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Teacher evaluation changes concern Iowa lawmakers

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January 18th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Some Iowa lawmakers are concerned about details of the governor’s education reform plan. During a House Education subcommittee meeting Wednesday evening, lawmakers were particularly concerned about how teachers would be evaluated under the bill from Gov. Terry Branstad. Representatives agreed teachers should be evaluated annually as the bill calls for, rather than the current minimum of every three years. But they questioned how administrators struggling to keep up with their workload would do that, and what those evaluations would consist of. The committee got to just four sections of the 17-section bill during the two-hour meeting. The committee will continue discussion of the legislation Monday morning. Committee Chairman Greg Forristall, a Macedonia Republican, hopes to bring the bill before the full committee on Feb. 15th.