AUDIT FINDS 99 PERCENT OF TEACHER EVALUATIONS WERE INACCURATE OR INCOMPLETE
An independent education research group found that 99 percent of Idaho teacher evaluations reviewed in an audit were completed incorrectly — and sometimes illegally.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra’s State Department of Education asked the Denver-based consulting group McREL International to screen a random sample of evaluations for accuracy and fidelity to Idaho’s evaluations system.
The reviewers concluded that school administrators ignored laws and rules for evaluations or did not understand the evaluations system. As a result, the reviewers recommended new training for “all teachers, teacher supervisors and central office leaders.”
Seven reviewers audited 225 evaluations, and found only three that were completed correctly and followed procedures and the SDE’s guidelines. Auditors randomly pulled 2014-15 evaluations from 53 Idaho districts and charters. (Click here for the list of districts and charters McREL audited.)
“Inconsistent implementation (of teacher evaluations) suggests that some districts either selected not to follow the prescribed process or lacked sufficient understanding of the system,” McREL’s authors wrote in their “State of Idaho Department of Education: Teacher Evaluation Desk Review Report.” (Click here for the full report.)
The audit confirms teacher evaluations are inconsistent and unreliable, and unveils hundreds of errors:
- Most evaluations did not include two classroom observations, as Idaho law requires.
- Most did not include goals of any kind.
- More than one third were turned in late.
“I say it is something that is a good thing,” SDE spokesman Jeff Church said. “It gives us more information and helps us understand where we are with the Audit finds 99 percent of teacher evaluations were inaccurate or incomplete: