APPR (Annual Professional Performance Review) is the new state-required evaluation system for teachers and principals. While teachers and principals have always been evaluated and held to standards, the new system has more government oversight and also ties a portion of teacher evaluation directly to student performance.

It was developed to improve the state’s educational system and support the professional growth of educators in the state.

• Each teacher and principal in grades K–12 will receive a rating of either: highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective – every year.
• The rating will come from three areas: observations of teachers in the classroom and other factors that measure how effective their teaching practices are; student growth based on state tests or progress made toward meeting student-learning targets (a.k.a. Student Learning Objectives or SLOs); and measures of student achievement that are selected by each school district. All three sections are guided by New York State Education Department regulations in terms of who does the evaluating, what can be included in the scoring, and how the scoring must be done.
• Teachers will be observed at least twice a year by the building principal or a trained administrator, and one of those observations must be unannounced.
• All APPR plans must include guidelines for improvement plans and an appeals process for those who are rated as ineffective. 

For more information, refer to the Approved APPR Plan.