Teacher Contracts, Evaluation Policies, and Termination
February 21, 2012 — pwceducationreformThe VA General Assembly is considering a number of bills that affect education. One is HB576, which deals with teacher contracts, evaluation policies, and reasons for terminating a teacher, among other things.
Current Law
Currently teachers are hired for what is called a continuing contract after they’ve completed their probationary period. A continuing contract runs for 5 years and specifies step and grade increases, as well as the length of the school day and number of days in the school year.
Current state law requires each teacher to have an evaluation every three years, and requires the evaluation to include: “student academic progress and the skills and knowledge of instructional personnel, including, but not limited to,
