House Bill 1001

In the two articles "Colorado Teacher Evaluations Bill Signed Into Law by Gov. Hickenlooper" on Denverpost.com and "Hickenlooper Signs Teacher Evaluation Bill for Colorado" on EducationNew.org both describe the HouseBill1001 that was signed into law recently. The bill sets standards for teachers to help make sure that they are not only doing their job by teaching students what they need to know, but that they are qualified to do so. In fact, a very interesting side to this bill is that idea that teachers are judged on certain standards as well as their student's grades even more. As described in the Denverpost's article, "the law also now requires 50 percent of teacher evaluations to be based on student test scored" (Yesenia Robles). The standards for teachers is becoming a prominent issue in education today and I think it's for the better.

I think that this is a great idea personally. Although this bill is ensuring that it will be tougher to get a job as a teacher, it also makes sure that student's are in capable hands. Teacher's need to have all the qualities that this bill is trying to make sure that they have and their students' grades should also be taken into consideration. If a teacher can't teach their students well enough for a majority of them to succeed, then maybe the teacher's capabilities should be evaluated. A child's success in the class isn't just based on their efforts, but also on the efforts of the teacher. And for these reasons, the Bill will make a lot of great changes that will help influence how teacher's are picked and given tenure as well as make sure that teacher's are capable in doing their job.

*To learn more about the important of teacher evaluations, not only in Colorado, watch the video below. It talks about the Georgia point of view about how test scores should be used in teacher evaluations. It made me think a lot about my future and how I couldn't believe that test scores weren't a determining factor, as much as they are now, in deciding if a teacher is worthy of her position. To me, it seemed like a no-brainer that the grades of your students should matter in if you remian a teacher or not, but obviously, it wasn't as big of a deal until recently. Teachers won't get posistion/retain positions unless they are even more worthy now. GOOD IDEA government!!!!*

Video:
Test Scores Now Used in Teacher Evaluations