Tenure Law

and Value-Added
Evaluation
(New Jersey)
Presented by Saira Siddiqi

Tenure Law

The TEACHNJ Act (TEACHNJ) is the bipartisan tenure reform

approved unanimously by the legislature and signed into law by
Governor Christie on August 6, 2012.

The goal of the law is to raise student achievement by improving

instruction through the adoption of evaluations that provide specific
feedback to educators, inform the provision of aligned professional
development, and inform personnel decisions. At its core, TEACHNJ
reforms the processes of earning and maintaining tenure by improving
evaluations and opportunities for professional growth.

Tenure decisions are now based on multiple measures of student

achievement and teacher practice as measured by new evaluation
procedures.

Lengthy and costly tenure hearings are shorter, focused on process

only, and less expensive.

Educator feedback and development is more individualized and focused

on students.

Tenure Law
Any teaching staff member hired (boardapproved) after the August 6, 2012 signing of
TEACHNJ is eligible to earn tenure after four
years.

Tenure Hearings and Arbitration

Prior to enactment of TEACHNJ, teachers were rarely charged with

inefficiency, and the cumbersome tenure revocation process could take years
to complete (including the 90-day period granted to teachers to rectify any
behavior deemed inefficient).
Tenure Hearings and Arbitration
Prior to enactment of TEACHNJ, teachers were rarely charged with inefficiency, and the
cumbersome tenure revocation process could take years to complete (including the 90-day
period granted to teachers to rectify any behavior deemed inefficient).
The streamlined process is as follows:
If any tenured teaching staff member is rated Ineffective or Partially Effective in two
consecutive summative annual evaluations (see chart above), he or she will be charged with
inefficiency.
Within 30 days of the filing, the board of education shall forward the written charges to the
Commissioner, unless the board determines that the evaluation process has not been followed.
The employee has 15 days to submit to the Commissioner a written response to the charges and
then the Commissioner has up to 10 days to refer the case to an arbitrator to determine
potential loss of tenure.
For all charges, the hearing shall be held within 45 days of the assignment to the arbitrator.
The written decision shall be held within 45 days from the start of the hearing.
The costs of the arbitrator will be borne by the State of New Jersey.

Teacher Value-Added Evaluation

Teacher evaluation consists of two primary components:

Teacher

Practice: measured primarily by

classroom observations.

Student

Achievement: measured by
Student Growth Objectives and for a
select group of teachers, Student Growth
Percentiles.

Teacher Practice

Teacher practice is measured by performance on a stateapproved teacher practice instrument (e.g., Danielson,
Marzano, et al.), which is used to gather evidence primarily
through classroom observations.

Non-tenured teachers will have at least three required

observations each year. Each observation must be
conducted for a minimum of 20 minutes. Multiple
observers are required.

Tenured teachers will have at least two required

observations each year. Each observation must be
conducted for a minimum of 20 minutes.

Teacher
Status

Minimum
Observations
(at least 20
minutes each)

Multiple
Observers

Non-tenured

Required

Tenured

Recommended

Corrective
Action Plan

Plus One

Required

Student Growth Objectives

(SGOs)

SGOs are academic goals for groups of students that

each teacher sets with his or her principal or supervisor
at the start of the year. These academic goals, counting
for 15% of a teachers evaluation, should be aligned to
standards and measured using high quality assessments
of various types including locally-developed tests,
performance assessments, and portfolios.

Teachers of non-tested grades and subjects are

required to set two SGOs.

Teachers of tested grades and subjects are required

to set one or two SGOs.

Student Growth Percentiles

(SGPs)

Student Growth Percentiles (SGPs) measure student achievement gains

within 4th-8th-grade Language Arts and 4th- 7th-grade Math.

Referred to as the tested grades and subjects. Using the state

standardized assessment, SGPs compare the change in a students
achievement from one year to the next to that of all other students in
the state who had similar historical results (the students academic
peers).

For teachers of tested grades and subjects, the median of their

students change in achievement, or mSGP, counts for 30% of the overall
evaluation rating.

In order for teachers to have an mSGP score, they must have 20

separate students with SGP scores, and students must be enrolled in a
teachers class for at least 70% of the year.

Summative Rating

This overall evaluation score combines the multiple measures

of teacher practice and student growth.

All New Jersey teachers earn one of four ratings: Highly

Effective, Effective, Partially Effective, or Ineffective.

All teachers receive individual professional development

plans based on their ratings.

Teachers rated Ineffective or Partially Effective work with

their principals to create a Corrective Action Plan with
targeted professional development for the subsequent year.

To maintain tenure, all teachers (regardless of hire date)

have to continue to earn a rating of Effective or Highly
Effective.

Any questions
or comments?

Email: ssiddiqi@supervisior.com