Whitmer signs 1-year delay in teacher evaluation change

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan will delay a key change in its evaluation system for teachers and schools administrators under measures signed Tuesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who expressed concern with giving test data greater weight in year-end performance reviews.

The bills won overwhelmingly bipartisan support in the Republican-led Legislature. They will halt, at least for a year, a requirement that student growth and assessment data account for 40% of an evaluation starting this academic year, up from 25%. Under the legislation , the change required in a 2015 law will be delayed until the 2019-20 school year.

"As I continue to visit schools across the state, nearly every educator says the same thing: they are forced to spend more time on testing than actually teaching their students how to learn," Whitmer, a Democrat, said in a statement. "We know that test scores are only one piece of the puzzle and not the whole story."

The delay is supported by teachers unions, school districts and groups representing administrators. Some legislators said Michigan's main standardized test, the M-STEP, does not adequately measure students' learning over time.

"The feedback is not coming back quickly. So when teachers don't have those tools to look at their feedback to see how they can improve — we're not getting this feedback for months — then it's really not helping us out," said Rep. Darrin Camilleri, a former high school social studies teacher. The Democrat from Wayne County's Brownstown Township said he hopes there is a "broader conversation" about the evaluation system and state testing, not just a one-year pause.

Under the evaluation law, the remainder of an educator's annual review centers primarily on their performance as measured by a scoring tool chosen from a state list or developed locally, including a...