Tweaks Planned for Teacher Evaluation System

Louisiana's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is expected to approve modest changes to the state's method for evaluating public school teachers, after a board committee backed the ideas.

The changes were recommended by Superintendent of Education John White, tweaking a system that links half a teacher's annual review to the growth in student performance on standardized tests.

One tweak will allow greater flexibility in evaluating teachers affected by natural disasters. Other changes will give teachers more information at the start of the year about their student growth targets and give principals the ability to make slight adjustments to scores for teachers who rank in the middle-range of performance.

A BESE panel approved the recommendations Tuesday, and the full board was expected to sign off on the action Wednesday.