By Stephanie Crosby
Frankfort, KY – Kentucky's Education Department submits the state's second application for federal Race to the Top dollars today. Spokesperson Lisa Gross says in this application is a plan to tie part of teachers' evaluations to student performance. She says a number of states are considering the change because of the preferences of the federal program.
"Many states, including Kentucky, are looking at tying teacher evaluations to student growth in achievement and that's what Kentucky is doing in its Race to the Top application. This won't be the only way that teachers are evaluated, but it will be component of their evaluations."
Gross says the change wouldn't take effect until the 2013 school year, and would be implemented through state legislation and adherence to federal programs already in place. She says Kentucky missed out on the first round of Race to the Top funding because of the lack of charter schools in the state. That issue isn't addressed in the application because the state legislature hasn't changed state law to allow the schools.