(a) An educator holding an initial license pursuant to § 1210 of this title must receive a Delaware Performance Appraisal System II (DPAS II) evaluation annually. An educator holding a continuing license pursuant to § 1211 of this title or an advanced license pursuant to § 1213 of this title must receive a Delaware Performance Appraisal System II (DPAS II) evaluation at least every 2 academic years. For purposes of this subchapter only, the term “educator” shall also include specialists who practice in Delaware public schools, whether or not they are licensed and certified by the Department. The evaluation must be consistent with the Delaware Professional Teaching Standards and the Delaware Administrators’ Standards, and must otherwise be in accordance with the criteria and requirements of this section.
(b) The Department, with the consent of the State Board of Education, shall promulgate rules and regulations to administer the Delaware Performance Appraisal System II (DPAS II). The DPAS II must include an overall rating and a student-improvement component rating, and must identify what constitutes satisfactory performance and unsatisfactory performance on the overall evaluation and on each component of the evaluation. For the purposes of § 1273 of this title, DPAS II must also include a definition of “pattern of ineffective teaching” and define “pattern of ineffective administration” as it relates to unsatisfactory performance on the overall DPAS II evaluation.
(c) (1) DPAS II must have no more than 5 components and must have a strong focus on student improvement, with 1 component dedicated exclusively to student improvement. All components must be weighted equally beginning in the 2017-18 academic year.
(2) For all Part A and Part B goals, the educator, as well as the administrator, may propose measures to be used to provide data to judge progress towards the goals. The proposed measures must be approved by the administrator, and not result in additional assessments for students. With regard to Part B goals, the measures must be selected from a list of the standardized measures approved by the Department.
(3) The measure of student improvement must take into consideration student absence, student mobility, student chronic noncompliance with school rules, chronic failure by parents to abide by the Parents’ Declaration of Responsibilities under § 157 of this title, and other factors that may adversely affect the evaluation. If a student has missed more than 15% of the class time, the student’s performance shall only be used with the agreement of the teacher under this chapter.
(d) A local school district may develop and implement other assessment tools that measure annual student improvement, including assessments in other content areas. Assessment tools developed and implemented pursuant to this subsection must be approved by the Secretary and must be funded with local funds.
(e) Nothing in this section prevents a local school district from administering other evaluations in addition to the Delaware Performance Appraisal System II, provided that administration of additional evaluations is reported to the Department.
(f) A local school district, vocational-technical school district or charter school may make application to the Department for a waiver of the provisions of the DPAS II evaluation system, which shall be granted, subject to the provisions of rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this subchapter, if the request for a waiver is based on a locally developed evaluation process that is demonstrated to be the product of the collective bargaining process pursuant to Chapter 40 of this title and community review and is as rigorous and as educationally sound as DPAS II, provides for evaluating educator performance by measuring student growth using multiple measures over the course of a curricular year, and contains a mechanism for certifying evaluators and for quality control.
(g) The Department shall implement the Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System through a pilot program in no less than 3 local education agencies for the 2021-2022 academic year. During the 2022-2023 academic year, additional nonparticipating local education agencies may join the pilot program. The pilot program shall weigh all performance areas equally, shall incorporate professional growth plans for teachers, and shall meet the following requirements for each participating local education agency:
(1) Any such pilot program shall be conducted with the consent of the local education agency and organization representing the local education agency’s educators for collective bargaining purposes, if applicable.
(2) The performance area dedicated to student improvement shall contain a Part I and a Part II. Part I shall contain at least 1 individual professional learning goal created by the teacher and administrator that is focused on the continuous improvement of skills aligned to the Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System teacher observation rubric. Part II shall contain at least 2 individual student improvement goals selected by the teacher and administrator that demonstrate the teacher’s contribution to student growth for the teacher’s current cohort of students. If the teacher and administrator do not agree, the administrator’s decision is final. Each “Part II” goal shall be based upon a measure that has been approved by the Department. Measures may be created by a local education agency but must be approved by the Department prior to use. The administrator shall assess the progress toward goals, regardless of whether the teacher has satisfied the requirements of § 1403(a) of this title, is on a directed professional growth plan, or has a satisfactory rating on that teacher’s most recent performance evaluation.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule or regulation to the contrary, grades 3 through 8 and high school state assessments required under § 151 of this title shall not be required as a measure of student growth as part of a teacher’s evaluation.
