The new standard: New scoring standards for public school teachers that will link evaluations partly to student performance scores have received final approval from the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. BESE gave passage to the plans today, a day after granting preliminary backing for the teacher evaluation grading scale. The scoring standards, required under a new law pushed two years ago by Gov. Bobby Jindal, will begin statewide with the 2012-13 school year. Public school teachers will have half their review pegged to student performance data, specifically the growth in student achievement on standardized tests. Teachers will be graded as highly effective, effective or ineffective. Evaluations under the new method will be done annually, instead of every three years.
Gone phishing: The Better Business Bureau is cautioning businesses and consumers about a fraudulent email that appears to be from the BBB, with “Complaint from your customers” in the subject line. The BBB says anyone receiving such an email should ignore its contents, forward it to phishing@council.bbb.org and then delete it immediately. If you have already clicked on a link in the email, the bureau suggests you run a full virus scan of your computer. The return email address is riskmanager@bbb.org, which is an e-address the BBB does not use, and it is signed with the address of the Council of Better Bureaus, the national office of the BBB system. The email contains a link to a non-BBB website. The BBB is working with law enforcement to determine its source and to stop the fraudulent campaign.
In it to win it: The major contenders for next year’s presidential election are signing up to get their name on Louisiana’s March 24 presidential primary ballot. The $6 million statewide election allows registered Democrats and Republicans to vote for who they want to get their party’s nomination. Democratic President Barack Obama’s campaign submitted its paperwork today to be on Louisiana’s ballot. No Democrats are challenging him. The contest will be for the Republican presidential nomination. So far, campaigns for former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have qualified to be in Louisiana’s GOP primary. The deadline to qualify is Friday.
