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State Senate Postpones Teacher Evaluations

theguardian.com

State Senate votes to delay statewide teacher evaluations… again

It looks like lawmakers could once again delay the implementation of a new statewide teacher evaluation system. The state Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to push back the deadline until the 2015-2016 school year.

State law requires the new evaluation system to be in place during the current school year. State Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D-Taylor, says that clearly isn't going to happen.

"We don't have all our ducks in a row, it appears, at this point," said Hopgood. "And everyone said, rather than cause more problems, let's just delay the whole thing and see if we can get on the same page and then move forward."

Senate Bill 817 would also reduce from 50% to 40% the portion of teacher evaluations that would be based on standardized tests that measure student growth. The state's MEAP test does not measure student growth. But lawmakers are locked in a fight over which test should replace the MEAP - or whether to replace it at all.

Meanwhile, the state House approved bills Wednesday that outline the new teacher evaluations. House Bills 5223 and 5224 got overwhelming bipartisan support.