New Jersey has decided that teachers are now fully familiar with the Common Core and PARCC testing, even though most kids “fail” it, and henceforward the rise or fall of test scores on PARCC will count for 30% of teacher evaluations. Previously they had counted for only 10%.
This method has been debunked by the American Statistical Association and the American Educational Research Association. It has been in use in Colorado and in many states for five years without producing any results.
This is faith-based policy.
http://www.nj.com/education/2016/08/nj_parcc_tests_teacher_evaluations.html
The only sensible aspect of this change is that it counts only for teachers who teach the tested subjects in the tested grades. In neighboring New York and in other states, this discredited method applies to all teachers, and they are judged by the scores of students they didn’t teach in subjects they don’t teach.
In New York, an outstanding fourth grade teacher, Sheri Lederman, sued the state after receiving a low rating. The judge ruled that the rating system was “arbitrary and capricious.” For now, the rating system is in abeyance. At some point the Regrnts and Legislature will have to clarify how this ruling affects state law.