Act 13 of 2020
Act 13 of 2020, signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf on March 27, 2020, revises the Act 82 Educator Effectiveness (EE) process used to evaluate professional employees and temporary professional employees in PK-12 education across the commonwealth. The revised rating system applies to classroom teachers, nonteaching professionals, and principals as defined in Act 13.
- Classroom teacher is defined as a professional employee or temporary professional employee who provide direct instruction to students related to a specific subject or grade level.
- Nonteaching professional is defined as an educational specialist or a professional employee or temporary professional employee who provides services and who is not a classroom teacher.
- Principal is defined as a building principal, an assistant principal, a vice principal, a supervisor of special education or a director of career and technical education.
Contact
For questions regarding educator effectiveness, email: RA-PDE-Evaluation@pa.gov
Locally Developed Alternate Teacher Evaluation System
The goal of Pennsylvania's teacher evaluation system is to improve student achievement by focusing on teacher effectiveness. The system provides summative scores for accountability purposes, inform decisions about tenure or dismissal, identify teachers in need of remediation, and provide formative feedback to improve teachers' practice.
Act 13 of 2020, revised the Act 82 Educator Effectiveness (EE) process used to evaluate professional employees and temporary professional employees in PK-12 education across the commonwealth. Effective the 2021-2022 school year, the revised rating system applies to classroom teachers, non-teaching professionals, and principals as defined in Act 13.
24 P.S. §11-1138.6 provides school districts, intermediate units, and area career and technical schools with the opportunity to develop their own rating tool for use in evaluating professional employees and temporary professional employees who serve as classroom teachers, non-teaching professionals, or principals. At the request of a local education agency (LEA), the Department will review for approval an alternative rating tool that has been authorized by the LEA's governing board and that meets or exceeds the measures of effectiveness established by the Department and published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on March 27, 2021. The review process ensures Pennsylvania educators are held to similar standards across the state.
Pennsylvania's observation and practice component addresses the evaluation of the following four domains:
| Classroom Teacher | Non-Teaching Professional | Principal/School Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Planning and Preparation | Planning and Preparation | Strategic/Cultural Leadership |
| Classroom Environment | Educational Environment | Systems Leadership |
| Instruction | Delivery of Service | Leadership for Learning |
| Professional Responsibilities | Professional Development | Professional and Community Leadership |
LEAs modifying the observation/practice component are required to submit prescribed descriptions and evidence as detailed in the Classroom Teacher (PDF), Principal (PDF), and/or Non-Teaching Professional (PDF) applications for approval. Approval by the Department is required before any modifications to the teacher observation/practice component may be implemented.
LEAs modifying Building Level Data, Teacher Specific Data (assessments, growth, IEP goals progress), or LEA Selected Measures must submit prescribed descriptions and evidence as detailed in the application for approval (PDF). Approval by the Pennsylvania Department of Education is required before any modifications to the Building Level Data, Teacher Specific Data, or LEA Selected Measures may be implemented.
Completed application, with attachments, should be submitted to RA-PDE-Evaluation@pa.gov.
Annual Report
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) collects Educator Effectiveness data annually to comply with reporting requirements associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and U.S. Department of Education (USDE) revised EdFacts regulations.
As outlined by these programs, each state must report on how teacher and principal performance is evaluated; how performance ratings are used; and how the ratings are distributed across various Performance Levels.
The Educator Effectiveness Annual Report is collected annually through the Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal (FRCPP).
To gain access to the FRCPP, log in to MyPDESuite. If you are not a registered user, please reference this document: Register a Username and Log In.
Your local education agency's Local Security Administrator can add/remove users in MyPDESuite. If you need help accessing the FRCPP, please use the step-by-step guide for Accessing the Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal.
If you do not know who your Administrators are, you can find this information by selecting Find my Security Administrator on the main page in MyPDESuite.
Questions concerning the Educator Effectiveness Annual Report should be emailed to: RA-PDE-Evaluation@pa.gov.