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A new Education Department proposal would replace chronic absenteeism on the A-F school report cards with a new measure they’re calling teacher effectiveness.
Lawmakers this spring changed state law to remove chronic absenteeism, the rate of students who missed at least 10% of the school year, from the report cards. Federal law requires states to use an additional measure of school quality or student success.
The Education Department’s proposed use of teacher effectiveness would combine three components: the percent of students taught by certified teachers, the percent of students taught by teachers with at least three years of experience, and a composite score based on teacher attendance, professional learning completion and evaluation outcomes.
Some educators and lawmakers criticized the new measure as being largely out of a school’s control; similar arguments have long been made against chronic absenteeism.
The Education Department plans to submit the changes through an amendment to the state’s Consolidated State Plan, which is required by the Every Student Succeeds Act.
A complete list of changes is available on the Education Department’s website. The public can submit comments through Friday.
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— Jennifer Palmer
Recommended Reading
- Oklahoma’s new academic standards for social studies are poised to take effect for the coming school year, as the state Supreme Court this week declined to pause their implementation while a lawsuit wends its way through the courts. [Oklahoma Voice]
- Ryan Walters, the superintendent of Oklahoma schools who garnered national attention for wanting Bibles in the state’s public classrooms, will continue to push for tax credits for tuition-paying parents who want to send their children to a conservative online school, despite the school being deemed ineligible for the credits by the state’s tax commission. [NOTUS]
- Oklahoma House Speaker Kyle Hilbert said he believes a 1985 movie starring Jackie Chan might have been what was showing on a television set in state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters’ office during a closed session held as part of last month’s state Board of Education meeting. [The Oklahoman]
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