Professional Development: New Hampshire

Analysis of New Hampshire's policies

New Hampshire does not have state-level policy requiring that teachers receive feedback from their evaluations or that connects professional development to teachers' evaluations. Phase II of the New Hampshire Task Force on Effective Teaching is underway to develop a state model for performance evaluations.

Citation

Section 189:14-a(b) Ed 512 Professional Development Master Plan and Re-certification http://education.nh.gov/certification/documents/ed512.pdf New Hampshire Task Force on Effective Teaching Phase I Report http://www.education.nh.gov/teaching/documents/phase1report.pdf

Recommendations for New Hampshire

Require that evaluation systems provide teachers with feedback about their performance. In order to increase their effectiveness in the classroom, teachers need to receive feedback on strengths and areas that need improvement identified in their evaluations. As such, New Hampshire should require that evaluation systems provide teachers with feedback about their classroom performance.

Ensure that professional development is aligned with findings from teachers' evaluations. Professional development that is not informed by evaluation results may be of little value to teachers' professional growth and aim of increasing their effectiveness in the classroom. New Hampshire should ensure that districts utilize teacher evaluation results in determining professional development needs and activities.   

Ensure that teachers receiving less than effective ratings are placed on a professional improvement plan. New Hampshire should adopt a policy requiring that teachers who receive even one unsatisfactory evaluation be placed on structured improvement plans. These plans should focus on performance areas that directly connect to student learning and should identify noted deficiencies, define specific action steps necessary to address these deficiencies and describe how and when progress will be measured.

State response to our analysis

New Hampshire noted that the December 2012 revisions to Ed 512 require a linkage between local professional development and evaluation systems. This requirement is designed to give the evaluator input into the educators' individual professional development plans. The state added that an evaluation management tool that is under development for the districts provides a clear opportunity for the evaluator to suggest and require specific professional development activities. New Hampshire indicated that the state's model evaluation system is now required for Title I schools as part of the NCLB waiver. The state anticipates that most districts will be moving to implement the recommendations for the model evaluation system as they are introduced in the Title I schools. 

Last word

Ed 512 is on the right track by articulating that a district's master professional development plan must describe "the role of the plan in increasing educator effectiveness and the relationship between professional learning and the local evaluation system," but this is to ensure that teachers' professional development will be directly tied to evaluation results.