Student test scores should not sway teacher ratings

It seems logical that how well students score on tests reflects on how well they were taught, but the research thus far shows a shaky relationship between teacher quality and student test scores.

That is why Georgia educators are seeking to undo a state law requiring student scores to count for half of a teacher’s evaluation and 70 percent of a principal’s evaluation. Two bills in the General Assembly would lower those weights.

A former south Georgia school superintendent says test scores shouldn’t count at all,writing today in the AJC, “Test scores are excellent determinants of where and who you teach. They are worse than useless at anything else.”