Effort to add test scores to teacher evaluations not dead

SEATTLE — An effort to add test scores to the way teachers are evaluated in Washington state has not died.

The chairwoman of the House Education Committee didn’t bring the Senate proposal up for a vote this week, so the chairman of the Senate Education Committee says he has brought the idea back to life as an amendment to another bill.

Sen. Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island, says the proposal aimed at regaining an U.S. Education Department waiver from some requirements of the No Child Left Behind law was attached to House Bill 1345. That measure focuses on professional learning for educators and was passed out of committee Tuesday.

Last year, Washington state lost its waiver from the federal education law and lost flexibility over how it could use nearly $40 million in federal dollars for education.