APPR Update – Legislation on the Move

Last April, legislation was introduced in the Assembly to revise teacher and principal evaluations. This same piece of proposed legislation was reintroduced and renumbered at the start of the new legislative session last week. The bill primarily delinks the required use of state assessments from educator evaluations, with the remaining major components of APPR left intact.

The action to delink required use of state assessments in professional evaluations met widespread support across our membership and certainly provides a positive step forward. SAANYS has been carefully tracking and analyzing this bill in terms of its strengths and challenges. We have been in close contact with our members, the Government Relations Committee, other education associations and also hosted a round table discussion with the commissioner at our annual conference, where potential modifications to APPR have been discussed.

We recognize that this legislation is moving quickly and seems to have gained considerable traction. While this legislation addresses a fundamental problem with the current APPR process, remaining components, such as the prohibition of certain performance indicators, the continuation of a required independent evaluator, and the possible increased reliance on the SLO process remain concerning. SAANYS will continue to advocate for passage of this bill, as well as articulate our concerns in hopes of trying to make a revised APPR system workable for all impacted.