In Washington, D.C., officials shortened a new teacher evaluation checklist after complaints from teachers and principals that it was too long and time consuming. In Memphis, Tenn., after a year of ...

Perhaps this is where the “we need something more than checklists” refrain began--with the standard union-contract checklist evaluation familiar to teachers since the 1960s.

Besides, the new evaluation plans have huge problems embedded, beyond the make-work element. Hint: this is how pointless and ineffectual evaluation-checklists came into being.

Now Maine has taken a step away from this with LD 92 (to see the full affect, look also at the amendments). The bill removes any requirement to base teacher evaluation on test results.

High school teachers (N = 48) in four schools in two districts in Florida and Wisconsin analyzed two behavioral teacher evaluation systems used in Florida (Florida Performance Measurement System [FPMS ...