal, “Establishing a Strong Evaluation System,” which presents best practices in teacher evaluation and provides a helpful contrast to the Governor’s deeply flawed proposal.
