Dive Brief:
- An October report by the National Council on Teacher Quality called “State of the States 2015: Evaluating Teaching, Leading and Learning” shows that the majority of states are having trouble with requirements that they utilize student growth and achievement information in teacher and principal evaluations.
- California, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, and Vermont are a handful of states lacking a formal policy requiring the use of student performance metrics in teacher evaluations, according to District Administration.
- For principals, a total of 19 states require student growth and achievement information to be incorporated into evaluations, and those states give student data a hefty weight.
Dive Insight:
With the new Every Student Succeeds Act set to take effect at the beginning of the 2016-17 school year, it will be interesting to see if more states follow the example set by California, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, and Vermont in bucking the trend of using student data in teacher and principal evaluations. Before ESSA, the Obama administration had shifted focus away from strict teacher evaluations, giving states more options. Powerful advocates like Bill Gates, however, continue to push for test-based teacher evaluations.
In North Carolina, test-based school rankings are on the way out after opponents claimed that they led to cheating scandals and put unfairly intense pressure on educators. WUNC reported that forced principal and teacher turnover is likely for schools receiving poor grades.
The jobs and general well-being of educators can be at risk when student performance is linked to their teaching, Education Dive previously reported. In Atlanta, the pressure was cited as a factor in a high-profile case involving dozens of teachers who tried to game the system by inflating student test scores, leading to felony convictions. Such cheating is not an isolated case.