Linking Evaluation to Professional Growth:
Massachusetts
Teacher and Principal Evaluation Policy
Note
The data and analysis on this page is from 2019. View and download the most recent policy data and analysis on Linking Evaluation to Professional Growth in Massachusetts from the State of the States 2022: Teacher and Principal Evaluation Policies report.
Analysis of Massachusetts's policies
Evaluation Feedback: Massachusetts specifies that its evaluation cycle must include goal setting and development for teachers, who all receive "Educator Plans." Such plans are designed to "provide educators with feedback for improvement, professional growth, and leadership; and to ensure educator effectiveness."
Professional Development: Massachusetts requires that "Educator Plans" developed by evaluators "shall use evidence of educator performance and impact on student learning, growth, and achievement in goal setting with the educator."
Improvement Plans: Massachusetts requires improvement plans for all teachers rated unsatisfactory. Teachers rated needs improvement are placed on directed growth plans. All plans must "outline actions the educator must take to attain these goals, including but not limited to specified professional development activities...as well as other supports that may be suggested by the evaluator or provided by the school or district."
Evaluation Rating Categories: Massachusetts requires four rating categories: exemplary, proficient, needs improvement and unsatisfactory.
Recommendations for Massachusetts
As a result of Massachusetts's strong policy linking evaluation to professional growth policies, no recommendations are provided.
State response to our analysis
Massachusetts noted that in addition to "Educator Plans," the Standards for Effective Administrative Leadership on which school and district leaders are evaluated define proficient practice as that which includes "frequent unannounced visits to classrooms and gives targeted and constructive feedback to teachers." The state added that educators rated "needs improvement" are placed on a Directed Growth Plan and "must either earn at least a proficient rating in the summative evaluation, or shall be rated unsatisfactory, and shall be placed on an improvement plan," which effectively accelerates timelines for improvement.
Updated: June 2019
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How we graded
7D: Linking Evaluation to Professional Growth
- System Feedback: The state should require that evaluation systems provide teachers with adequate feedback about their performance.
- Improvement Plans: The state should require that all teachers who are rated as ineffective, unsatisfactory, needs improvement or its equivalent must be placed on a performance improvement plan.
- Aligned Professional Development: The state should require districts to align professional development content with the findings from teachers' evaluations.
- Rating Categories: The state should require that evaluation instruments differentiate among various levels of teacher performance beyond a binary system. A system that merely categorizes teachers as satisfactory or unsatisfactory is inadequate.
One-quarter of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if the state evaluation system provides teachers with adequate feedback about their performance.
One-quarter of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if it requires that all teachers who are rated ineffective, unsatisfactory, needs improvement or its equivalent are placed on a performance improvement plan.
One-quarter of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if it directs districts to align professional development activities with findings from teachers' evaluations.
One-quarter of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if its evaluation system requires at least three rating categories.
Research rationale
Professional development should be connected to needs identified through teacher evaluations. The goal of teacher evaluation systems should be not just to identify highly effective teachers and those who underperform but to help all teachers improve. Even highly effective teachers may have areas where they can continue to grow and develop their knowledge and skills.[1] Rigorous evaluations should provide actionable feedback on teachers' strengths and weaknesses that can form the basis of professional development activities. Too often professional development is random rather than targeted to the identified needs of individual teachers. Failure to make the connection between evaluations and professional development squanders the likelihood that professional development will be meaningful.[2]
Many states are only explicit about tying professional development plans to evaluation results if the evaluation results are bad. Good evaluations with meaningful feedback should be useful to all teachers, and if done right should help design professional development plans for all teachers—not just those who receive poor ratings.[3]
To further increase the utility and validity of evaluation systems, states should require that evaluation instruments differentiate among various levels of teacher performance rather than only giving binary satisfactory/unsatisfactory ratings. Binary rating systems often offer little meaning because virtually all teachers receive satisfactory ratings.[4] More rating categories allow for more nuanced distinctions between levels of teacher performance.
[1] For evidence of the benefits of feedback from evaluation systems, and the potential for professional development surrounding that feedback, see: Kane, T. J., Wooten, A. L., Taylor, E. S., & Tyler, J. H. (2011). Evaluating teacher effectiveness. Education Next, 11(3). Retrieved from http://educationnext.org/files/ednext_20113_research_kane.pdf; Taylor, E. S., & Tyler, J. H. (2011). The effect of evaluation on performance: Evidence from longitudinal student achievement data of mid-career teachers (No. w16877). National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w16877
[2] Much professional development, particularly those that are not aligned to specific feedback from teacher evaluations, has been found to be ineffective. For evidence see: Garet, M. S., Wayne, A. J., Stancavage, F., Taylor, J., Eaton, M., Walters, K., ... & Sepanik, S. (2011). Middle school mathematics professional development impact study: Findings after the second year of implementation (NCEE 2011-4024). National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20114024/pdf/20114024.pdf
[3] For additional evidence regarding best practices for professional development, see: Neville, K. S., & Robinson, C. J. (2003). The delivery, financing, and assessment of professional development in education: Pre-service preparation and in-service training. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED482979
[4] Weisberg, D., Sexton, S., Mulhern, J., Keeling, D., Schunck, J., Palcisco, A., & Morgan, K. (2009). The widget effect: Our national failure to acknowledge and act on differences in teacher effectiveness. New Teacher Project. Retrieved from
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED515656.pdf