State education board wants to avoid new teacher evaluation plan
The state Board of Education voted Thursday to seek relief from federal rules that label more than 6,000 California schools as failures, but in the process, it declined to authorize a new evaluation system for teachers and principals.
The federal government has said it's willing to waive rules that penalize too many schools but has insisted that, in exchange, states must develop employee evaluations that rely substantially on students' standardized test scores.
Teacher unions and other critics have faulted the U.S. Department of Education for taking this position. Gov. Jerry Brown, who appoints the state school board, also has expressed skepticism about the federal policy.
Most states also have sought waivers, but California may be the first to select which federal directives to follow in