StickWithANose

Obama’s commitment to the corporate model of education reform became apparent early on in his presidency with the inclusion of his “Race to the Top” program as part of the economic stimulus package. In essence, the program provides Arne Duncan with $5 billion in bribe money to force cash-strapped states into adopting the oligarchs policies, one of which is the controversial “Teacher Incentive Fund.” What makes the TIF controversial is that it is seen as being a move to link teacher evaluations to student test scores. In response to the controversy, the useful tools over at the Center for American Progress offered up what they claimed to be a de-bunking of several myths associated with Arne’s “Teacher Incentive Fund.” What caught my eye was this gem:

CLAIM: The federal government, through TIF, allows districts to evaluate teachers solely on the basis of student test scores.

FACT: TIF requires that compensation systems consider gains in student achievement, but classroom evaluations conducted several times a year must be considered as well. Existing programs use a variety of teacher performance measures to reward teachers, including classroom-level gains in student achievement, schoolwide gains in student achievement, and observations of teachers’ instructional practice. In fact, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ Leadership for Educator’s Advanced Performance program employs two different evaluation systems ensuring at least three full classroom observations and additional brief “walk-throughs.” TIF also requires that programs “provide educators with incentives to take on additional responsibilities and leadership roles.”

While this is a nice piece of mis-direction [classroom observations must be considered as well!], it is clear that the intent of the federal policy being pursued here is to link teacher pay with student performance on standardized assessments… as the guidelines being released today testify.

The U.S. Department of Education’s proposed guidelines for awarding $4 billion in Race to the Top money send a strong message that any state hoping to land a grant must allow student test scores to be used in decisions about teacher compensation and evaluation.

According to draft plans to be outlined by department officials on Friday, states would be judged on 19 education reform criteria, from how friendly their charter school climates are to whether they cut state K-12 funding this year.

But only two criteria would be absolute requirements: States must have been approved by the Education Department for stabilization funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (most already have been), and states must not have any laws in place barring the use of student-achievement data for evaluating teachers and principals…

“This is clearly poking the unions in the eye,” said Michael J. Petrilli, the vice president for national programs and policy at the Washington-based Thomas B. Fordham Institute. “What’s so good about this issue is there’s not a lot of nuance. Either you’re allowed to use this information for evaluations or you’re not.”

Although the criterion on linking teachers and student data would be an all-or-nothing eligibility requirement, still unresolved is whether any of the remaining criteria would be given more weight than others, and if so, which ones.

Considering Arne’s resume as the CEO of the Chicago test factory and the absolute requirement that there be no legal barriers to linking teacher evaluations to test data if states hope to receive additional monies from the stimulus fund, the answer to that question is clear.