Annual Evaluation/PDP Guidelines Assessment Guidelines for Teacher Competencies & Indicators

Note: The Assessment Guidelines presented in this section of the Annual Evaluation Guidelines are not intended to replace or supplant the New Mexico Teacher Competencies and Indicators in regulation. Rather, the Assessment Guidelines are intended to provide administrators with rich descriptions of a competent teacher's work at each level of licensure, as an aid to assessing a teacher's performance on both the progressive documentation and summative evaluation instruments.

Introduction

As outlined in the New Mexico Public Education Department Regulation Title 6, Chapter 69, Part 4.12 (NMAC): Performance Evaluation System Requirements for Teachers, "New Mexico is one of the most diverse states in the nation, and this diversity is reflected in the strengths and needs of New Mexico's students. The ability of a highly qualified teacher to address the learning needs of all of New Mexico's students, including those who learn differently as a result of disability, culture, language, or socioeconomic status, forms the framework for the New Mexico teacher competencies for licensure levels I, II, and III assessment criteria indicators."

Purposes of the Assessment Guidelines for Teacher Competencies and Indicators

The purpose of the Assessment Guidelines for Teacher Competencies and Indicators is to give teachers and administrators a tool to describe and differentiate increased expectations for teacher competence for Licensure Levels I, II, and III-A. The Assessment Guidelines provide concrete descriptions of effective teaching that develop over time. The descriptions contained in the Assessment Guidelines will accomplish the following outcomes:

Students benefit because classroom teaching will continue to take into account best practices that meet their learning needs. Teachers benefit because they will continue to expand skills, knowledge, and practices that emphasize student learning.

Expectations for Teacher Development

Teacher development is an ongoing process and occurs over time. Good teachers constantly adjust and refine their practice based on the learning needs of students. Teachers are involved in a continual process of improvement and growing expertise, supported by input from administrators on annual evaluations and data collected from their professional development plans. Teachers should demonstrate professional growth each year toward meeting selected competencies identified in the teacher's Professional Development Plan.

Teachers and administrators collaborate in gathering and analyzing evidence of teacher development in a progressive evaluation process. The teacher is accountable for demonstrating how he/she meets the performance indicators upon which he/she is being evaluated and are appropriate to his/her level of licensure. The administrator is accountable for assessing whether or not a teacher meets the competencies, through a process of data collection from multiple sources, including direct observation. This accountability structure promotes a reciprocal relationship between professional development and evaluation.

Connecting Teacher Development and Student Learning

"The legislature finds that no education system can be sufficient for the education of all children unless it is founded on the sound principle that every child can learn and succeed, and the system must meet the needs of all children by recognizing that student success for every child is the fundamental goal" (NMSA 22-1-1.2.A.).

The New Mexico 3-Tiered Licensure System and the Assessment Guidelines for New Mexico Teacher Competencies and Indicators have been designed to support the premise that good teaching matters and that quality learning requires quality teaching. A teacher evaluation process that requires c onsistent and continually refined demonstrations of knowledge, skills, and professional practices will lead to quality student learning. This evaluation cycle will help New Mexico's educators identify effective teaching. More importantly, it will situate individual, school, district, and state professional development efforts in educators" daily practice, understandings of best practices, and a continuum of professional growth.

Using the Assessment Guidelines

Descriptors

The descriptors may be used to indicate the rating level of teacher competence for each category of the Summative Annual Evaluation Form. Teachers should be evaluated at their current license level for the Annual Evaluation process.

Organization of the Assessment Guidelines

  1. The Assessment Guidelines are organized in two dimensions: Rating Levels and Competency Strands
    • Strand A. Instruction (Competencies 1, 2, and 5)
    • Strand B. Student Learning (Competencies 3, 4, 6, and 7)
    • Strand C. Professional Learning (Competencies 8 and 9)
  2. Each strand of the Assessment Guidelines includes descriptions of the indicators that may be used to assess each competency within the strand.

Support for Data Collection, Analysis and Assessment

Assessment of good teaching is made over time by gathering multiple sources of evidence that inform administrators' and teachers' professional judgment and professional practices. The evaluator using the Assessment Guidelines should identify sources of evidence that support each strand.

In addition to the required administrator's observation, forms of evidence that will demonstrate the New Mexico Teaching Competencies may include, but are not limited to:

Documentation

The evaluator will record rating results and related evidence sources in the appropriate sections of the Summative Evaluation Form [PDF].

Printable Full Document - Guidelines, Charts & Forms:
Guidelines for New Mexico Annual Teacher Performance Evaluation
3rd Edition — May 2005 [MS Word: 34pp.]
Guidelines for New Mexico Annual Teacher Performance Evaluation
3rd Edition — May 2005 [PDF: 34pp.]