Assessing student growth for those teachers not included in ISTEP+

From the Indiana Dept of Education - 5/16/2011:


Question - How do we evaluate/pay educators teaching in grades/subjects that are not tested by ISTEP+?


Answer - By January 31, 2012, the State Board will adopt rules that establish the methods for assessing student growth for certificated employees who do not teach in areas measured by statewide assessments.‖ This fall, several school corporations across the state will pilot these methods.


So why did we pass legislation without establishing these methods? And the methods won't even be established until January 2012? This question affects all FCS, Computer, PE, Music, Art, Dance and Drama teachers as well as many others. And there is still no consideration given to those teachers with multi-building responsibilities. Please weigh in on this if I'm missing something!

My e-mail to Representative Bill Davis - for what it's worth!

Needless to say, I'm not happy with the education reforms that were signed into law this past session, especially in light of the fact that I have a daughter who will soon be looking for a job in the area of fine arts education. Although I hope the legislation wasn't meant as such, it has turned out to be an attack on the fine arts programs at many schools in favor of math and language arts. At this point in time, I see my daughter's best prospect to be looking out of state for employment. Remember, if we take away the fine arts, we take away the soul of the school and some day, when a language arts teacher asks students to do a creative writing assignment, they'll have nothing to write about!