Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes said that the passage of AB 5, the teacher evaluation beak that he authored, could "potentially serve equally a central piece" of the state's application for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind police – and free upward hundreds of millions of federal dollars to fund districts' evaluations and other didactics needs.

Erin Gabel, manager of legislative diplomacy of state Superintendent of Public Pedagogy Tom Torlakson, said that AB 5 would make a waiver application "more attractive" to the feds.

Sue Burr, executive director of the Country Board of Pedagogy and adviser to Gov. Jerry Brownish on didactics, said that central federal education officials have given encouraging signs that AB 5 would satisfy the teacher and principal evaluation requirement for a waiver.

To which Arun Ramanathan, executive director of Education Trust-Westward and an opponent of the bill, wrote in an email, "When pigs fly."

There'south opinion and speculation, and there are rules and regulations.

What would Arne Duncan say? Enquire him adjacent calendar month in Sacramento.

A read of the federal Department of Education's weather condition that states must meet to qualify for a waiver from NCLB – or the Elementary and Secondary Didactics Human activity, as it'due south officially called – would certainly indicate that AB 5 won't meet Secretary of Didactics Arne Duncan'southward demands for an effective teacher and principal evaluation organisation. Forth with pigs, AB v, which the Legislature will vote on this week or adjacent, would appear to lack wings.

The clearest explanation can exist institute in sections C-51 through C-53 in the 81-page ESEA Flexibility: Frequently Asked Questions, which was updated this month. Among the half dozen criteria for "evaluation and support systems," the state Department of Education and districts must commit to:

  • Meaningfully differentiate performance using at to the lowest degree 3 performance levels. The feds recommend merely don't require that 1 of the levels designate outstanding performers, who would exist recognized for their performance and given preference for memory. AB v specifies simply two levels – unsatisfactory and satisfactory – but as under the current law, although local districts could negotiate for additional categories. Offer just two categories, favored past the California Teachers Clan, locks in the current seniority system for purposes of layoffs and job preferences and rules out pay differentials, at least for the same job. A pass-neglect system too creates the possibility of more of the same: In many districts, betwixt 95 and 98 percent of teachers receive a satisfactory rating.
  • Apply multiple valid measures in determining operation levels, including, every bit a meaning gene, data on student growth for all students (including English language Learners and students with disabilities), and other measures of professional practice (which may be gathered through multiple formats and sources, such as observations based on rigorous teacher performance standards, instructor portfolios, and educatee and parent surveys). The key here is both the requirement that states use data on student growth as a factor in teacher evaluations and that it be a "significant" slice. AB 5 includes neither. It permits districts to negotiate with teachers unions to include hard data on student achievement, but it's not mandatory, and, consistent with local command, each district would determine the weight given each measure. AB 5 mentions observations and portfolios only non student and parent surveys as options, although parents can asking them in public hearings that a new version of the nib would require.

The Stull Act, every bit the current teacher evaluation police force is called, requires that districts devise local assessments and use the California Standards Tests to measure a teacher'south impact on pupil achievement. That was confirmed this leap by a Superior Courtroom judge's ruling in a lawsuit brought against Los Angeles Unified on this result.

The federal waiver also requires that a state "define a statewide approach for measuring student growth" using those assessments for the subjects and grades in which they're given. That covers about half of the teachers in California.

AB five would remove the mandate requiring the use of state assessments – the most contentious of its changes. Given the California Teachers Association's opposition to using CSTs equally part of a instructor's evaluation, districts volition face stiff resistance in local negotiations to include student test results.

Will principals be covered?

Eligibility for a waiver requires regular evaluations of non merely teachers simply also principals and administrators. This is an area that has been and will remain murky under state police force.

Evaluations nether AB 5, as nether the Stull Deed, would utilise to all certificated personnel. Although administrators, like teachers, are certificated, AB 5 deals only with instructor evaluations, with no mention of evaluating administrators. A divide bill, SB 1292, sponsored by Sen. Carol Liu, would establish a comprehensive evaluation system for start- and second-yr principals, based on the California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders and including show of student growth in an administrator'south schools. But, because of funding concerns, the nib would prepare a voluntary system of evaluations, contrary to the federal waiver's requirements.

Then far, the Department of Didactics has granted 33 states waivers from the penalties of NCLB, along with significant flexibility to use Championship I coin. California submitted its own version of a waiver awarding earlier this twelvemonth, but it excluded whatsoever mention of teacher evaluations and so isn't likely to go anywhere. Duncan has declined to reply questions from the press near it – an unhopeful sign.

That'south why Sue Burr said last calendar week that the State Board (presumably with Chocolate-brown's consent) is considering applying formally for the last round of waivers, and volition include AB 5 as evidence of compliance. Although the application is due Sept. six, the state could still apply if the State Board ratifies it at its next meeting, a week subsequently, Burr said.

Burr suggested that the State Board could bolster the awarding past adopting models for evaluations that districts could utilise. Opponents say that just won't cut it; Duncan won't bend for California.

Duncan will exist in Redwood Urban center on Sept. 12 to kick off his third almanac 9-day national back to schoolhouse bus tour, then he will head to Sacramento, according to a press release. If members of the State Board want to know whether California'south new evaluation police force volition pass the examination, then they could ask him straight.

Correction: An earlier version incorrectly stated that the State Board had extended an invitation to meet with Duncan. Instead, the secretarial assistant's staff  have asked whether Board members would similar to attend an event on his tour.

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