LA Teachers Face New Evaluations

Erica Phillips & Stephanie Banchero:

In the past three years, at least 30 states have begun to use student achievement to evaluate teachers, spurred in part by President Barack Obama's Race to the Top education initiative as well as by some Republican governors. California isn't one of them.

That could change after a ruling by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. At a hearing Tuesday, Judge James Chalfant said the Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the nation's largest, violated California's Stull Act, a 41-year-old law that requires teacher evaluations to take into consideration the performance of students.

The current evaluation system in Los Angeles focuses on teaching methods, such as how a teacher demonstrates knowledge or guides instruction, according to the district.

In his ruling, Judge Chalfant contrasted the high rate of positive teacher evaluations in the district--97.6 in the 2009-10 school year--with low student proficiency in English and math.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 8, 2012 1:48 AM
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