Ybarra, auditors planned new evaluation system

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho’s top schools chief was quietly working with a company that was auditing the state’s teacher evaluation system to build a replacement system while the audit was still underway, the Associated Press has learned through public records requests. The audit by McRel International found that 99 percent of the evaluations reviewed were incomplete, and those results have been strongly disputed by school administrators. However, it wasn’t known the extent to which Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra and her executive staffers were working closely with McRel to build a new system until the AP obtained Ybarra’s emails and correspondence with McRel two weeks ago. Ybarra also asked another company, Life Sciences Marzano Center, to submit a proposal for a new system, but that proposal wasn’t received until after the review was done. Ybarra’s office said Wednesday they didn’t believe there was any conflict of interest created by working with McRel while the audit was underway.