That Was Some Serious Kabuki

Elisabeth Harrison:

In a move that seemed almost unthinkable before a change in leadership at the House of Representatives, Rhode Island lawmakers have suspended the use of standardized test scores as part of a high school diploma until at least 2017. Lawmakers have also approved legislation that limits the frequency of teacher evaluations for most teachers.

The teacher evaluation bill, in its final form, requires highly rated teachers to undergo in-depth evaluations just once every two to three years. The original bill said every four years for teachers ranked as "highly effective," but lawmakers agreed to a compromise.

Both these policies were just stupid. Evaluating high performing teachers every year is actually the dumber of the two. It was always just a way to waste time and flush money down the toilet.