(4) The measure of student improvement must take into consideration student absence, student mobility, student chronic noncompliance with school rules, chronic failure by parents to abide by the Parents’ Declaration of Responsibilities under § 157 of this title, and other factors that may adversely affect the evaluation. If a student has missed more than 15% of the class time, the student’s performance shall only be used with the agreement of the teacher under this chapter.
(5) a. Local education agencies that participated in the 2021-2022 school year pilot may continue to use the Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System during the 2022-2023 academic year. Evidence collected and feedback provided under this subsection shall be used as part of a teacher’s evaluation cycle and to assign an official summative rating for the 2022-2023 academic year. Any local education agency that participated in the 2021-2022 school year pilot that does not continue to use the Delaware Growth and Support System during the 2022-2023 school year shall apply to the Department for approval to revert back to the Delaware Performance Appraisal System II (DPAS II) or an approved alternate evaluation system.
b. Any such decision regarding continued use of the Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System during the 2022-2023 school year shall be made with the consent of the school district and organization representing the district’s educators for collective bargaining purposes. Approval granted under this subsection shall be for the 2022-2023 school year only.
c. For the 2022-2023 school year any local education agency that makes the decision not to continue with the Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System shall implement DPAS II or an approved alternate evaluation system in accordance with this section.
(6) Beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year, the Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System will replace the Delaware Performance Appraisal System II for all licensed and certified teachers.
(h) (1) Notwithstanding any provision of this section, the Delaware Performance Appraisal System II under this section is modified for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 academic school years. Educators must engage in an observation and feedback cycle to provide coaching, and support to encourage all of the following:
a. Relationship building.
b. Student engagement in learning.
c. Standards-aligned curriculum implementation.
(2) The observation and feedback cycle under paragraph (h)(1) of this section must include all of the following:
a. An initial goal setting process.
b. Classroom observation:
1. Experienced teachers shall receive a minimum of 1 announced or unannounced observation within the observation and feedback cycle.
2. Novice teachers shall receive a minimum of 2 announced or unannounced observations within the observation and feedback cycle.
c. An end-of-year conference between the educator and evaluator.
(3) The evaluator shall record feedback provided to an educator under this subsection in the Data Service Center platform and must include all of the following:
a. Component and Criterion level ratings as developed for the 2020-2021 school year and shared by the Department in a guidance document.
b. Any narrative language related to recommendations or commendations on the educator’s performance.
(4) The only forms that an educator must complete under this subsection are the following:
a. The goal setting form.
b. A verification form, created by the Department, to ensure that the educator’s observation and feedback cycle has been completed.
(5) Evidence collected and feedback provided during observations under this subsection may be used as part of the evaluation cycle and to assign a summative rating for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 academic years.
(6) [Repealed.]
(i) (1) The Department shall revise the student improvement component of evaluations under this section to ensure an evaluation system that is equitable, flexible, and focused on meaningful student progress. The revised measure of student improvement under this paragraph (i)(1) must take into consideration all of the following:
a. Student absence. If a student has missed more than 15% of the class time, that student’s performance may only be used with the agreement of the educator being evaluated under this chapter.
b. Student mobility.
c. Student chronic noncompliance with school rules.
d. A parent’s chronic failure to abide by the Parents’ Declaration of Responsibilities.
e. Other factors that the Department identifies that may adversely affect an evaluation.
(2) For purposes of this subsection, “school” means a school district or charter school.
(3) The Department shall implement a pilot program for the revised student improvement component under paragraph (i)(1) of this section as follows:
a. At least 3 schools for the 2025-2026 academic year.
b. At least 6 additional schools for the 2026-2027 academic year.
c. This pilot program must be conducted with the consent of all of the following:
1. Each participating school.
2. If applicable, the organization representing the participating school’s educators for collective bargaining purposes.
d. This pilot program must include teachers, specialists, and administrators and focus on refining the goal-setting process, ensuring alignment with professional growth and increasing flexibility in student improvement measures.
e. All participants in this pilot program must receive summative evaluations but the student improvement component will not factor into overall ratings for participating educators or schools.
(4) Beginning with the 2027-2028 academic year, the Department shall implement the revised student improvement component under paragraph (i)(1) of this section statewide for all licensed and certified educators.