Teachers and Unions

Michelle Rhee is a controversial figure, to be sure. During her brief tenure as chancellor of Washington D.C. schools, Rhee managed to ruffle more than a few feathers. She also developed a loyal fan base that has followed her to her latest project, StudentsFirst, a non-profit committed to education reform. Since her exit from Washington schools, some questions remain about whether Rhee's approach to education reform really does put students first. Case in point: there are recent questions in an in-depth report by USA Today about a high number of changed answers on standardized tests in some Washington schools.

This video reports on Michelle Rhee's tenure as Chancellor of the D.C. public schools.

Details of the Report

An investigation by USA Today exercised D.C.'s Freedom of Information Act to obtain data that documented test scores for one of Washington's schools for the past three years. Crosby S. Noyes Education Campus was considered a "shining star" by Washington's public school officials after the school was able to raise standardized test scores by record-breaking numbers. In 2006, only 10 percent of Noyes students scored "proficient" or "advanced" in math. Just two years later, as many as 58 percent scored that high, and reading scores shot up as well.

Michelle Rhee was particularly interested in Noyes, and she used the school as an example of how she implemented changes that could transform struggling schools

Los Angeles is leading the pack with teacher ratings designed to better evaluate teachers' performance despite variables like parental involvement and income levels. The tests, coined "value-added" evaluations, look at the progression of each individual student when providing teacher ratings rather than simply applying standardized test scores across the board.

According to a report in the City Journal, these value-added tests were used to evaluate teacher performance in both math and reading for third, fourth, and fifth-grade teachers across the Los Angeles Unified School District. How well did the teachers score?

Making the Grade

According to a report on National Public Radio (NPR), the original value-added evaluations were conducted by two investigative reporters at the Los Angeles Times: Jason Felch and Jason Song. The two compiled standardized test scores on every Los Angeles school district child for the past seven years. The reporters could conduct a comprehensive analysis of teacher performance using the data collected on the test scores and the teachers. The findings on 6,000 California teachers were published in the Los Angeles Times, along with the data that showed how well students performed on standardized tests.

A report in the Los Angeles Times explained that the value-added portion of the evaluation was based on a student's individual performance on initial tests and how that performance improved or backtracked. A student's improvement in school could be directly linked to the performance of his teachers, making this assessment much

Teaching salaries may no longer depend simply upon tenure or the type of degree an educator holds. Instead, their compensation as teachers may be based upon how well their students perform on tests!

In 2012 former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg recently declared that student test scores would be a deciding factor in determining which teachers should be awarded tenure and which should not. Considering that tenure influences a teacher’s pay, this declaration inherently ties together test scores and compensation. Bloomberg also made a speech in Washington, alongside the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in which he called upon the NY state legislature to require all school districts in the state of New York to use "data-driven systems" to evaluate teacher and principal performance.

Although such proposals for performance-based pay for teachers have historically been fiercely opposed by teachers' unions, they are gaining ground in a number of states and seem to be part of a general larger trend towards increased school accountability.

This video from PolicyEd discusses the issue of performance-based teacher pay.

Supporters: Performance-Based Pay Will Benefit Students

The ranks of performance-based pay advocates have been growing in recent years. As the New York Times reports, Mr. Duncan said during Bloomberg's recent Washington press conference that "Everyone agrees the current system is broken." Those who support basing teacher evaluations on student test scores tend to say that performance-based

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act mandated that all public schools evaluate their teachers based upon stricter qualifications. However, not all schools have revamped their employee rosters and hiring checklists, leading parents to wonder, "are my child's teachers still qualified?"

According to the US Department of Education in 2005, all public school teachers must be considered "Highly Qualified" in order to teach. To be labeled as a "highly qualified teacher," instructors must hold a bachelor's degree, full state certification, and proof of subject-area competency.

While the standards of a "highly qualified teacher" are generally reasonable, many schools in the United States expressed challenges in achieving these goals. Specifically, schools in rural areas found it nearly impossible to hire new, "more qualified" teachers than the limited number currently employed. As a result, the mandates of NCLB were revised to allow for more flexibility.

To find out if your local public school teachers meet all of the NCLB qualifications, consider the following standards outlined by the legislation.

NCLB "Highly Qualified" Requirements

The requirements for achieving the "highly qualified" teaching status depends upon one's subject area and additional state-based guidelines. Generally, all elementary teachers are required to meet the following criteria:

• More than 180 days of teaching experience
• Pass state-mandated subject tests
• Certified for all elementary education (as opposed to specific subject areas)

Middle school and high school teachers are required to meet the following criteria:

• More than 180 days of teaching experience
• Passing score on state subject-area tests