Colorado Board Of Education Approved New 4-Tier Rating System For Teachers, Principals

On Wednesday, the Colorado Board of Education unanimously approved a new teacher-rating system that could make it easier to fire teachers who don't meet testing standards, The Denver Post reports.

For months the board has been working on putting together the multi-faceted set of standards in order to judge the effectiveness of teachers and principals. After a given teacher or principal is analyzed through the new standards lens, they will be given a ranking: "highly effective," "effective," "partially effective," and "ineffective," The Associated Press reports.

For example, an educator that is ranked "ineffective" for two consecutive years would lose their tenure whereas a new teacher would need to be ranked "effective" for three consecutive years to make tenure.

Fox31 reports that the new ranking system will be applied statewide eventually, but will be tested at select pilot schools first to gather data on the program. State lawmakers will have to sign off on the system next year.