Give second-grader Sam a hard time about his math or tell him to stop talking during class and he just might have something to say about that on his teacher evaluation, if a new federal system is fully adopted in Georgia.
Of course, sticking a star or a smiley face on Sam's worksheet could make him favorably disposed, come evaluation time.
Georgia agreed to embrace a new educator evaluation system as part of its successful application for $400 million in Race to the Top grant money from the U.S. Department of Education.
However, state education officials want permission to use student surveys -- which would account for 10 percent of a teacher's evaluation in the new system -- as merely informational.
In fact, after a state technical advisory committee looked at the new evaluation system, Georgia filed a formal request with federal education officials asking that all surveys that are part of the system, including teacher and staff surveys on principals, be informational -- meaning they wouldn't be used as part of the formal evaluation process.
"The [technical advisory committee] questioned the use of the k-2 survey due the fact that: (a) it will likely be highly positive and therefore not discriminating; (b) it will likely have low reliability given the ages of the respondents; and (c) it is highly susceptible to corruptibility," state education officials wrote to the federal government in their May 7 request to amend the new evaluation system.
"Most importantly, the TAC raised ethical issues about having young children directly participate in consequential evaluations of their teachers," the state request said.
Teresa MacCartney, deputy superintendent for Race to the Top implementation in Georgia, said the state expects to hear back from the federal government "any day now."
Excluding the student surveys, 26 districts that are receiving Race to the Top funding piloted the educator evaluation program during this past school year. They will use the evaluation system again in the upcoming school year, when 21 to 25 other districts are expected to join in.
By 2014-2015, all districts in the state are expected to be using the new system, which calls for teacher performance to be measured by their students' performance on end-of-course tests, the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, observation, and those student surveys.
MacCartney had described the 2014-2015 time frame for full implementation as "aggressive," but this week she said she's confident the state will be ready by that time.
So far, Georgia has used $51.5 million in Race to the Top funding to pay the salaries of some 100 education officials, conduct training, and align Georgia's education rules with what the federal program requires.
The education evaluation system is at the heart of the Race to the Top program, but educators in Georgia remain wary of it -- and not just because a tyke could write mean things about them on their evaluation.
"We are concerned that there is still too much emphasis on test results," said Tim Callahan, spokesman for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators. The state Department of Education "tried to get less emphasis, but the feds insisted."
Efforts to reach federal officials to discuss Race to the Top were unsuccessful.
Miyeca Smoot, a second-grade teacher at Brown Elementary School in Clayton County, said pegging a teacher's performance to how a student fares on a standardized test ignores other factors that could determine how the student does on the test.
"That child doesn't have my DNA," Smoot said. "They don't have my at-home care. Once they leave me, I don't know what's happening with that child."
Kathleen Carpenter, a former teacher in Ohio who has three children in the Fulton County school system, said she believes tests should be used to help teachers do a better job of teaching, not as a way to punish them for their students' struggles.
"There are ways to do it in a positive way," she said.
Race to the Top funding
In Georgia, 26 school districts have received Race to the Top funding. They have agreed to adopt a new system for the evaluation of teachers and principals, focus on low-performing schools, and improve student performance and readiness for the workforce.
Five metro area districts are receiving funds through the program, which will be dispersed as expenses are accrued through 2014:
Gwinnett, $20.8 million
Atlanta Public Schools, $40 million
DeKalb, $34.8 million
Clayton, $15.2 million
Cherokee, $2.8 million
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