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BESE Expected to Approve Adjustments to Teacher Evaluations

State Superintendent of Education John White is advocating refinements to “Compass” – the program created by 2010 legislation to reform how public school teachers are evaluated. The changes stem from teacher input.
 

Teachers are asking for more clarity on their goals in the classroom.
White’s adjustments include more information about students’ growth history and more examples of what effective teaching looks like.

Superintendent John White says “Compass” has already gone a long way in improving feedback for how teachers are doing.

“You, unlike many jobs, you don’t have a lot of people telling you all the time how well you are doing at it so we need to maximize every opportunity we have to have teachers to have teachers understand how they are being accessed but to give them constant conversation on how they can better," White said Monday.

With the new adjustments, teachers would be given more detailed information about where students are at the start of the school year, and where the state expects them to be when they move on to the next grade.

Principals would be given freedom to spend more time with the teachers they think need help and move a mid-scoring teacher up or down a level depending on student growth.

Last session, the state legislature approved tying pay and tenure to these evaluations. A judge upheld the law when challenged by the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. The union is expected to appeal the judge’s decision.

Superintendent White presents his recommendations to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Tuesday.

Kelly grew up in Baton Rouge. She started out in radio at Baton Rouge High where she was first on air at WBRH and KBRH. While studying film and politics at Hendrix College, she reported and hosted for KUAR in Little Rock, AR. She then moved on to KUT in Austin, TX. She misses the dry air, live music at Studio 1A and breakfast tacos, but is happy for crawfish and non-ironic use of Mardi Gras beads.