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Friday, February 15, 2013

Deasy orders test scores to count for 30% of teachers' evaluations - latimes.com

Deasy orders test scores to count for 30% of teachers' evaluations - latimes.com:


Deasy orders test scores to count for 30% of teachers' evaluations

Photo: Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent John Deasy makes at his Beaudry headquarters office in March 2012. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times
L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy announced Friday that 30% of a teacher’s evaluation will be based on student standardized test scores, setting off another round of contention in the nation’s second-largest school system just weeks before a critical school board election.
Leaders of the teachers union have insisted that there should be no fixed percentage for how much student test scores should count in evaluations — and that test results should serve almost entirely as a guide toward improving instruction.
Deasy, in contrast, has insisted that there should be a fixed percentage for test scores in a teacher’s evaluation, and that poor scores could contribute directly to dismissal. Through his Friday memo, sent to district principals