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Education

Teachers get a big win on testing and evaluation bill

By Ty Tagami
March 15, 2016

Teachers got a big win out of the Georgia House of Representatives Tuesday after lawmakers voted unanimously in favor of reducing the use student test results in educator’s job reviews.

Senate Bill 364 passed the state House of Representatives 172-0, after passing the Senate unanimously last month. The House Education committee made a few changes that must now be approved by the Senate, but the chief sponsor of the bill, Sen. Lindsey Tippins, R-Marietta, supports the changes, making ultimate passage likely.

The bill amends a 2013 law that required “growth” on state-mandated tests to count for at least half of each teacher evaluation. This legislation reduces that to 30 percent, and it reduces the number of state tests, from 32 to 24.

Lawmakers who pushed for the current testing regime acknowledged they'd gone too far … (read more here).

About the Author

Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.

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