Changes Coming for MI Teacher Evaluations

Michigan lawmakers will soon have to adopt changes to the state’s teacher evaluation system or risk losing the state’s waiver from federal No Child Left Behind requirements, according to U.S. Department of Education officials. Under the waiver, the state is required to have a statewide teacher evaluation system in place for the 2014-2015 school year. However, state lawmakers are yet to adopt teacher evaluation recommendations made last year by the Michigan Council on Educator Effectiveness, and the state Senate is even considering a bill that would push a statewide system back to the 2015-2016 school year. But House Democrat Adam Zemke of Ann Arbor, co-sponsor of legislation that would meet federal waiver guidelines,  says the danger of losing the waiver should be a “wake-up call” to lawmakers.