Teacher Evaluations; LAUSD Board Open to Negotiating Overhaul

The Los Angeles Unified School District board voted Thursday to begin negotiating with unions to overhaul the process of evaluating
teachers, using student test scores as one of the criteria.
  
On a unanimous vote, with board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte absent, the board directed Superintendent Ramon Cortines to negotiate with United Teachers Los Angeles and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles to develop an evaluation system.
  
UTLA officials issued a statement saying they were prepared to negotiate, ``but we do not support flawed models that are not in line with best educational practices.''
  
``UTLA supports a fair and comprehensive evaluation system that uses multiple measures of teacher performance and student outcomes, with the goal of building on a teacher's strengths and addressing areas for growth,'' according to the statement. ``Teachers should also have meaningful input into evaluating their administrators, and all administrators should be trained in how to effectively and objectively evaluate employees.''
  
UTLA officials have been critical of a decision by the Los Angeles Times to post report cards for thousands of teachers, based on their students' scores on standardized tests.
  
The Times acknowledged that looking at the test scores alone ``is not a complete measure of a teacher by any means, but offer one one way to see whether an instructor is helping or hindering children in grasping what the state says they should know.''
  
Under the motion approved by the LAUSD board today, the revamped evaluation process should include performance measures such as observation by trained professionals, contributions to the school community, stakeholder feedback and measures of student achievement, such as test scores.