Dive Brief:

• New Mexico teachers who score "ineffective" or "minimally effective" run the risk of not progressing through the state's three-tiered licensure system and ultimately having their salary plateau.
• The plan has some flexibility, however, since Principals can write recommendations for teachers who earn poor scores and these can help teachers continue progressing up tiers despite evaluations.
• New teachers have the most to lose under this plan, as failure to progress to the second tier by their fifth year renders their contract null and void.

Dive Insight:

While the idea is not so bad in theory, what complicates it is the fact that New Mexico already had major issues with its teacher evaluations this year. Earlier last month, the state's Department of Education released a statement saying a portion of the recently released teacher evaluations were based on incorrect data. Messing with teachers' pay, while also admitting the information you're using to do so is incorrect, is probably not going to sit well with many — especially the state's teacher unions.