Sen. Del Marsh on opening day of 2014 session.JPG

Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, is sponsor of the bill to change teacher evaluations and teacher tenure. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

( )

The Republican leader of the Alabama Senate on Tuesday introduced a long-awaited bill to change the way teachers and principals are evaluated and require more years on the job to earn tenure.

The Preparing and Rewarding Education Professionals Act, by Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, would require a process for rating teachers at five levels -- from significantly exceeds expectations to significantly below expectations.

At least 25 percent of evaluations would be based on test scores under a student growth model that would be developed by the state Department of Education.

Local school systems would have some latitude in developing evaluation procedures as long as they met state standards.

The bill would increase from three years to five years the amount of time it takes for teachers to earn tenure.

Teachers could lose tenure after two consecutive poor evaluations.

The bill would set aside from the Education Trust Fund:

$10 million to reward high-performing schools and those that show exemplary progress.

$5 million for a teacher recruitment fund to pay bonuses to teachers who take jobs in schools defined as failing and schools with at least 80 percent of students receiving free or reduced lunch, or who take jobs in critical shortage subjects or take hard-to-fill jobs.

$3 million for a mentoring program for new teachers.

Teacher evaluations would become the main factor in determining which teachers are retained when there are cutbacks in staffing.

The PREP Act is a revision of one Marsh had originally called the RAISE Act, which had been circulated for months but not formally introduced.

Marsh said Alabama's low rankings in the recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress show that changes are needed.

Alabama fourth graders and eighth graders ranked at the bottom among states in math and in the bottom 20 percent in reading.

"We have got to start seeing what's going on here. We've obviously got a problem when our scores are this low," Marsh said.

Marsh said he has great respect for the teaching profession.

"But we think this bill helps teachers get better," he said. "It gives them the tools I believe to see perhaps where the problems lie. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to improve education in the state of Alabama."

Marsh said he expects the bill to be discussed in the Senate Education Committee next week.

Marsh has been an advocate for education reforms. He sponsored the charter school bill last year and led passage of the Alabama Accountability Act in 2013.