Teacher Evaluation Scaled Back in Revised ESEA Draft

Legislation to renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act has garnered a bipartisan seal of approval, thanks to a last-minute change scaling back the teacher-evaluation mandate in the bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, last week. But civil rights groups still have major concerns about some of the proposal’s accountability provisions.

A revised version of the bill , put forth Monday by Sen. Harkin, chairman of the Senate education committee, and Sen. Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., the panel’s top Republican, largely would let states and districts decide whether and how to evaluate teachers. Districts that want to tap the federal Teacher Incentive Fund, a voluntary pot of money aimed at helping schools create alternative pay programs, would have to craft evaluations, but all others would simply have the option.