Facing a Tuesday deadline to come up with a deal, Los Angeles Unified and its teachers union announced today that they'd hammered out a tentative agreement that incorporates student test scores in performance evaluations.
Under the tentative deal, teachers' evaluations will factor in how well their students perform on standardized tests, and will also include their school's score on Academic Growth Over Time (AGT), a controversial formula used to measure student progress.
The main element of the evaluation will be "robust classroom observation," officials said, with attendance rates, student grades and passing rates and other factors rounding out the process. The pact leaves it to district administrators to determine how much weight will be given to each element.
Superintendent John Deasy called the agreement, reached after "dozens and dozens" of negotiating sessions, "a very appropriate balance of individual and collective measures."
"We've reached a historic agreement with UTLA that will improve the way we undertake certificated evaluations and honors their core purpose: to improve the practices of teaching and to assure accountability in meeting standards of the teaching profession," Deasy said.
The deal must still be approved by the school board and ratified by members of United Teachers Los Angeles.
UTLA President Warren Fletcher noted that individual AGT scores cannot be used in the final evaluation,