Office of Accountability - NYC Office
I am writing to provide you with updated information regarding the distribution of the State-provided growth results as part of annual professional performance reviews (“APPR”) conducted pursuant to Education Law §3012-d, which will be provided for advisory purposes only pursuant to Section 30-3.17 of the Rules of the Board of Regents. This is a revision to the timeline provided in my August 22 memo, in which it was indicated that the growth results would be provided to school districts on or about September 20.The New York State Education Department (“NYSED” or “the Department”) expects that on or about October 4 data will be available for use in calculating “Original” APPR scores and/or ratings for teachers and principals of grades 4-8 English language arts (ELA) and math and for principals of grades 9-12 and principals of grades 4-12 via the Information and Reporting Services Portal (IRSP). When you log in to the portal, folders with several data files will be available for you to download for use in calculating the “Original” APPR subcomponent, category, and overall scores and/or ratings for applicable teachers and principals for the 2017-18 school year.[1]
There are five data files that will include State-provided growth scores and ratings for grades 4-8 ELA and math teachers; principals of grades 4-8; principals of all grades 9-12; principals with a mix of grades 4-8 and grades 9-12; and schools with these grades levels. An additional 14 data files will be available that include the data used to calculate these scores and ratings (see the enclosed memo regarding the layout of these additional files). These data files will be available for authorized users on the IRSP.[2] For information about accessing the IRSP, see the IRS Portal.
Districts that reported multiple principals for a single school:
Principals for whom a district submitted a Staff Assignment will receive a growth rating and score based on the grades for which they are responsible, as long as the principals have a sufficient number of student scores in those grade levels (for details, see Sections D2 and D17 of the Education Law §3012-d APPR Guidance). NYSED will continue to provide growth ratings and scores for each school building that will be based on all grade levels in the building.
Next Step – Using the State-Provided Growth Scores to complete original final APPRs pursuant to Education Law §3012-d:
Pursuant to Section 30-3.17 of the Rules of the Board of Regents, State-provided growth results are to be used for advisory purposes only throughout the transition period.[3] Although you will be receiving the State-provided growth scores and ratings for your district after September 1, during the APPR Transition Period, the “Original” APPRs, which incorporate these results and are used for advisory purposes only, are to be provided by September 1 or as soon as practicable thereafter. It is only the Transition APPRs, which exclude these results, that must be provided no later than September 1. Therefore, the later delivery of results will not impact your ability to fulfill statutory and regulatory requirements related to APPR.
The overall rating is determined using a matrix that combines one or more measures of student growth as well as educator observations or school visits. Districts will need to incorporate the Growth Score (0-20 points) and the equivalent rating (HEDI) into the APPR original subcomponent and category scores and/or ratings, and original overall ratings as required by Education Law §3012-d and Subpart 30-3 of the Rules of the Board of Regents. Districts must complete the evaluations and provide original subcomponent, category, and overall scores and/or ratings to all educators by September 1, 2018 or as soon as practicable thereafter. Transition scores and ratings, which exclude the results of the grades 3-8 ELA and math State assessments and any State-provided growth scores, must be provided as soon as practicable, but in no case later than September 1, 2018. Additionally, districts should ensure that evaluators of principals and teachers discuss these results individually with educators, including the State-provided growth scores and ratings if applicable, and the plan for each educator’s further growth and development during the year ahead. It is important for you to remember that principal and teacher improvement plans must be developed for any principal or teacher with a Developing or Ineffective transition overall rating. Such improvement plans must be issued by October 1st or as soon as practicable thereafter.
There are five (5) data files in Microsoft Excel (.csv) comma-delimited format that include the necessary data for completion of teacher and principal APPRs. Enclosed with this memo are the data layouts that list detailed information about the data elements included in each data file.
