As the 2016 General Assembly began Tuesday, legislators announced two education bills they say will be expedited through the legislative process to help with fallout from what are expected to be lower ISTEP scores.
After preliminary data showed huge drops in this year’s ISTEP+ scores, legislators on both sides of the aisle agreed schools and teachers should not be punished for a new test assessing new standards.
As a safeguard, legislators proposed two bills the first day of the session they say will be expedited through the legislative process, in hopes of the governor signing them into law by the end of January.
One bill will remove this year’s ISTEP scores from teacher evaluation rubrics.
The other addresses the A-F grading system for schools, and says schools will receive the grade that is better between last year and this year’s calculation.
Both bills will get their first committee hearing Wednesday.