Idaho teacher evaluations to 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 administrators are misusing performance reviews tied to teacher pay raises.

Idaho Education News reported last week 32 of Idaho’s 115 school districts had identical evaluation scores in the 2013-14 school year.

According to their analysis, most teachers achieved a “proficient” score, which is the second highest on a four-tiered scale. Few teachers rated as distinguished – the highest – and fewer teachers scored lowest on the scale.

“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.