State Board of Education Votes to Prevent SBA Use in Teacher Evaluations

NHFT President David Cicarella testifying at the State BoE.The State of CT Board of Education voted to prevent the use of state standardized test scores from being used in the summative rating for teachers’ evaluations. Based on the PEAC (Performance Evaluation Advisory Committee) recommendation, Smarter Balanced Assessment will not be used in a teacher’s evaluation, but instead will be used to inform goal setting (SLO’s) and assess professional development needs.
NHFT President Dave Cicarella, a member of the PEAC Committee, testified at the State Board of Education in Hartford on April 5th. Dave urged the board to reject the use of the state mastery test for evaluation purposes stating that placing an emphasis on one high stakes test creates an unhealthy focus “to pass the test” with schools potentially becoming “test prep factories”. In further testimony, he stated “multiple measures of assessments” are utilized to determine student growth and provide substantial educator accountability. Dave stated “The Smarter Balanced Assessment is best used for other purposes”.