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Alaska Statutes.

Title 14. Education, Libraries, and Museums

Chapter 20. Teachers and School Personnel

Section 149. Employee Evaluation.

AS 14.20.149. Employee Evaluation.

(a) A school board shall adopt by July 1, 1997, a certificated employee evaluation system for evaluation and improvement of the performance of the district's teachers and administrators. The evaluation system applies to all the district's certificated employees except the district's superintendent. A school board shall consider information from students, parents, community members, classroom teachers, affected collective bargaining units, and administrators in the design and periodic review of the district's certificated employee evaluation system. An evaluation of a certificated employee under this section must be based on observation of the employee in the employee's workplace.

(b) The certificated employee evaluation system must

(1) establish district performance standards for the district's teachers and administrators that are based on professional performance standards adopted by the department by regulation;

(2) require at least two observations for the evaluation of each nontenured teacher in the district each school year;

(3) require at least an annual evaluation of each tenured teacher in the district who met the district performance standards during the previous school year;

(4) permit the district to limit its evaluations of tenured teachers who have consistently exceeded the district performance standards to one evaluation every two school years;

(5) require the school district to perform an annual evaluation for each administrator;

(6) require the school district to prepare and implement a plan of improvement for a teacher or administrator whose performance did not meet the district performance standards, except if the teacher's or administrator's performance warrants immediate dismissal under AS 14.20.170(a); and

(7) provide an opportunity for students, parents, community members, teachers, and administrators to provide information on the performance of the teacher or administrator who is the subject of the evaluation to the evaluating administrator.

(c) A person may not conduct an evaluation under this section unless the person holds a type B certificate or is a site administrator under the supervision of a person with a type B certificate, is employed by the school district as an administrator, and has completed training in the use of the school district's teacher evaluation system.

(d) Once each school year, a school district shall offer in-service training to the certificated employees who are subject to the evaluation system. The training must address the procedures of the evaluation system, the standards that the district uses in evaluating the performance of teachers and administrators, and other information that the district considers helpful.

(e) A school district shall provide a tenured teacher whose performance, after evaluation, did not meet the district performance standards with a plan of improvement. The evaluating administrator shall consult with the tenured teacher in setting clear, specific performance expectations to be included in the plan of improvement. The plan of improvement must address ways in which the tenured teacher's performance can be improved and shall last for not less than 90 workdays and not more than 180 workdays unless the minimum time is shortened by agreement between the evaluating administrator and the teacher. The plan of improvement shall be based on the professional performance standards outlined in the locally adopted school district evaluation procedure. The school district must observe the teacher at least twice during the course of the plan. If, at the conclusion of the plan of improvement, the tenured teacher's performance again does not meet the district performance standards, the district may nonretain the teacher under AS 14.20.175 (b)(1).

(f) A school district may place an administrator who has previously acquired tenure, whose performance, including performance as an evaluator under the district's certificated employee evaluation system, does not meet the district performance standards on a plan of improvement. The plan must address ways in which the administrator's performance can be improved and shall last for not less than 90 workdays and not more than 210 workdays unless the minimum time is shortened by agreement between the evaluating administrator and the administrator being evaluated. The school district must observe the administrator being evaluated at least twice during the course of the plan. If, at the conclusion of the plan of improvement, the administrator's performance again does not meet the district performance standards, the district may terminate its employment contract with the administrator. This subsection does not restrict the right of a school district to reassign an administrator to a teaching position consistent with the terms of an applicable collective bargaining agreement.

(g) The department may request copies of each school district's certificated employee evaluation system and changes the district makes to the systems.

(h) Information provided to a school district under the school district's certificated employee evaluation system concerning the performance of an individual being evaluated under the system is not a public record and is not subject to disclosure under AS 40.25. However, the individual who is the subject of the evaluation is entitled to a copy of the information and may waive the confidentiality provisions of this subsection concerning the information.