Ybarra: Teacher evaluation system will be audited

BOISE - Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra will wait for an audit on Idaho's teacher evaluation system to be completed before speculating if school administrators are misusing performance reviews tied to teacher pay raises.

Instead, Ybarra told the State Board of Education on Thursday she's concerned that teachers are being evaluated with tools designed to improve their craft rather than rate proficiency.

State education officials didn't immediately have specifics on how many school districts score identically when asked by The Associated Press. However, Idaho Education News reported last week that 32 of Idaho's 115 school districts had identical evaluation scores in the 2013-2014 school year.

According to their analysis, an overwhelming amount of teachers achieved a "proficient" score, which is the second highest on a four-tiered evaluation scale. Only a handful of teachers rated as distinguished - the highest on the scale - and even fewer teachers scored the lowest on the scale known as "below basic."

"I'm not concerned with the amount of proficient teachers we've had, I'm more concerned if this is the best evaluation process," Ybarra said, adding that she was encouraged that the state had so many well-performing teachers.

Board member Rod Lewis pushed back against Ybarra's insistence that school administrators were simply given the wrong evaluation tools. He said the data show a possible systematic problem among administrators regardless of the provided tools.

"I question that it's the tools. It's not the tools, it's how they're using the tools," Lewis said. "Either they're taking responsibility or they're not."

Ybarra said she wasn't comfortable commenting until she had the data from the committee's audit.

The agency will review the merit of connecting teacher evaluations to a $125 million plan to increase teacher pay, which goes into effect July 1. The audit's findings will be presented during the 2016 Idaho Legislature and to the State Board of Education when it is completed.

The new play plan - approved earlier this year by state lawmakers - requires teachers to score in the top two evaluation tiers, proficient or distinguished, in order to move into a higher pay scale. The same evaluation process is used to determine awarding $4,000 bonuses to experienced teachers who have reached the top of the new pay scale.

Lawmakers have pointed to improving teacher pay as one of the key accomplishments of this year's legislative session.