Teach Plus Colorado today issued the following statement in response to Governor Jared Polis signing SB22-070, sponsored by Representatives McLachlan and McCluskie, and Senator Bridges.
“Teach Plus and Teach Plus teacher leaders are excited that the Colorado Legislature passed and Governor Polis today signed SB22-070 into law. This legislation, which aims to create a fair and equitable teacher evaluation system, is the culmination of teachers’ work and advocacy that began more than two years ago. Teach Plus Colorado teacher leaders first put forth a series of recommendations on evaluation in their 2019 report, Teacher Perspectives on the Colorado Teacher Evaluation System. The new law directly reflects the recommendations from the report.
Mark Sass, Teach Plus Colorado Executive Director, said: “Teach Plus teacher leaders were clear that they wanted an evaluation system that was more focussed on development than evaluation; they wanted better training for their evaluators and differentiated rubrics; they wanted colleagues who are rated ‘highly effective’ to be recognized in some way; and the teachers believed that some student data should be used for their evaluations. The lawmakers listened and the bill addresses all of their hopes and recommendations.”
In 2019, Teach Plus Colorado, the Colorado Children’s Campaign, and the Public Education Business Coalition, with funding from the Rose Community Foundation, brought educators together from across the state to envision an evaluation system that reflected the beliefs and recommendations of teachers. “When teachers are given the space to research, create solutions, and then pilot these ideas, they are able to build a stronger profession where educators want to remain for the long term,” Sass continued. “As the state implements this legislation, we hope that our lawmakers continue to see the importance of having teachers at the table to ensure our policies are effective and have a positive impact on students.”
About Teach Plus
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has developed thousands of teacher leaders across the country to exercise their leadership in shaping education policy and improving teaching and learning, to create an education system driven by access and excellence for all. Teachplus.org
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Contact: Anya Grottel-Brown, agrottelbrown@teachplus.org, 917-902-5902
