Take Action! Ask Your Senator to
Vote YES on HB 0022 – Teacher Accountability
Currently before the Wyoming Senate is
HB 0022
, which will allow school districts to continue to develop and implement teacher evaluation systems, and will eliminate test scores from teacher evaluations. Members of the
Senate
need to hear from you!
Under No Child Left Behind (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 2001), states were required to implement standardized tests and in part, use the scores from those tests as part of a teacher evaluation system. Many states implemented this part of the Act and found it to be a colossal failure in providing accurate, credible information about teacher quality. Wyoming implemented the Wyoming Accountability in Education Act (WAEA) in 2012, which includes a provision to begin using scores from the state assessment and the ACT as part of the teacher evaluation system in 2019-2020.
There are many reasons that HB 0022 should pass in the Wyoming Senate. Here are a few:
- School districts currently have in place effective, useful evaluation systems that provide relevant and timely feedback for teachers and principals. These evaluation tools are research based and selected by local school boards. HB 0022 will preserve local control in developing teacher evaluations.
- Current statutes assure accountability at the classroom level, and provide for robust, effective evaluation systems.
- Allowing local boards to develop and adopt evaluation systems ensures validity and alignment to local curricular and instructional goals.
Using test scores as part of teacher evaluation systems is arbitrary, inaccurate, unrelated to individual academic success, high-stakes, and narrowly focused. Educators know that standardized tests provide information about the strength of school and district level systems, not individual teacher or student performance
Allowing school districts to develop and adopt teacher evaluation systems based on relevant classroom data aligns district goals and curriculum with high quality teachers.
Today in the Senate Education Committee
HB 0022
- Teacher accountability. This bill passed on a 3 to 2 vote.
HB 0025
- Virtual education amendments. This bill passed with a 5 – 0 vote.
HB 0023
- Education accountability. This bill passed with a 5 – 0 vote.
HB 0024
- National board teacher certification. This bill was laid back until Wednesday morning.
In the House Today
HB 0204
- Common college transcript – implementation. This bill passed the Committee of the Whole.
HB 0308
- Modernizing and balancing Wyoming’s school funding streams. This bill passed the Committee of the Whole.
HB 0314
- Retiree cost-of-living payments.
Today, a bill that would have provided a modest Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for members of the Wyoming Retirement System (WRS) failed on a 26-30 vote in the House Committee of the Whole.
HB 0314
would have authorized two additional payments – the first in July 2019 and the second in July 2020. The Wyoming Coalition for a Healthy Retirement will continue to pursue this effort in the coming years.