The three files that include educator growth scores and ratings for educators responsible for grades 4-8 ELA and math that will be available beginning on or about October 4 are:
- 4-8 Teacher HEDI – this file contains mean growth percentiles (MGPs) and HEDI ratings and scores for teachers of grades 4-8 ELA and Math for 2017-18;
- 4-8 Principal HEDI – this file contains MGPs and HEDI ratings and scores for 2017-18 for principals of schools with grades 4-8. Only principals for whom Staff Assignment records were submitted by the district will be included in this file; and
- 4-8 School HEDI – this file contains MGPs and HEDI ratings and scores for 2017-18 for schools with grades 4-8.
The two files that include growth scores and ratings for principals and schools responsible for all grades 9-12 and principals and schools responsible for a mix of grades 4-8 and 9-12, which will also be available beginning on or about October 4 are:
- 4-8 and 9-12 Principal HEDI – this file contains HEDI ratings and scores for all principals, including combined HEDI ratings and scores for principals with State-provided growth subcomponent data for both grades 4-8 and 9-12; and
- 4-8 and 9-12 School HEDI – this file contains HEDI ratings and scores for all principals, including combined HEDI ratings and scores for schools with State-provided growth subcomponent data for both grades 4-8 and 9-12.
Due in November – District submission of APPR original and transition final results to NYSED
Pursuant to Education Law §3012-d(15) and § 30-3.15(d) of the Rules of the Board of Regents, you will need to report to NYSED the original and transition final evaluation subcomponent scores and overall ratings for all teachers and principals in your district. Pursuant to Education Law §3012-d, the original overall rating, which is for advisory purposes only during the APPR transition period, and the transition overall rating, are determined using a matrix that combines one or more measures of student growth as well as teacher observations and principal school visits. All data must be submitted to NYSED no later than November 16, 2018 and certified no later than November 30, 2018. This is an extension from the reporting deadline of October 19. Local Level 1 centers may require earlier due dates to allow sufficient time for processing. For further information on APPR data collection and reporting timelines for the 2017-18 school year, please see Executive Director Alexander Trikalinos’ September 5, 2018 memo.
To complete teacher original subcomponent/category APPR scores and/or ratings and original overall APPR ratings using the State-provided growth data, districts must access the 4-8 Teacher HEDI file and use the variable named HEDI_rating, which is the corresponding rating for a particular teacher.[4] To complete principal APPRs using the State-provided growth data, districts must access the 4-8 and 9-12 Principal HEDI file and use the variable named HEDI_rating_overall, which is the corresponding rating for a particular principal. If any teacher or principal has not received a growth score or rating as expected, the district should utilize back-up Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) (see Sections D42 and D44 of the Education Law §3012-d APPR Guidance for details). During the APPR Transition period, back-up SLOs are only required to be developed for high school principals of schools that include all of grades 9-12. In instances where back-up SLOs are not created, the original evaluations for such educators will be incomplete. When districts submit their staff evaluation ratings to NYSED via Level 2, they will be required to identify on the verification report any educators who have had a State-provided growth score replaced by a locally-derived score and the reason why the score was replaced.[5]
For questions about the data provided in the files or how to use these data to complete APPRs, contact educatoreval@nysed.gov.
Enclosure
Footnotes
[1] For additional information regarding the APPR Transition Period (the 2015-16 through 2018-19 school years), please see the Department’s APPR Transition Guidance Document.
[2] NYC will follow the same protocol for receiving all other NYSED files and can access their files via the established SFTP.
[3] For more details, see Executive Director Alexander Trikalinos’ September 5, 2018 memo as well as the APPR Transition Guidance Document.
[4] As a reminder, for educators whose Growth subcomponent rating is a combination of a State-provided growth score and one or more Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), the HEDI score must be combined with the SLO results, weighting the measures proportionately based on the number of students covered by each measure.
[5] State-provided growth scores may only be replaced by locally-derived scores for the following reasons: a) a principal has <30% of his/her students covered by the State-provided growth measures; b) a teacher has <50% of his/her students covered by the State-provided growth measures; c) a State-provided growth measure has been provided for an educator who is not subject to Education Law §3012-d, or should not have received a score pursuant to Education Law §3012-d (see Section B of the APPR Guidance); d) final determination of a local appeal; or e) final determination of an appeal to the State.
