Retaining Effective Teachers Policy
New Mexico requires that District Evaluation Plans "include guidelines for providing timely feedback to teachers on a regular basis that identifies teachers' strengths and areas that need improvement." The state also specifies that each teacher and his or her principal must establish an annual professional development plan (PDP) and that the plan can be informed by findings from teacher evaluations.
Ensure that professional development is aligned with findings from teachers' evaluations.
While New Mexico has clearly taken steps to encourage the use of teachers' evaluations for informing PDP's, the state could take its policy a step further by making the use of teacher evaluations a requirement rather than an option.
New Mexico recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.