President Barack Obama called for "accountability" from our nation's teachers. Unfortunately, that call is being twisted by Republicans in the Florida state legislature, who are using the president's words as a mandate to bust the Teachers Unions, pull policy on teacher quality out of the hands of the local school districts, and lock pay and tenure into the No Child Left Untested Act. Why this is a colossally stupid idea.
In my piece earlier today at the Huffington Post, "Obama's Big Educational Goals Translate Into Republican Retaliation Against Teacher Union in Florida" I found one place where Republicans seem to agree with Mr. Obama.
The Right-leaning Florida Chamber of Commerce is stoking the flames of "teacher accountability" with ads enouraging a bill being run through state government so fast, you would think it was a pay raise.
Why the sonic treatment for a bill on teacher pay?
The outcry from both teachers and parents has been loud. They want to get the bill done before too many people can weigh in and protest.
At the heart of it, the bill calls for merit pay for excellent teachers, and loss of tenure, pay, and firing for bad teachers. Seems like a good idea, doesn't it?
Until, of course, you note that they base all of this on how students perform on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test or FCAT.
The BIG problem with using the FCAT as a barometer of teacher performance is that the teacher is only one component in the success or failure of the student being tested.
The curriculum, access to the most current textbooks and computer materials, as well as after-school family life and everything from spectral learning disorders like autism and ADD to diet also weigh in.
What teacher is going to want to work at a "C" or "D" rated school and bring it up, knowing that they will have a far easier time being "accountable" at a school with kids who are native English speakers, whose parents lead more "Leave It To Beaver" kinds of lives, and who will show up to support the school and their kids because they don't have work commitments to two or more jobs?
Much of what is wrong with the educational system is beyond the teacher. They should be accountable, I think, but it needs to be put into context of all of the other issues that surround where they work.
If the students in a "D" rated school have never scored better than the 50% percentile on the state tests, and you do worse than that, while every other teacher in the age group at the same school is able to deliver scores higher or the same, then there is enough context sensitivity to the school and situation to make a judgement call.
The way that the bills are worded now, though, they do not have any kind of understanding of where the teacher sits relative to their peers in similarly ranked schools.
These bills will keep new teachers from entering Florida schools.
Parents and educators in Florida need to contact the state superintendent of schools and their state elected officials and derail or modify this bill.