Update:
A bill that would change student testing and teacher evaluations in Georgia could be voted on today in the House Education Committee.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Tippins (R-Marietta) sailed through the Senate. The House committee has already held one hearing on the proposed legislation last week, although no public comment was heard and no vote was taken.
However, they are expected to hear testimony on the bill today prior to the vote.
As proposed, his bill decreases the weight of student “growth” in teacher evaluations from 50 percent to 30 percent. It also allows some of the growth measures to be replaced with something besides test results. The bill also puts more focus on early education — especially math and reading, and even requires the State Board of Education to adopt a school readiness assessment for first graders.
During the hearing last week, Rep. Mike Dudgeon (R-John’s Creek) posed many questions on the reduction to 30 percent, and suggested a higher percentage.
The proposed legislation also trims the number of state-mandated tests from 32 to 24, and also allows for a reduced number of observations for veteran teachers or high performing teachers.
The legislation would increase the percentage of the school year that a student must attend class before the test score counts — from the current 65 percent to 80 percent. However, there has been talk of increasing this number even higher — to 90 percent.
PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) has come out in support of the bill.
