Ybarra: Teacher evaluation system will be audited

Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra will wait for an audit on Idaho’s teacher evaluation system to be completed before speculating if school administrators are misusing performance reviews tied to teacher pay raises.

Instead, Ybarra told the State Board of Education Thursday she’s concerned that teachers are being evaluated with tools designed to improve their craft rather than rate proficiency.

State education officials declined to give specifics to The Associated Press on how many school districts score identically. However, Idaho Education News reported last week that 32 of Idaho’s 115 school districts had identical evaluation scores in school year 2013-2014.

The agency will review the merit of connecting teacher evaluations to a newly approved $125 million plan to increase teacher pay.