Teacher and Principal Evaluation Policy
The data and analysis on this page is from 2019. View and download the most recent policy data and analysis on Measures of Student Growth in New Mexico from the State of the States 2022: Teacher and Principal Evaluation Policies report.
Impact of Student Growth: New Mexico no longer requires objective measures of student growth to be a factor in a teacher's evaluation score.
State's Role in Evaluation System: New Mexico's districts develop teacher evaluation systems based on a framework and must
submit that system to the state for approval.
Require objective measures of student growth to be included in teacher evaluation.
New Mexico should require that objective measures of student growth be included in a teacher's evaluation rating, and that such measures play a profound role in a teacher's overall evaluation rating.
New Mexico was was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts necessary for this analysis. The state added that it will release a Transition Teacher Evaluation Report for the 2018-2019 school year that will not include any student assessment data as part of the evaluation framework. The transition report will consist of the following categories for a total of 100 points: classroom observations (Domains 2 and 3) worth 50%; planning, preparation, and professionalism (Domains 1 and 4) worth 40%; and family or student surveys worth 10%. "As the New Mexico Public Education Department looks to the future of teacher evaluation in New Mexico, the Educator Growth and Development Team will engage stakeholders across the state to ensure all voices are part of designing a new teacher evaluation system." Stakeholder engagement events will begin in late May and will be held throughout the state.
7A: Measures of Student Growth
Many factors should be considered in formally evaluating a teacher; however, nothing is more important than effectiveness in the classroom. Value-added models are an important tool for measuring student achievement and school effectiveness.[1] These models have the ability to measure individual students' learning gains, controlling for students' previous knowledge and background characteristics. While some research suggests value-added models are subject to bias and statistical limitations,[2] rich data and strong controls can eliminate error and bias.[3] In the area of teacher quality, examining student growth offers a fairer and potentially more meaningful way to evaluate a teacher's effectiveness than other methods schools use.
Unfortunately, districts have used many evaluation instruments, including some mandated by states, which are structured so that teachers can earn a satisfactory rating without any evidence that they are sufficiently advancing student learning in the classroom.[4] Teacher evaluation instruments should include factors that combine both human judgment and objective measures of student learning.[5]