As reported by the New York Times, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced on Thursday that states could delay the use of test results in teacher-performance ratings by another year. As described,

Using language that evoked some of his fiercest critics, Mr. Duncan wrote in a blog post, “I believe testing issues today are sucking the oxygen out of the room in a lot of schools,” and he added that teachers needed time to adapt to new standards and tests that emphasize more than simply filling in bubbled answers to multiple-choice questions.

In Maryland, the General Assembly has already delayed use of student performance data in teacher evaluations until the 2016-2017 school year.  For more information on that law, see our previous posts, Bill Delaying Use of Test Scores in Teacher Evaluations Passes, Senate Votes to Delay New Teacher Evaluations, and Legislators Consider When to Use Student Assessments in Teacher Evaluations.

For more information on Secretary Duncan’s announcement, see the full story from the New York Times.