Most teachers, school leaders rated exemplary or accomplished in new evaluation

More than 18,000 teachers, leaders rated

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Aug. 10, 2015) — In the first year of statewide implementation of Kentucky’s Professional Growth and Effectiveness System (PGES) 28 percent of teachers and 26 percent of leaders were rated exemplary, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Another 65.5 percent of teachers were rated accomplished, 6.3 percent developing and less than 1 percent were rated ineffective. Among leaders, 63 percent were rated accomplished and 11 percent developing, while none were rated ineffective.

Under the system, about one third of certified educators in the state are evaluated each year. In 2014-15, about 16,700 teachers and about 1,400 principals and assistant principals received summative ratings.

“What we know is that our numbers are pretty reflective of what we are seeing nationwide,” Commissioner Terry Holliday said. “But we are concerned about the distribution. How can most teachers be rated high, yet only 50 percent of our students are performing at the highest levels?”

Holliday said, “We shouldn’t focus on the label; we should focus on the feedback and how teachers can use it to grow and improve. That will take a shift in culture.”

Holliday told the Kentucky Board of Education that despite glitches in the technology platform used for PGES, most teachers and partners feel the system is important and support moving forward with it.

In an effort to improve implementation of the system and increase its effectiveness, in the upcoming year the Kentucky Department of Education will provide more support for principals to provide high quality feedback to teachers, work to build capacity for use of the system in districts and increase the flexibility of the technology platform used for PGES.