Georgia lawmakers, others question grading system for teachers

ATLANTA – At least one Georgia lawmaker says too much of a teacher’s grade rides on student test scores.

Half of a teacher’s performance in Georgia is judged by student growth as determined by testing, under an evaluation system that has been in place statewide for two years.

“That’s just way too much in my mind,” said Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta, who served on the governor’s Education Reform Commission, during an interview.

Classroom observations, samples of a teacher’s lesson plans and information gleaned from student surveys are also factored into the evaluations, which were required for the state’s participation in the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top grant.

The evaluations aren’t currently used as a basis for teacher pay, but that could change.

Gov. Nathan Deal has said he supports tying a portion of teacher salary to classroom effectiveness, as proposed by his reform commission.

Deal has since shown that he plans to ease into education reform and solicit more input from teachers.

State officials, meanwhile, are awaiting word on regulations that will stem from the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, approved last month. The law replaces No Child Left Behind, which shifted emphasis to student testing.

The new law signals a move from what many saw as an “era of overreach,” said Mike Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank based in Washington, D.C., and Ohio.

“This is now the counter-reaction, very much giving a lot more authority back to the states, but not on everything,” Petrilli said at a recent event organized by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.

Teacher evaluations are an area where the federal government has backed off, he said, and it’s something that state leaders can immediately revisit.

“State people can no longer say, ‘Well the feds are making us do it,’ because the feds are no longer making them do it,” he said.

Dickson, a former school superintendent in Whitfield County, has asked legislative analysts to examine what the new law means for the state’s evaluation system.

“I’m hopeful that we’re going to take a good look at it,” said Dickson, who is chairman of the House’s Education Appropriations Subcommittee and a member of the House Education Committee.

Petrilli said the law acknowledges that the mandated evaluation systems have led to “backlash on testing” and low morale among teachers.

A recent state Department of Education survey seemed to confirm that.

The survey found considerable angst among teachers toward testing. The emphasis of testing and the state’s evaluation method were cited as the top reasons why teachers quit.

State Superintendent Richard Woods has said he plans to seek improvements.

For one, students can now miss as many as 63 days of school, and their test scores still count toward a teachers’ evaluation.

Woods said at a legislative budget hearing Tuesday that this attendance requirement should be “significantly increased.”

“Teachers should be judged on things they can actually control,” he said.

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.