We, the undersigned, write in support of Senate Bill 298 by Senator Katrina Jackson.

The Value Added Model (VAM) does not provide an accurate assessment of a teacher's abilities or their students' work in the classroom. In fact, teachers have no control over many of the factors which impact a student's VAM score. It's one thing to use these scores to inform and give guidance to instruction, but this flawed instrument has been used to punish great teachers. Despite the obvious problems with the evaluation system, a student's VAM score data is currently weighted at 35% of a teacher's evaluation score. SB 298 helps to resolve this issues by removing the requirement to use VAM scores in teachers’ evaluations and district accountability​. If implemented, this legislation would have a positive impact on our teachers and their students.