Professional Development: New Hampshire

Analysis of New Hampshire's policies

New Hampshire does not have state-level policy that connects professional development to teachers' evaluations.

Recommendations for New Hampshire

Require that evaluation systems provide teachers with feedback about their performance.
In order to increase their effectiveness in the classroom, teachers need to receive feedback on strengths and areas that need improvement identified in their evaluations. As such, New Hampshire should require that evaluation systems provide teachers with feedback about their classroom performance.

Ensure that professional development is aligned with findings from teachers' evaluations.
Professional development that is not informed by evaluation results may be of little value to teachers' professional growth and aim of increasing their effectiveness in the classroom. New Hampshire should ensure that districts utilize teacher evaluation results in determining professional development needs and activities.

State response to our analysis

New Hampshire recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state noted that the administrative rule, Ed 512, governing the Professional Development Master Plan is under revision. Learning Forward's new Standards for Professional Learning will help to frame modification of the rules. One goal in this revision process is to strengthen the link between evaluation systems and professional development. This linkage is a strong component of the School Improvement Grant evaluation systems that are already being implemented and will help to inform future policy changes in New Hampshire.