Important SED APPR Revisions – February 2014

The link below was released by the State Education Department the morning of February 25. The link provides access to a field memorandum issued by Julia Rafal-Baer, executive director of the SED Office of Teacher and Leader Effectiveness, Policy and Programs. The memorandum pertains to APPR revisions accruing from the Board of Regents February 2014 meeting, including the following actions:

  • Effective February 11, 2014,  Expedited APPR Reviews to reduce unnecessary testing
  • Effective February 11, 2014, Core Subject Areas permitting school-wide, group, or team measures
  • Effective March 2, 2014, no APPR plan shall be approved by SED for 2014-15 that includes traditional standardized third party or vendor assessments to students in kindergarten through grade 2.
  • Effective March 2, 2014, SED will eliminate from its list of State-Approved Assessments for 2014-15, traditional standardized assessments for use in kindergarten through grade 2.
  • Effective March 2, 2014, any APPR plan submitted for approval in 2014-15 must certify that no more than 1 percent of total instructional time in each classroom or program will be spent taking locally-determined traditional standardized assessments from the state’s approved list or traditional standardized district, regional or BOCES-developed assessments for APPR purposes. (This requirement does NOT apply to assessments that are used for formative or diagnostic purposes.)
  • Updates will be made to SED resources according to the following schedule:

Week of February 24, 2014
– Review Room 2.0 Portal – add school-wide option for 6-7 science and 6-8 social studies
– APPR Guidance and Purple Memo
– SLO Guidance
– Task-by Task Guidance

Week of March 3, 2014
– Certifying Instructional Time APPR Guidance
– State-approved third party assessment list
– Review Room 2.0 – change third party assessment option for K-2
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To: NYSDATA@listserv.nysed.gov
Subject: memo re: APPR and recent BOR meeting posted

Summary of the Board of Regents Recently Announced Regulatory Changes to Subpart 30-2 of the Rules of the Board of Regents, Relating to Annual Professional Performance Reviews (APPR) for Teachers and Principals ha been posted at

http://www.engageny.org/sites/default/files/resource/attachments/appr-impact-field-memo-2-24-14.pdf

– See more at: http://www.saanysdev.ygsgroup.com/viewarticle.asp?id=3913#sthash.AewgEKU4.dpuf