WBRZ - Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE - An increasing number of educators say Louisiana's evaluation system makes it more likely teachers at high-achieving public schools will get poor reviews, threatening their job security.

"You are looking at trouble," Norma Church, principal of top-rated Westdale Heights Academic Magnet School in Baton Rouge, tells The Advocate.

Superintendent of Education John White said the concerns are mostly misplaced, and teachers at the best schools are better positioned to get good reviews.

The issue surfaced earlier this month when a state lawmaker said South Highlands Elementary, Louisiana's highest-rated elementary school, was seeing teachers rated as "ineffective" even though students had some of the state's best test scores.

The problem is that when high-scoring students fall off a bit from the previous year's performance teachers can be rated as ineffective.