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This blog will share the thoughts and experiences of the current and past Colorado Teachers of the Year. While these teachers work to represent their noble profession, they are just a few of thousands of incredible teachers statewide. We welcome and encourage these great teachers to share their experiences and join these discussions. In addition to teachers we hope that students, parents, administrators, community members, policy makers, and/or anyone else interested in education feels welcome to get involved.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Evaluation/Effectiveness Bill

There is a bill being formalized that will modify current laws and policies concerning the evaluation of efficiency for teachers and principals. I have read the bill and its accompanying fact sheet and I believe there are a lot of positive pieces within the bill. I think Senator Johnston is on the right track, but the bill would be much stronger and have greater potential for impact if they can just wait till December of this year.

The issues myself and many teachers have with the bill concern the evaluation of effectiveness. In education we are not very good at evaluating teachers and principals, and we certainly don't know what constitutes an effective teacher or principal. This bill does not help us solve this problem, which is what it is intended to solve. In December we will have two quality sources of information on teacher effectiveness and evaluation from the governors education council and the Bill and Melinda Gates grant in Denver Public Schools. These two groups are charged with finding the best ways to evaluate teachers and how to measure effectiveness.

If we pass the bill, then we will have every district in the state defining what the bill leaves out, which will cost a lot of money and creation of evaluation programs that may or may not be effective. I believe many districts would prefer to see what DPS and the governors council have found out. This information could help them prevent wasting of time and money. We already lack money in education, and an unfunded bill will not make things better without more detail and suggestion on how to do things the right way.

The bill really has great potential, and is ultimately necessary legislation, but we need to know what effective teaching and administering looks like and how to evaluate it appropriately. I want to see the change take place over the next few years, but I also want to make sure that districts are given as much information and support as possible to enact this change.

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