Teacher evaluation bill approved by State House

Sponsored in part by state Rep. Aaron Miller, a plan to ensure teacher and administrative evaluations are not unfairly based on student growth and assessment was approved by members of the Michigan State House last week.

Since a law enacted prior to the 2015-16 school year, 25 percent of year-end teacher and administrator evaluations have been based on student growth and achievement. Without legislative change, that percentage is on track to increase to 40 percent this year.

Student growth refers to a measurement comparing the relative change in a student’s performance on a specific test with the performance of all other students on the same test.

While Miller, a former middle and high school math teacher, believes student growth is an important factor for measuring teacher effectiveness, he says it isn’t the only factor.

He said other factors such as poverty levels, class makeup, student effort need to be taken into account. Miller also said 25 percent is a more widely accepted measurement by many other states throughout the country and has been a successful measure in Michigan for several years.

House Bills 5707 and 6401 were approved by the House Education Committee and now move to be considered by the Senate.