’17 teacher evals show NM on right trajectory for kids

Round five of New Mexico teacher evaluations delivered the kind of grades parents, taxpayers and educators can be proud of.

That’s because more teachers than ever are rated as “exemplary” — the highest of five categories that have direct links to students’ academic improvement. More are rated as “highly effective.” And fewer are rated in the bottom two categories, “minimally effective” and “ineffective.”

So while the Public Education Department’s path to K-12 public accountability has not been an easy one (with a vocal few teachers burning their evals in trash cans and unions filing lawsuits to stop the system altogether), the state is in a much better place in 2017 when it comes to its teachers and its students. Here’s why:

The number of exemplary teachers has jumped from 2.5 percent in 2015 to 3.8 percent in 2016 to 4.5 percent in 2017. Spending just one school year with an exemplary teacher translates into 25.1 months of learning.

The number of highly effective teachers is also up, from 24.2 percent in 2015 to 24.8 percent in 2016 to 27.6 percent in 2017. Spending just one school year with a highly effective teacher translates into 17.6 months of learning.

By comparison, minimally effective teachers are down to 22.4 percent of the workforce, ineffective teachers down to just 3.2 percent. That’s as important as the gains, because a school year with a minimally effective teacher means just 5.49 months of learning; ineffective teachers deliver just .17 months of learning in a school year.

PED has made adjustments to the evals over the years, especially after last year’s Teach Plus poll of more than 1,000 teachers delivered 50 clear reforms. It has also replaced tests teachers said provided little value (DIBELS), reduced testing times and moved testing windows, and delivered test, school grade and teacher evaluation results sooner each year.

Student improvement on meaningful standardized tests, end-of-course exams and other academic measures, along with classroom observations by trained educators, account for the lion’s share of a teacher’s eval. That means if teachers are doing better, so are our kids. It’s no surprise the districts that have embraced programs centered on data-driven accountability have seen the greatest rise in student test scores, school letter grades and teacher evaluation ratings.

The proof is in the 2017 data — New Mexico has 956 exemplary and 5,780 highly effective teachers, more districts with zero “F” schools, and more students proficient in math and English language arts.

Is there more work to be done? Absolutely. And an important next step is to reward these great teachers accordingly, allowing and encouraging them to help other teachers and schools replicate their success.

And not just for themselves, but for more of New Mexico’s 300,000-plus K-12 public school students.