More Florida Teachers Rated “Highly Effective”

More than 97 percent of Florida teachers earned one of the top two evaluation scores — “highly effective” or “effective” — according to preliminary statewide data released Wednesday.

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More teachers are earning the state's highest rating, according to the first batch of data released Wednesday.

The percentage of teachers earning the top rating increased for the second year in a row. More than 42 percent of teachers were rated “highly effective.” That’s up from 23 percent two years ago.

More than half of teachers were rated “effective.”

The ratings at the other end of the scale were virtually unchanged from last year. Teachers earning “needs improvement” were 1.3 percent of the state total, while three in 1,000 teachers were rated “unsatisfactory.”

Nearly one in five teachers has yet to be evaluated.

The teacher ratings are based, in part, on student test scores and are required by a 2011 law. This is the third year Florida has released statewide data.

State law requires school districts to create evaluation systems based mostly on student improvement on state standardized tests. School districts could require more training and supervision for poorly-rated teachers and less supervision for highly-rated teachers.

Florida school districts have some flexibility in setting their evaluation systems, which contributes to the high percentage of “effective” and “highly effective” teachers. For more info on how the evaluations are calculated and what the ratings mean, check out this story.