Mass. Teacher Ratings: 85 Percent Deemed 'Proficient'

State education officials are releasing performance ratings they say show the vast majority of teachers and administrators evaluated last year received solid rankings.

The first set of ratings unveiled under the state's new evaluation system show that during the 2012-13 school year about 85 percent of educators evaluated were deemed "proficient."

A smaller number of educators, just over 7 percent, received the highest performance rating of "exemplary." Nearly 7 percent of educators received a rating of "needs improvement," while less than 1 percent were rated "unsatisfactory."

The results looked at nearly 38,000 teachers and administrators in 213 districts.

In a news release, Education Secretary Matthew Malone called the evaluations "a good first step forward in our efforts to help support the teachers."

Malone said the evaluation system is intended to provide educators with more meaningful feedback.