South Dakota school districts will have more flexibility in how they measure teacher effectiveness starting in the 2025-26 school year. Student learning objectives—where teachers set individual growth goals—become optional rather than required, though districts must still evaluate teachers' ability to use assessments in instruction. The rules also update outdated federal references and simplify evaluation language to focus feedback on areas for professional improvement rather than rigid performance categories.
AI-generated from the proposed rule text — verify against the official documents.
CANCELED------- The effect of the rules will be to revise teacher evaluations by making student learning objectives optional, require the scoring of component 3d (Using Assessment in Instruction), revise outdated timelines, and clarify and update language. The reason for adopting the proposed rules is to provide South Dakota school districts with more flexibility in how they assess teacher effectiveness in relation to student growth while ensuring formative assessments are utilized to elicit evidence of student learning.
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