Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Evaluation Works!

As the director of licensure for the Public Education Department of the State of New Mexico, I knew I had accepted a huge responsibility. I was responsible for serving every public school district and every public school in the state. Superintendents and principals depend on having appropriately licensed teachers in every classroom to ensure that learning at the appropriate pace occurs. For superintendents and principals, having a licensed teacher is a must! My responsibility was to support these superintendents and principals with their challenging, yet rewarding job.

When I accepted this responsibility, it took the Professional Licensure Bureau 12 weeks to issue a license – from the time the application was received until the license was viewable on the state website. As a life-long educator, I knew this was not acceptable. The students, teachers, and administrators in New Mexico schools deserved better. As an experienced teacher, coach, and administrator, I knew that the problem was a systems issue. A systems issue that had to be fixed. New Mexico students, teachers, and administrators were depending on it. I knew that we needed to evaluate our internal systems at the Professional Licensure Bureau. I knew that we needed to evaluate what was working and what was not.

Fortunately, I had a dedicated staff of 10 individuals who were willing to embark on this evaluation journey. I said at the beginning of our efforts that the evaluation of our daily work would be hard but it would be rewarding. I said that, if we stayed the course, we would like the results and New Mexico schools would benefit. Through our evaluation process and constant monitoring and adjustment, that dedicated staff cut the time in issuing licenses from 12 weeks to one week! 

Who was the winner for implementing this evaluation effort? New Mexico students, teachers, and administrators. Evaluation works!


Phil Baca

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