The House Education Committee is expected to take up House Bills 5223 and 5224 on Wednesday, April 30th, at 10:30 am. It is unclear if the bills will be reported at that time. The sponsors feel they have had a great deal of input from stakeholders and want to see the bills move quickly now. The main concerns are still the lack of a state choice for assessment (see previous update) prior to finalizing these bills, a rather large turn toward state control of teacher and administrator evaluations as well as the more practical issue of trying to link teacher performance directly to test scores.
Additionally, House Bill 5203 was referred to House Education Committee but has yet to have a hearing. This is one of the two bills (817 is the other) that would delay implementation in order to provide appropriate implementation time and assessment choice as well as time for training. The House is not expected to take up this bill.
As discussed previously, Senate Bill 817 (Pappageorge, R-Troy) would amend the Revised School Code to delay the implementation of teacher and school administrator performance evaluation requirements, including conditions for the use of student growth and assessment data in conducting the evaluations, until the 2015-2016 school year. Once implemented, the percentage of evaluation based on student growth must be 50%. This bill still awaits action on the Senate Floor. We’ve been told the Senate will not act until an assessment has been chosen give the confusion on that issue.
As of Friday, April 25, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) budget with an amendment that places several restrictions on the assessment chosen and implemented by the state. Specifically, the amendment states the Department cannot expend funds unless it selects an assessment that meets all the requirements listed: