Teachers unions filed a lawsuit earlier this year saying that the state Public Education Department’s evaluation of teachers using student standardized test scores is punitive.
PED recently decided to de-emphasize test scores in teacher evaluations and to make allowances for instructors whose subjects are not evaluated on standardized tests—like music and art.
Commentator Andrea Mays says this is a good first step toward assessing the difficult work teachers do.
Andrea Mays is an American Studies scholar who lives in Santa Fe. Her column, Here’s The Thing, is published by the Santa Fe Reporter.