AUGUSTA, Maine - Maine teachers are asking state lawmakers to give school districts more time to develop guidelines for evaluating their job performance. Districts in Maine are supposed to be piloting new evaluation systems this school year, but a bill before the Legislature's Education Committee would give them one more year to get there.
Testifying before the Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, Michael Thurston said his district has been piloting its new system, but needs more time to refine it.
"It would be a benefit to all if a second year could be used to increase the number of participants in the pilot and to add that student growth component in the second year," says Thurston, who teaches social studies at Winslow High School.
As part of its federal education waiver, Maine is expected to consider standardized test scores as one measure of student growth. Current state law doesn't force districts to do this in their teacher evaluation systems.
But the Maine Department of Education is expected to introduce legislation soon that would require teachers to be evaluated, in part, on how kids do on the Maine Educational Assessment.