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What is APPR?
10 Things to Know about the new teacher evaluation system
 OCTOBER
3, 2012 -
Just like students, teachers and principals will now be given a
number grade at the end of every year that represents their
effectiveness rating. This is thanks to the new state-required
evaluation system called the Annual Professional Performance
Review (or “APPR”).
Teachers and principals have always been evaluated and held to
standards, but the new system is more governed by rules set by
the state – and, for the first time ever, a portion of teacher
evaluation is directly tied to student performance.
APPR is just one of the many reforms put in place by the New
York State Board of Regents to improve student learning. It was
developed to improve the state’s educational system and support
the professional growth of educators in the state, which should
ultimately lead to students being better prepared for college
and career.
There are many details to understand about APPR, so here are 10
facts you should know:
1. In order to receive federal Race to the Top and state
education aid (which is vital for districts to operate), all
school districts in New York are required by Jan. 17, 2013 to
have adopted locally and received state approval of APPR plans
for teachers and principals. At least until then, districts will
be in different stages of adopting and implementing APPR.
2. Each teacher and principal in grades K-12 will receive a
rating of either: highly effective, effective, developing or
ineffective – every year.
3. Teacher and principal ratings will be based on a 100-point
score. A score between 0-64 would classify a teacher as
“ineffective.” Those with a rating of 65-74 points are
“developing,” and 75 to 90 points signifies “effective.” A
rating from 91-100 means a teacher is “highly effective.”
4. The 100-point score will come from three areas: 60 percent
will be based on observations of teachers in the classroom and
other factors that measure how effective their teaching
practices are; 20 to 25 percent will come from student growth
based on state tests OR progress made toward meeting
student-learning targets (a.k.a. Student Learning Objectives or
SLOs); and the final 15 to 20 percent will be based on measures
of student achievement that are selected by each school
district. All three sections are guided by New York State
Education Department regulations in terms of who does the
evaluating, what can be included in the scoring and how the
scoring must be done.
5. The exact details of the ratings will vary by district as a
result of district policies and negotiations that are included
in local teacher and administrator contracts.
6. The majority of the APPR must be bargained locally, including
classroom observation procedures, the appeals process, Teacher
Improvement Plan (TIP) procedures and local selection of
measures of student achievement. All negotiations must also
follow the extensive regulations from the New York State
Education Department that govern APPR.
7. For subjects without a state assessment test (such as in
grades outside of 4-8), teachers must use a Student Learning
Objective (SLO) to gauge student growth. A SLO is an academic
goal for students set at the start of the course that represents
the most important learning of the year. SLOs must be based on
student learning that is measurable, and must also be aligned to
New York state’s Common Core Learning Standards.
8. Teachers will be observed at least twice a year by the
building principal or a trained administrator, and one of those
observations must be unannounced.
9. All APPR plans must include guidelines for improvement plans
and an appeals process for those who are rated as ineffective.
10. Although the New York State Education Department has said
teacher ratings will be released to the parents of students in
each teacher’s classroom (or in each principal’s school), it is
not clear how the release of these ratings will be implemented.
The ratings for the 2012-13 school year are anticipated in fall
2013.
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