When the U.S. Department of Education revealed at the end of this summer it would make nearly $5 billion in stimulus funds available to certain states in the form of Race to the Top education grants, most people were excited. In Wisconsin, however, we had to sit out the hullabaloo because of one minor technicality: We weren’t eligible because state law forbids the linkage of teacher evaluations to student performance on standardized tests.
On Monday, Gov. Jim Doyle began the process of moving us toward compliance with the Race to the Top guidelines by introducing a bill that would, among other things, allow the coupling of student test scores with teacher evaluations.
Although the Wisconsin Education Association Council has as of yet withheld judgment, a spokesperson told The Badger Herald on Monday, “(the) WEAC definitely believes that any type of evaluation system needs to encompass many measures and standards.”
We agree.
For all the fuss about holistic teacher evaluations, the public has been prevented from considering a major component of teacher performance: student test scores. This move is more than kowtowing to the federal government’s vision for how education should look, all for the sake of a couple of dollars.
First of all, it’s a lot of dollars.
And second, these changes make sense. Again, we recognize other factors (such as family situation or socioeconomic background) impact student learning, but teachers by definition must play some role — or they aren’t doing their jobs.
These are not changes that will cripple our school system for years to come. We won’t be ripping apart our education system just to get our paws on the latest bone the federal government has tossed to the states. Mr. Doyle’s bill is merely bringing Wisconsin in line with the rest of the nation.
This money is needed across the state for projects ranging from new textbooks to more serious problems that confront Milwaukee Public Schools — something Mr. Doyle addresses in the bill as well.
Although we’re uncertain shifting control of MPS to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett will bring any immediate educational benefits, it does at the very least show that someone cares. Furthermore, placing MPS in the mayor’s hands will leave the system under the purview of a more visible and accountable leader. MPS should be in full New Deal mode by now, and if this doesn’t work, we must simply try something else.
Finally, Mr. Doyle’s bill includes a measure to make it easier for local districts to lengthen the school day and year. While our inner fifth-grader cries foul, we recognize that the proposal would give local districts more control of how they manage their school systems, and maybe make Wisconsin look a little better in the eyes of the federal government.
So even though the Race to the Top has already started, we might as well start running.
