Mich. Ed. Update – Sept. 18

Proposed law largely removes data from educator feedback

Michigan lawmakers recently began to consider a proposal to significantly reduce the use of data in educator feedback. The proposal, House Bill 5707 (Miller, R), would relegate student improvement data from the state to as little as 12.5 percent of an educator’s evaluation. As a result, nearly 90 percent of educator evaluations would come from other sources.

“If we are making student-centered policies, then we must ensure that however local evaluations are done, they are truly focused on improving the quality of classroom instruction,” said Brian Gutman, Director of External Relations at The Education Trust-Midwest during testimony to the House Education Reform Committee on the proposal. “The quality of classroom instruction is well recognized as the most significant in-school factor for improving student outcomes… continuously improving the quality of classroom instruction must be a top priority.”

Although Michigan’s framework for providing honest, trustworthy and actionable feedback to educators should be improved, The Education Trust-Midwest opposes House Bill 5707 as it would amplify flaws in current law and do nothing to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Michigan classrooms.

What Parents and Teachers Think About Education Data

The Data Quality Campaign recently released the results of significant parent and teacher polling on attitudes towards education data.

They found that parents and teachers agree on the power of data in the classroom. Despite this, teachers face barriers to using data, including a lack of time and training to put it to work for students. And they found that parents and teachers find data useful for making decisions and supporting students.

View the full infographic here.

Capital Update

There are no committee meetings scheduled this week, as the Michigan Legislature is adjourned until September 25, 2018.

Noteworthy News

• Our Editorial: Don’t ditch teacher grading model – The Detroit News
• Does Teacher Diversity Mater in Student Learning? – Claire Cain Miller, The New York Times 
• A foundation, a district, and a university unite in Detroit to build one of the nation’s first ‘cradle to career’ school – Erin Einhorn, Chalkbeat Detroit
• Grand Rapids schools Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal is retiring – Monica Scott, MLive

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