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Microsoft, Boeing and other big Washington companies have praised Gov. Chris Gregoire’s teacher-evaluation plan, introduced last week as a bill.
But it’s clear they want to go further.
We got a look at just how far on Thursday with a new bill on teacher evaluations – as well as one allowing charter schools – backed by Microsoft; the Washington Roundtable, which includes both Boeing and Microsoft; and education-reform groups, such as Stand for Children and the League of Education Voters.
The debate over education policy is tied to the debate over putting a sales tax on the ballot, which Microsoft and Boeing have supported. If they choose to spend money on a campaign, it could play a big role in convincing voters. Microsoft was drawing no lines in the sand Thursday about how far education changes need to go for the company to help raise revenue.
“We need to see some things happen. We need to see education prioritized,” Microsoft spokeswoman Jane Broom said.
So what’s the difference between this teacher-evaluation proposal and the one offered by Gregoire? There are some clear differences, though both build on a four-tier evaluation system for teachers and principals already due to take effect for the 2013-14 school year:
• The reform coalition would make student improvement, shown in hard data such as test scores, a “significant factor” in evaluations.
• The coalition would withhold tenure from teachers until they consistently earn a 3 or 4 out of four tiers.
• The coalition would require evaluations to be considered before seniority in decisions such as moving teachers. Gregoire’s requires them to consider both.
What happens to experienced teachers who get the second-lowest ranking in evaluations? The coalition doesn’t address that, but Gregoire wants to put them on probation after two years, which can lead to dismissal.
The most complicated question is what happens to teachers who get the very lowest ranking. Gregoire wants to keep rules that put them on immediate probation. The coalition says legal hurdles in the probation process make dismissal difficult in practice and says they should instead lose tenure – but only after two consecutive years of the worst rankings. This is the same as a proposal offered by Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn.
Jordan Schrader jordan.schrader@ thenewstribune.com
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