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Teacher Evaluation Bill Moves On
WV MetroNews Staff
State Capitol
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A bill that would require annual evaluations of teachers and principals in West Virginia's public schools has now cleared two major House committees.
The measure was approved by the House Finance Committee Tuesday after receiving the okay from the House Education Committee earlier in the legislative session.
The state Dept. of Education and state Board of Education are planning to apply for a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind act. One of the requirements to get a waiver is to have teacher evaluations linked, in part, to student achievement.
Teacher evaluations have been a bone of contention the last few years at the statehouse, but the idea seems to have momentum now because education officials want the federal waiver.
"We really have nailed out the details during the past year," Assistant State Superintendent Amelia Davis Courts told members of the committee Tuesday. Courts has worked on a task force that's been studying the evaluation issue.
Courts says the state Board of Education would like to have the additional flexibility that getting out from under No Child Left Behind would bring. She says there are "unreasonable expectations and labeling of schools" under the federal education act.
The evaluation bill now goes to the full House of Delegates for consideration.