BOSTON, June 28 (UPI) -- The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted Tuesday to evaluate teachers by their students' performance on statewide tests.
In New York state, the union representing public school teachers filed a lawsuit against the State Board of Regents over evaluations.
The Massachusetts board approved new regulations for evaluations 9-2, Commonwealth Magazine reported.
Under the rules, teacher evaluations would combine student scores on the MCAS where they are available, other district-wide benchmarks and observation of teachers' classroom performance. Teachers would be rated as unsatisfactory, needs improvement, proficient and exemplary.
Those put in the bottom two categories would have a year to improve enough to be evaluated as proficient or exemplary. Those who fail to do so could be fired.
The lawsuit by New York State United Teachers involves a last-minute change to the teacher evaluation system in that state, the Times Union of Albany reported. The shift places more emphasis on student results on standardized tests.
The Obama administration has made teacher evaluations a key part of its education policy.