Schools Roundup: Plan B Edition
In Denver a couple of weeks ago, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee provoked speculation with her comment that she had a “Plan B” ready on deck should the controversial teachers’ contract fail to pass. On Friday, Rhee revealed that Plan B.
Basically, Rhee will use powers already under her authority to revise the teacher evaluation process, changes she can make without seeking union or council approval. More significantly, new rules taking effect this week will allow State Superintendent Deborah Gist to create “an advanced teaching credential,” tying teacher licensing to classroom performance. Typically, licenses are granted based on academic credentials, and renewal only requires additional coursework or professional development.
"The contract is the way that I would prefer to go,” Rhee told a group of education reporters, “But if we can't get to agreement on the contract, there's another very clear way that we can get there. ... The bottom line is we are going to bring accountability in a very significant way to the educator force in this school district."
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
While at first glance this plan may not seem like a substitution for the proposals being offered in the teachers contract, these new rules accomplish one incredibly important step — tying jobs to performance. If teachers can’t show that students are learning, they won’t be able to renew their licenses and keep teaching. It’s the principle that’s at the heart of merit pay, and at the heart of a larger debate about urban education reform. On one side you have those who believe that external factors like poverty so impact student performance that it’s unfair to hold teachers accountable, and on the other, those who argue that teachers should take full responsibility for student learning — anything else is lowering expectations for the kids who need help most.
What will be interesting to watch is how these rule changes may play as a stick to the carrot of the salary increases in the new contract, which isn’t dead just yet. Some teachers may now figure that since they’re going be to held accountable anyway, why not be paid more money for it? The Washington Teachers’ Union is not pleased at all by these developments, but as Marc Fisher wrote over the weekend, “unless the regular public schools start competing effectively against the city's 56 charter schools, [WTU members] will find themselves losing their jobs anyway, as the public schools continue to shrink at a rapid pace.” New reports released this week show DCPS attendance continuing to decline, having dropped 17 percent since last year.
Schools Notes: Flypaper takes a look at which DCPS schools the Obama or Palin kids would attend, should their parents actually send their girls to a D.C. public school… A brief history of how DCPS got so screwed up, but not everyone agrees… Ballou HS’s marching band needs help raising money to get to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade… Need a Rhee fix? Check out the Chancellor on CNN and the Kojo Nnamdi Show.