Two years until test scores used in teacher evaluations, Rulffes says

Despite a new law, the Clark County School District is not likely to use student test scores to evaluate teachers for another two years, Superintendent Walt Rulffes said Thursday.

The district needs time to research and test an evaluation program first, district officials said. They also want to collaborate with employee unions on how the evaluations will be formed and conducted.

During a special session of the Legislature in the spring, the state law was revised so student performance data would become a factor in teacher evaluations.

The change was made so Nevada could apply for $175 million in competitive federal education grants called Race to the Top. But now that Nevada has lost the grant competition, there is confusion about how to follow the law on teacher evaluations.

In its Race to the Top application, Nevada had pledged to base 35 percent of a teacher's evaluation on student performance data. The teachers union, the Nevada State Education Association, had participated in forming the Race to the Top application.

Rulffes said he was told by Keith Rheault, the state superintendent for K-12 education, that local school districts don't necessarily have to keep with the 35 percent range now that Nevada has lost out on Race to the Top.

"So every district now has to develop their own evaluation tool," Rulffes said. "We thought the state was going to do a model."

There also is confusion on which test data to use in the evaluations.

"The state law doesn't specify which test is to be used," said Lynn Warne, president of the Nevada State Education Association, the state teachers' union. "It can be one test or a combination of tests."

Many specialty classes at the high school level lack a common assessment that could be used as a benchmark.

Since state standardized testing doesn't begin until the fourth grade, there is no common assessment for kindergarten through third grade.

Testing and curriculum will also be changing in two years because Nevada has adopted Common Core Standards, a national set of academic standards by grade level.

"Are we going to use data from tests that will be replaced?" Rulffes said. "There are some people who think we should suspend (requiring) state proficiency tests for graduation, but still use" them for No Child Left Behind.

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.