Administrative Letter: #25
Policy Code: BGE
To: Public School Administrators, Teachers
From: Pender Makin, Commissioner
Date: 11 June 2019
Subject: Amendments to Title 20-A, Chapter 508, Educator Effectiveness
On April 11, 2019, Governor Mills signed a law that makes important changes to Performance Evaluation and Professional Growth (PEPG) systems. The new law will go into effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends. Chapter 27, An Act to Amend Educator Evaluation Requirements, includes a number of changes.
- Under the new law, school administrative units may choose to identify and include student learning and growth measures that they deem valuable in summative effectiveness ratings, but they are no longer required to do so.
- SAUs must ensure or reconfigure their steering committee membership, such that a majority are teachers who are chosen by a representative of the applicable collective bargaining unit.
- The law states that, “revisions to the performance evaluation and professional growth system made by the steering committee must be reached by consensus.”
Implementation Guidance
- The steering committee composition required in Chapter 27 will go into effect 90 days after the current legislative session comes to an end, likely near the start of the 2019-2020 school year.
- The Department of Education is committed to a transparent and inclusive rule-making process for Chapter 180 that will begin in early fall of 2019, in preparation for the submission of the draft rules for consideration to the Committee for Education and Cultural Affairs in January, 2020.
- Current law requires that student learning and growth measures must be a factor in a summative effectiveness rating until September 1, 2021. PEPG steering committees are encouraged to review their current PEPG systems, and the vision, mission, and goals of the district, to determine the measures of effectiveness they will implement beginning with the 2021-2022 school year. In addition, the committee should develop reasonable transition plans and timelines for any changes to the PEPG system, as determined by the steering committee, taking into consideration the existing evaluation cycle, and when summative evaluations will be completed.
For more information, please contact Emily Gribben at Emily.gribben@maine.gov.