168.749. Eligibility for stipends, criteria. - Missouri Statutes

Eligibility for stipends, criteria.

168.749. 1. Beginning with school year 2010-11, teachers who electto participate in the teacher choice compensation package shall be eligiblefor stipends based on the following criteria:

(1) Score on a value-added test instrument or instruments. Suchinstruments shall be defined as those which give a reliable measurement ofthe skills and knowledge transferred to students during the time they arein a teacher's classroom and shall be selected by the school district fromone or more of the following assessments:

(a) A list of recognized value-added instruments developed by thedepartment of elementary and secondary education;

(b) Scores on the statewide assessments established under section160.518, RSMo, may be used for this purpose, and the department ofelementary and secondary education shall develop a procedure foridentifying the value added by teachers that addresses the fact that notall subjects are tested at all grade levels each year under the stateassessment program;

(c) Scores on annual tests required by the federal Elementary andSecondary Education Act reauthorization of 2002 for third through eighthgrade may be used as value-added instruments if found appropriate afterconsideration and approval by the state board of education;

(d) A district may choose an instrument after a public hearing of thedistrict board of education on the matter, with the reasons for theselection entered upon the minutes of the meeting; provided, however, thatthis option shall not be available to districts after scores areestablished for paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of this subdivision;

(2) Evaluations by principals or other administrators with expertiseto evaluate classroom performance;

(3) Evaluations by parents and by students at their appropriatedevelopmental level.

Model instruments for these evaluations shall be developed or identified bythe department of elementary and secondary education. Districts may usesuch models, may use other existing models, or may develop their owninstruments. A district that develops its own instrument shall not usethat instrument as its sole method of evaluation.

2. The department of elementary and secondary education shall developcriteria for determining eligibility for stipend increments, including arange of target scores on assessments for use by the districts. Thetest-score options listed in subdivision (1) of subsection 1 of thissection shall be given higher weight than the evaluation options listed insubdivisions (2) and (3) of subsection 1 of this section. The decision ofindividual districts about the qualifications for each increment based onthe evaluations listed in subdivisions (2) and (3) of subsection 1 of thissection and for value-added instruments for which target scores have notbeen developed by the department of elementary and secondary education mayaddress the district's unique characteristics but shall requiredemonstrably superior performance on the part of the teacher, basedprimarily on improved student achievement while taking into accountclassroom demographics including but not limited to students' abilities,special needs, and class size.

(L. 2009 S.B. 291)