Open Letter to Rep. Springer & Rep. Goodman

Up until now, the primary focus of teacher/principal evaluation reform has been in the Senate on ESSB5246.  With the introduction of HB2800, the focus now moves to the House. 

Despite this last ditch attempt to resurrect the use of student test scores to create student growth data for use in teacher and principal evaluations, I remain opposed to the use of such scores in teacher evaluations.

First of all, there is no scientific data that supports the assertions that use of these scores will positively impact student learning.  The loudly broadcast noises in favor of this concept have been notable in their absences of anything other than political reasoning. Indeed, most of the research published about the use of test scores has been opposed.  For example:

            -the unreliability of test results makes their use … inadvisable., Prof. Bruce Baker

-"... casts substantial doubt on the utility of student test score gains as a measure of teacher effectiveness.", Rothstein.

Secondly, the level of federal coercion involved in this process has been stunning.  The federal government is prohibited by law from mandating school program.  That hasn’t prevented them from bribing and blackmailing states into accepting federally approved programs.  And, when one or more states have the audacity to say, “No, thank you,” the mallets come out to tenderize the recalcitrant. 

And many foolishly exacerbate the issue by falsely or incorrectly claiming Washington’s refusal to knuckle under will result in the loss of federal funds.  This is not true.  What we would lose is the current flexibility we have in using those funds, but the funds themselves remain in our coffers.

Thirdly, Washington state leads the nation in efforts to upgrade our teacher and principal evaluation protocols.  Educators in Washington state have been working voluntarily for over a decade and under legislative authorization for three years to produce the most rigorous and professional evaluation protocols in the US.  Those protocols were rolled out in Sept. of 2013 and have not yet even had the opportunity to prove their worthiness, but proponents of the political assertion that using student test scores to generate student growth data still insist that nothing has been done and that their initiative is the only one worthy of consideration.  The level of arrogance demonstrated by those assertions is as stunning as the federal coercion being used to push this new proposal through.

We have done our due diligence and have put in place new and improved evaluation protocols.  I urge you not to endanger those efforts by supporting an unproven evaluative protocol, as part of what we’ve accomplished so far.

Please vote “NO” on HB2800