Now that Texas has a waiver from No Child, what will Michael Williams and team do about evaluating teachers and principals?
Texas Education Agency Commissioner Michael Williams
Here is my question: Will the state of Texas come up with a serious evaluation system for teachers and principals now that theU.S. Education Department has givenTexas a waiver from the rules of the No Child Left Behind Act?
A couple of weeks ago, the department gave Texas the latest in a series of state waivers. I can see giving states some flexibility, but I fear these waivers are a way for Washington and the states to give up quietly on the belief that all children can learn at grade level.
But they are being given, so the next question is how will states use them. The stipulation for Texas is that it must now design a new evaluation system for teachers and principals.
You may recall that the Legislature tried to do this during its 2011 session. GOP Sen. Florence Shapiroof Plano crafted a bill that said teacher evaluations would be linked in part to data from their classrooms.
At first, she wanted about half of the evaluation to consist of such data. But she compromised on the amount. The Senate bill ended up with data counting for around 30 percent of a teacher’s evaluation.
The bill failed in the House, however. So, Texas has no requirement that data be used in classroom
