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Committee advances bill excluding chronically absent students from value-added teacher evaluations
Summary
A bill to prevent student absences from unfairly lowering teacher evaluations was reported favorably after proponents said evaluations should not penalize teachers when students are not in class.
The Senate Committee on Education reported a teacher-evaluation bill favorably after proponents argued that evaluations should not penalize teachers when students are not present to receive instruction.
Representative Stagnick introduced the measure as addressing student absenteeism and its effect on teacher evaluation systems, saying the bill would "prohibit the inclusion of test scores or data of certain students in the value added assessment model." Cynthia Posney of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers told the committee: "If the child isn't in the classroom, you can't judge the teacher on that. It's hard to, understand the impact of the actual teaching if the child isn't there to receive that instruction." Posney emphasized that evaluations affect employment and advancement for teachers.
Senator Jackson Andrews, a former educator, spoke in support and moved to report the bill favorably. The committee recorded no objections and reported the measure forward by voice. The transcript indicates the bill would treat excused absences in a way intended to avoid unfair evaluation impacts caused by chronic absenteeism; the bill text would amend Title 17 evaluation provisions. The committee did not adopt further amendments during the hearing as recorded in the transcript.
