BCPSS has updated their Formal Observation Guidance to include the following:
- Informed consent is required for any recordings (audio, visual) for formal observations, and consent must be documented;
- Formal observations with the Instructional Framework Rubric should not be less than 25 minutes, nor should performance data to determine formal observation ratings be gathered more than 90 minutes; and
- Adding an example where formal observations should not be done if teacher is covering duties and/or caseload for another staff member for that day only.
Additionally, BCPSS has updated the Off Cycle eligibility criteria for SY 2026-27 so that there is a two-year review of past performance instead of three years. The specific points of change are:
| Status Quo | Update for SY26-27 |
| 3 year review: No Developing or Ineffective | 2 year review: No Developing or Ineffective |
| 3 year review: At least 2 Highly Effective | 2 year review: At least 1 Highly Effective |
| 3 year review: No PIP | 2 year review: No PIP |
For SY 2024-25, over 760 teachers were eligible for Off Cycle under the previous eligibility criteria. For SY 2026-27, we see over 1090 teachers are eligible for Off Cycle under these updated eligibility criteria. Teachers with consistent high performance who meet the criteria will still be able to have a one year Off – one year On cycle over time.
Resources are available on the Employee Evaluation area of the district website (with evaluation-specific sub-pages)