Legislation to overhaul the current evaluation system was approved by the General Assembly on March 25, along with legislative language aimed at addressing the COVID-19 emergency in public schools.

The bill will overhaul the current educator evaluation system, significantly reducing the impact of student performance, including standardized tests, in favor of classroom observation and practice. 

It will:

• Reduce the impact of standardized tests and student performance components
• Increase the focus on classroom observation and practice
• Recognize the impact of student poverty on student performance
• Encourage greater collaboration

Sen. Ryan Aument and Rep. Jesse Topper have engaged in a deliberative process to engage PSEA and other stakeholder groups in a dialogue to make significant improvements to the evaluation system.

• PSEA has worked with Sen. Aument for almost two years on the legislation
• Educators’ recommendations were heard and are reflected in SB 751 and HB 1607
• The bills increase emphasis on educator practice, reduce emphasis on student performance measures, and encourage greater collaboration between educators and administrators.

SB 751 and HB 1607 take a step forward in recognizing the impact that student poverty has on student achievement. The proposal would adjust the building-level measure by a “challenge multiplier” based on the population of economically disadvantaged students in each school building. This accounts for some of the strong correlation between poverty and standardized test performance.

Poverty affects students well beyond the classroom, often hampering their health and well-being, language development, and access to books and learning opportunities. Students living in poverty often score lower on standardized tests than students in middle-income and more affluent districts.

If Pennsylvania is going to continue to use test data in educator evaluations, the commonwealth must control for factors beyond the control of educators and students. These bills take an important first step in acknowledging the relationship between poverty and student achievement.