BOE Approves Teacher Performance Evaluation Policy Changes

Kathryn Matayoshi. Board of Education file photo.

The Hawai’i State Board of Education approved recommendations to revise its Teacher Performance Evaluation policy on Tuesday evening.

Hawai’i State Teachers Association joint-committee members and the Hawai’i State Department of Education presented the recommended changes. Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi then recommended the changes to the BOE. They include removing student test scores as required for teacher performance evaluation.

BOE members praised the collaborative work of the committee over the past three years.

Joint committee members, the Superintendent, and the BOE confirmed that the evaluation system should continue to include multiple measures of teacher practice and student learning and growth.

The significant changes to Policy 203.4, Teacher Performance Evaluation include the removal of student test scores as a required measure of student learning and growth and additional flexibility in the weighing of components of the evaluation.

“These changes allow for flexibility and are the result of continuous improvement, analysis, and collaboration over years,” stated Superintendent Matayoshi. “We will continue to focus on supporting the development of our teachers and advancing student learning.”

“Discarding standardized testing in teacher evaluations will restore responsibility for learning to dedicated teachers and begin to reinstate respect as the core value around which educator assessment rotates,” said Corey Rosenlee, HSTA president. “We can now focus on the student centered purpose of evaluation systems and create pathways for better communicating and implementing that shared goal.”