SB 364 – Testing and Teacher Evaluation

PLACED ON HOUSE DESKS PRIOR TO THE HOUSE VOTE ON THE BILL

BILL PASSED THE HOUSE 176 - 0

PREPARED BY BROOKS P. COLEMAN’S OFFICE

Senate Bill 364 is the Teacher Evaluation and Testing bill for 2016.  LC 33 6620S is the House version and is substantially similar to the version passed be the Senate.  The bill takes action in 2 main areas:

Evaluations

SB 364 makes substantial changes to the current Teacher and Leader evaluation system (TKES and LKES).  Most of us have heard from educators who have some frustrations with the new evaluations.

1. Current law has 50% of a teacher evaluation coming from test scores.  SB 364 lowers that to 30%.

2. SB 364 also lowers the test component of an administrator’s evaluation from 70% to 40%.

3. The bill gives more flexible alternatives for our educators to include in evaluations to replace the points moved away from testing.

4. It reduces the number of classroom observations needed for the higher ranked (3 or 4 on a 4 point scale) teachers.  Currently policy is 6, this bill allows it to be reduced to 3.

5. Current policy says a student must be enrolled for 65% of the class to count towards a teacher evaluation.  SB 364 raises that to 90% attendance before a student can count.

6. SB 364 prohibits applying quotas to evaluations and also provides for an appeal if the evaluation process is not followed correctly.  Evaluation scores are still not allowed to be appealed.

Testing

SB 364 also substantially lowers the amount of state mandated testing.

1. Current law specifies 32 state mandated high stakes tests K – 12 including Milestones and End of Course Tests.  SB 364 lowers this to 24 by removing Social Studies and Science Milestone tests in grades 3, 4, 6, and 7.  Federal law does not mandate those particular tests therefore Georgia can remove them.

2. SB 364 adds formative testing in grades 1 and 2 to assess reading and math development.  These tests are not high stakes, and with state funding are designed to help locals keep their kids on track with early development in those important subjects.

3. The bill establishes the strategic importance of reading mastery by 3^rd grade and basic math mastery by 5^th grade.

4. The State Board of Education and Department of Education will be asked in the bill to move the dates for standardized testing as close to the end of the semester or school year as possible.  Locals will be asked to do the same.  This will hopefully minimize some of the inefficient instruction time that happens after the big tests.

5. The new federal law to replace No Child Left Behind is called Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).  It gives much more flexibility than NCLB to the states in testing but not complete.  If allowed by a federal law and authorized by the state in a pilot, SB 364 gives a path for locals to replace state mandated tests with locally approved multiple formative/interim tests that roll up into a single reliable summative score.  This alternative must be valid and reliable.

6. Student Learning Objectives are part of the evaluation for teachers who do not have a course with a state test.  These are given as a pre and post test during the school year.  SB 364 gives more flexibility here to reduce the number of these tests needed for a teacher, and clarifies that every student does not need to take a SLO in every class.  It also allows a system to substitute other measurements for SLOs with a flexibility contract with the state.