Teacher evaluation system retreats from reform, lawmaker says

“They wanted to avoid, number one, the law and, number two, the recommendations,” Rep. Ed Cannaday, D-Porum.

State Schools Superintendent Janet Barresi said the state Education Board not only met the letter of the law, but was being appropriately cautious in making an effective and lasting decision.

“They came to the decision that they would like to have a little bit more time,” Barresi said. “They are giving districts flexibility to make their own decisions.”

Senate Bill 2033 was signed into law in May as part of a sweeping education reform package passed hurriedly to meet the deadline for the state's application for millions in federal funding. Oklahoma did not win Race to the Top funding, but the education reforms stand.

A key part of the bill created the Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Commission, which became an 18 member board working six months to develop and recommend a new statewide teacher evaluation system that would be tied to high-stakes consequences like bonuses for high performing teachers and dismissal for poor teachers.

The bill also included a deadline.

By Dec. 15, the state Education Board was to “adopt a new statewide system of evaluation to be known as the Oklahoma Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Evaluation System.”

The board met that deadline, but Cannaday says by adopting multiple evaluation systems and allowing school districts to select between them for implementation this first year is not in the spirit of the law.