Massachusetts has released the ratings of educator performance within the new evaluation system.  Note: In this first year, most districts only rated 50% of their educators, and non-Race to the Top districts have no ratings to report.

The most important number to note is the percentage of educators rated proficient or better statewide: 92.6. This percent is less than the percent found proficient in early adoption states like Tennessee (94) and Florida (97), but makes me wonder if evaluators are doing a good enough job differentiating among performance levels.

Also worth noting are the wide discrepancies in percent proficient among districts and even between schools within a district. While some district rated all of their teachers proficient or better, others found only two-thirds of their educators at that level. Is the effectiveness of these teaching staffs really that different, or are evaluators applying the performance rubrics differently?