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Teachers
should
be
judged
on
student
performance
By LIBBY
QUAID
AP
Education
Writer
WASHINGTON
(AP) --
Teachers
should
be
judged
on
student
performance,
though
not
solely
on test
scores,
Education
Secretary
Arne
Duncan
said
Monday.
Duncan
supports
merit
pay for
teachers,
an often
controversial
practice
linking
raises
or
bonuses
to
student
achievement.
It is
opposed
by many
teachers'
union
members,
who make
up a
powerful
segment
of the
Democratic
Party.
He said
test
scores
alone
should
not
decide a
teacher's
salary.
"But to
somehow
suggest
we
should
not link
student
achievement
to
teacher
effectiveness
is like
suggesting
we judge
sports
teams
without
looking
at the
box
score,"
said
Duncan,
a former
professional
basketball
player.
Duncan
is using
federal
stimulus
dollars
to press
the
issue.
States
and
school
districts
will
compete
later
this
year for
a piece
of a $5
billion
fund to
reward
those
that
adopt
innovations
the
Obama
administration
supports.
Applications
will be
available
in July,
and
money
should
be
awarded
early
next
year.
Whether
officials
tie
student
data to
teacher
evaluation
will be
a
consideration,
Duncan
said.
"Believe
it or
not,
several
states,
including
New
York,
Wisconsin
and
California,
have
laws
that
create a
firewall
between
student
and
teacher
data,"
Duncan
said.
"Think
about
that -
laws
that
prohibit
us from
connecting
children
to the
adults
who
teach
them,"
Duncan
said.
In
several
districts
around
the
country
including
Chicago,
where
Duncan
ran the
public
schools,
merit
pay
systems
have
been
created
with
support
from
teachers'
unions.
He says
he wants
it done
with
teachers,
not to
teachers.
Duncan
will
also
consider
whether
states
are
encouraging
charter
schools,
which
are
similarly
controversial.
Charter
schools
are
publicly
funded
but
operate
independently
of local
school
boards,
often
free
from the
constraints
of union
contracts
in
traditional
public
schools.
As a
result,
they are
hotly
opposed
by
teachers
and
other
critics
who say
they
drain
money
and
talent
from
other
public
schools.
Duncan
has
criticized
states
where
lawmakers
have
resisted
efforts
to allow
more
charters
to open,
such as
Illinois,
or more
children
to
enroll
in them,
such as
Tennessee.
He has
said
states
will
hurt
their
chance
to
compete
for
stimulus
dollars
if they
fail to
embrace
innovations
like
charter
schools.
The
education
secretary's
remarks
came
during a
conference
of the
Institute
of
Education
Sciences,
the
research
and
statistics
arm of
the
Education
Department.
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