Nevada lawmakers introduce plans to change teacher evaluations

Two bills introduced in the Nevada Assembly on Friday would change how teachers and administrators tinker with the way teachers and principals are evaluated.

A statewide mandate for teacher evaluations first came about in the 2011 legislative session, and the requirements have changed in every session since.

As it stands, 80 percent of the overall rating is based on an evaluation. The remaining 20 percent is split among student achievement: 10 percent is based on how a teacher’s students grew from the beginning to the end of the year and 10 percent is based on a schoolwide score from state tests.

For 2017-18, the percentages would change to 60, 20 and 20, respectively.

Once the numbers are crunched, teachers are either labeled highly effective, effective, minimally effective or ineffective.

Here are the proposed changes:

• AB 312 mandates teachers get high marks in certain areas of the principal-conducted observation if the teacher’s class size exceeds state limits. The bill is sponsored by Assemblywoman Brittney Miller, Assemblywoman Ellen Spiegel, Assemblyman James Ohrenschall and Sen. Tick Segerblom.
• AB 320 reduces the emphasis on student data in the overall evaluation from 40 percent to 20 percent. The 20 percent would be the student learning goals. It also allow teachers who receive the highest possible rating to be exempt from receiving a rating for the next five years. The bill is sponsored by Assemblyman Jason Frierson and Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo. Fumo is also a sponsor of a third bill that deals with teacher evaluations.
• AB 212, introduced earlier this session, would eliminate the use of student data in teacher evaluations all together. The bill is sponsored by Fumo, Assemblyman Chris Brooks, Senator Joyce Woodhouse, Segerblom and Sen. Mark Manendo.

Contact Meghin Delaney at 702-383-0281 or mdelaney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MeghinDelaney on Twitter.