NJ Spotlight published the following article on August 6, 2014. To read the full article, click here.
CHANGES IN MUCH-DEBATED TEACHER-EVALUATION POLICY BEING PUT INTO PRACTICE
State board to review new regulations implement scaled-back use of student testing results
The nitty-gritty of any political decree is in the administrative code that follows it.
Gov. Chris Christie’s move last month to relax some of the strictures of the new teacher-evaluation system is taking some twists as policy is turned into practice.
Today, the State Board of Education will review teacher-evaluation regulations that implement Christie’s compromise plan to reduce the use of new online testing next year to measure teacher performance.
Under pressure from advocates and the Democrat-led Legislature, Christie announced he would pull back on the use of student test scores from the new PARCC testing to no more than 10 percent of certain teachers’ evaluations next year and 20 percent the year after.
The new regulations presented today will codify the change through specific procedural steps. The code itself doesn’t set the precise percentage levels, but instead will widen the window for how much the state says that school districts may take into account student performance in teacher ratings.