As reported in the Washington Post, as Maryland public schools transition to a new student assessment test, teachers and school leaders want their bosses to slow down in using those fresh test scores in evaluating their performance.  SB 676, recently passed by the full Senate, would delay using student growth data from new tests to make personnel decisions until at least the 2016-2017 school year. As described,

[Maryland State Education Association President Betty] Weller said the legislation, if it becomes law, will “ensure that teacher and principal evaluations are not mandated from the top down, but developed the right way — by the local educators and school systems who know their students best.”

The Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee heard testimony on a number of bills dealing with the implementation of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) student achievement test before passing SB676, which was then passed by the full Senate.

For more information, see the full story from the Post and our previous posts on Conduit Street, Legislators Consider When to Use Student Assessments in Teacher Evaluations, Superintendent Lowery Supports Delay in Teacher Evaluation Changes.