By SCOTT JORGENSEN

Photo by Micha-El Waldorf School/Flickr.com

SALEM, Ore.- Members of the House Education Committee heard testimony regarding teacher and administrator evaluations during its Thursday meeting.

Rep. Mark Johnson, R-Hood River, testified on behalf of House Bill 4102, which establishes the requirements for those evaluations. The bill would take effect on July 1 if passed into law.

Johnson said that without effective classroom instruction, the broader education reform measures passed by the Legislature last year would be essentially meaningless. He described HB 4102 as the next step in the process of strengthening the evaluation system.

HB 4102 establishes specific timelines for the evaluations, Johnson said, adding that teachers under contract with school districts currently receive infrequent evaluations. Evaluations would be conducted at least every two years under HB 4102.

According to Johnson, the performance of many teachers is currently rated as either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. HB 4102 calls for the addition of more categories, in which teachers and administrators are exceeding performance standards, meeting them, not meeting them but making progress towards them, or not meeting them or making progress.

The language in HB 4102 is identical to that submitted to the federal government for the state’s waiver from the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act, Johnson said. He added that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called for similar teacher evaluation policies to be adopted at the state level.

Most of Oregon’s school districts should be able to comply with the bill’s provisions fairly quickly, Johnson said. That compliance may prove more difficult for smaller districts with fewer resources but still could be achieved through cooperative arrangements with local Educational Service Districts.

Johnson said the evaluation model included in the bill is based on best practices being employed across the state and the nation.

Beaverton teacher David Wilkerson testified against HB 4102. He said the Beaverton School District has spent years working on its evaluation process, which was done as a cooperative effort between teachers and administrators.

Wilkerson said there are better ways of conducting the evaluations than those spelled out in the bill. He added that the provisions of SB 290, passed last session, should be implemented before being changed by HB 4102.

Jim Green spoke on behalf of the Oregon Small Schools Association and said his group supports amendments that have been offered to the bill.

The public hearing on HB 4102 was closed without any further action being taken by the committee. However, the committee did pass some other bills.

Committee members voted unanimously to approve amendments offered to HB 4013. The bill would assist school districts and high schools in increasing the availability of advanced placement courses and would take effect July 1. The legislators voted unanimously to move the bill to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation, where it will be carried by Rep. Betty Komp, D-Woodburn.

Amendments were unanimously approved for HB 4014, which would relieve school districts of certain data collecting and reporting mandates. That bill will be carried on the House floor by Rep. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis.

Also passed unanimously was House Bill 4015. That bill would require the Oregon Health Authority to develop and maintain a lead poisoning prevention clearinghouse on its website. It will be carried on the House floor by Rep. Jason Conger, R-Bend, and Rep. Lew Frederick, D-Portland.