Key House committee approves changes to teacher evaluations

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia teachers may soon see changes in how they are evaluated.

A House committee unanimously approved a bill that decreases the importance of students' performance on standardized tests in annual evaluations for public school teachers.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Tippins, a Marietta Republican. The bill's passage was viewed as a major victory by supporters in the education field, who had called for revisions to the state's current scoring system.

If signed into law, the bill will also move the assessment window back as far in the school year as possible for teachers, principals and vice principals. This would provide more time for schools to prepare students for state evaluation.

The bill could make it to the Senate floor for a vote next week.