On Tuesday, Gov. Whitmer signed into law SB 122, which delays for one year the increase in test score data in evaluation from 25% to 40%.

In a press release Whitmer said, “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. We know that test scores are only one piece of the puzzle and not the whole story. I’ve put forth a real solution in the budget to boost student performance, and I look forward to working with the legislature to get it done.”

While a one-year delay is not the permanent solution MEA was advocating for, it does provide a window of opportunity to address the serious problems with evaluation system (as outlined in the recent edition of the MEA Voice magazine).  As President Paula Herbart said in MEA’s release last week about the passage of SB 122, “Based on feedback about evaluations from front-line educators, this delay only keeps a big problem from getting worse. We look forward to working with the governor and legislators from both parties to fix this system so it helps deliver the highest quality education for every student.”