Grading Teachers Sparks Conflict as States Vie for Grants

David Wright, a high school technology teacher in Middletown, Delaware, has never taught reading or math. Even so, the state planned to judge his job performance partly on student test scores in those subjects.

That was until last month, when state officials said they would throw out a provision in a new system linking teacher performance to student achievement that assessed educators such as Wright on schoolwide performance in subjects they don’t teach.