CHEYENNE – The Wyoming State Board of Education (SBE) voted to withdraw the currently proposed Chapter 29 Rules for teacher and leader evaluations and promulgate revised rules at its meeting in Laramie on September 20. The Board voted to revise the leadership evaluation section of the rules to add language that clarifies schools districts’ locally designed leader evaluation system must align to a majority of the benchmarks within professional Standard One of the state-defined system. The standard encompasses clear and consistent focus on maximizing the learning and growth of all students.

The revised rules will not be finalized before the November 1 deadline for school districts to submit a teacher evaluation system to the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) for accreditation purposes. Knowing this, the SBE encouraged the WDE to ensure the rules promulgation delay will not affect the accreditation of districts working in good faith to be compliant with Chapter 29 Rules as the districts understood them.

Chairman Walt Wilcox emphasized, “While the proposed Chapter 29 had been reviewed several times before the initial promulgation, once the Department was able to apply the rules, we found a difference between the state model and the local model for leaders. By rescinding the proposed rules and promulgating new rules, the state board will have corrected this slight imbalance.”

The SBE also voted to adopted Chapter 3 Rules regarding parameters under which school districts may seek an informal review of its annual school performance ratings. The rules will now go to the governor’s office for a
75-day review before becoming final.

The SBE again voted to postpone taking action on the Chapter 10 Rules, which includes the newly-developed Computer Science standards, pending a formal opinion from Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill.

The Board heard presentations from University of Wyoming’s Dean of the College of Education, Dr. Ray Reutzel, about the Trustees Education Initiative that aims to elevate the college into a preeminent educator preparation institution, and from Albany #1 Superintendent Jubal Yennie, who talked about his district’s successes in accountability.

Board Coordinator Tom Sachse reported on the most recent Basket of Goods Task Force recommendations to the SBE and the WDE; current research into what other state boards of education are doing to enhance civics in education; and administrative procedures regarding Robert’s Rules of Order.

The WDE provided an update on its work refining the District Assessment System that provides clear guidance to districts about the required components of the approved district assessment system. Dr. Scott Marion of the Center of Assessment presented the Board with information on balanced systems of assessment.

Prior to convening as the Wyoming State Board of Education, the Board convened as the State Board of Vocational Education to hear an update on Wyoming’s  Perkins V plan that included proposed performance assessment targets for school districts and community colleges receiving Perkins funds. The proposed targets are currently out for public comment.

The next board meeting is scheduled for October 24-25 in Cody. For more information about the SBE and its mission, visit https://wyboardofeducation.org, or follow the SBE on Twitter @WYStateBoardEd.

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Media Contact:
Dr. Thomas Sachse
(307) 752-1900
tom.sachse@wyo.gov