Department releases Educator Effectiveness System results from School Year 2013-14

Nearly all of the Department's teachers have been rated "effective" or "highly effective" based on results from the first full year of implementation of the EES. Changes have been implemented for SY 2014-15 to streamline and simplify the process for teachers and administrators.

Deputy Supt. Ronn Nozoe discusses results from the first year of the Educator Effectiveness System with the Board of Education's Human Resources Committee.

​​HONOLULU – An overwhelming majority of the state’s more than 11,000 teachers are “effective” and “highly effective” educators, according to Educator Effectiveness System (EES) results from school year 2013-14 released today by the Hawaii State Department of Education (DOE). Teachers received their results during conferences with their administrators earlier this year. The 2013-14 school year represented the first year of statewide implementation with no negative consequences for tenured teachers.

The results indicate nearly a vast majority of teachers are performing at the highest levels when it comes to the EES, which gives equal weight to two major categories – Student Growth and Learning Measures, and Teacher Practice Measures:

• 16.0 percent of teachers are rated highly effective, meaning they demonstrate excellence in teacher practice and positive student outcomes.
• 81.7 percent of teachers are rated effective, which means they demonstrate effective teacher practice and positive student outcomes.
• 2.1 percent of teachers were rated marginal, meaning improvements are needed to demonstrate effective teacher practice and positive student outcomes.
• 0.2 percent of teachers were rated unsatisfactory, which means teachers do not show evidence of effective teacher practice, positive student outcomes.

Within the EES Student Growth and Learning Measures and the Teacher Practice Measures, educators are evaluated on several areas including classroom observations, student survey, core professionalism, student learning objectives, and the Hawaii Growth Model. A working portfolio is used to evaluate non-classroom teachers.

Other highlights of the results include:

• More than 91 percent of educators were in the top two categories for the Tripod Student Survey
• Nearly 97 percent were in the top two categories for Core Professionalism

“Overall the results reflect more or less what we what we expected: most teachers are effective, with very few teachers rated as marginal, and even fewer rated as unsatisfactory,” Deputy Superintendent Ronn Nozoe stated. “More importantly, EES is designed to help teachers and their administrators have high-quality conversations throughout the year about how to improve teaching and learning.”

In keeping with the DOE’s commitment to reduce burden on teachers and administrators, several significant changes were announced in June designed to simplify the EES, streamline its components and differentiate the approach for teachers based on need. These changes will take effect during this school year, 2014-15. The changes were based on feedback generated from a variety of groups that included educators.

Some of the more notable changes to take effect this school year include differentiating the number of required classroom observations based on need from twice annually to 0 for highly effective teachers; 1 or more for effective teachers, and 2 or more for marginal, unsatisfactory or beginning teachers. Based on these results, approximately 1,800 teachers rated highly effective last school year will carryover their rating.

Other areas of the EES will see changes as well, more notably, reduction in the administration of the Tripod Student Survey from twice to once annually, and eliminating the survey for grades K-2. In school year 2014-15, the Tripod Student Survey is being included as a subcomponent under Core Professionalism, and will no longer be an independent component with a stand-alone rating.

“We look forward to continuing the conversation with educators about how to improve the EES to make it the best tool we can for supporting teachers,” Nozoe added.

Teachers and their principals have access to more detailed reports with individual teachers’ data. Additional EES results and information can be found here​.

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About the Hawaii State Department of Education
The Hawaii State Department of Education is the ninth-largest U.S. school district and the only statewide educational system in the country. It is comprised of 255 schools and 34 charter schools, and serves more than 185,000 students. King Kamehameha III established Hawaii’s public school system in 1840. The DOE is in the midst of a range of historic efforts to transform its public education system to ensure graduates succeed in college or careers. View our Milestones of Transformation.