Should Teachers Pay Be Linked To Student Grades

[Lady's Human]

I realize the current mass media trend is to label any disagreement as anger, but guess what? It's disagreement.

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry..............

[lizbud]

I realize the current mass media trend is to label any disagreement as anger, but guess what? It's disagreement.

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry..............

I struggle to like any disagreeable person mad or otherwise.

[Lady's Human]

I struggle to like any disagreeable person mad or otherwise.

Well, in which case you're going to have to either:

a) ignore me

b) accept the fact that I'm not a cheerleader for the left or the right and will continue to be "disagreeable" when I don't agree with an opinion.

Discussion is a good thing.

If everyone is nodding their heads in agreement then there's a severe lack of thought.

[lizbud]

I hope these people get this worked out for the betterment of Indiana's
school kids.This state needs to do better. Today's Editorial........

Our Opinion
Right message, wrong tactics

Posted: April 21, 2010

Tony Bennett has brought passion and vision to his job as Indiana's superintendent of public instruction. He's also infused a sense of urgency into the state Department of Education, which before Bennett's election was too far complacent in its acceptance of the status quo.

With so many students in Indiana failing to grasp the basics in reading and math, the stakes for this state and its children are enormous. Bennett understands those stakes far better than most within the education establishment.



But Bennett's brashness also can undermine his effectiveness, turning disputes into personal battles that overshadow policy. Such is the case with Bennett's current squabble with the presidents of two teachers unions.

On the merits, Bennett is largely correct. Teachers should be rewarded financially based more on student achievement rather than how long they've filled a classroom. Seniority also should be only one factor that administrators use in determining which teachers to lay off because of budget cuts or decreasing enrollment. More relevant is -- or should be -- teacher performance.

Yet, by engaging in a public dispute, including mass e-mails and press releases, Bennett has managed to make union leaders appear to be victims in a hard-hitting political fight.

It's not the first time Bennett has forgotten the need for diplomacy. He triggered an unnecessary spat with district superintendents last year by issuing new orders on the school calendar without consulting with administrators or even warning them that changes were imminent.

When it comes to communicating the need for reforms in Indiana schools, including new teacher work rules, Bennett's enthusiasm and energy are valuable assets. He need not back away from delivering the message that change is critical for a state with one of the least-educated work forces in the nation.

Bennett's work is too important, however, to squander his political capital by sinking into a personal fight with the unions, superintendents and others.

Press ahead, Mr. Superintendent, but be smart in picking your battles

[cassiesmom]

The only problem I see with this is that the kids can leave, but the schools don't seem to be given an incentive to improve.


"Liberate the Kids"

The Illinois House Executive Committee will hear a bill on Thursday that could give 22,000 Chicago elementary school students — those stuck in the weakest 10 percent of the city's public schools — an escape hatch.

The bill, which passed the Senate 33-20 in March, would offer state-funded tuition vouchers to kids who are enrolled at 49 elementary schools in Chicago. The kids could use the vouchers at any private or parochial school that admits them.

The Senate vote was instructive. Almost all Republicans voted for the bill. A majority of Democrats voted against it.

But look more deeply into that vote. Many Democrats from relatively affluent areas opposed the measure. But a majority of the African-American and Latino senators — those whose constituents' kids would directly benefit — voted yes. Good for those senators. They put their children first.

This has the makings of a genuinely bipartisan effort. On today's commentary page, Democratic State Sen. James Meeks and Republican Andy McKenna Jr. explain why it has broad appeal.

Here's why we think it does. It would give students — and their parents — better options. It would save the state money because the voucher would cost less than the state spends to educate a child in public schools.

And there's evidence that vouchers improve public schools. A 2009 report by The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice examined 17 studies on the impact of voucher programs. Sixteen studies found that vouchers improved student achievement in public schools; one study found they had no positive or negative impact.

In other words, competition works. These vouchers would be a win-win-win for students, taxpayers and public education.

So you'd think lawmakers would be expressing full-throated support for the bill. But House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego and Rep. Dan Burke, D-Chicago, who chairs the executive committee, have been pretty quiet. It would be a tremendous help if they gave this bill a vocal boost before the hearing. It is going to take another bipartisan effort to get this through the House, because it does shake the education status quo.

There are reasons for all lawmakers to back this bill:

• Chicago lawmakers should support a bill that gives Chicago kids in failing schools a shot at a good education.

• Suburban and downstate lawmakers should support a bill that saves the state money — as much as $44 million over five years if roughly half of the students eligible for vouchers request them. (That number assumes the average voucher would be worth $4,000 per school year.) Over 12 years, the savings would total $242 million, according to the Illinois Policy Institute. How so? Private school tuition is less than what the state spends on Chicago Public Schools students.

What if student performance doesn't improve in private schools? Simple: Parents will vote with their feet. They'll re-enroll their kids at neighborhood public schools. "At some point," Meeks says, "we have to trust parents with their own children, and trust parents that they're not going to make a bad choice concerning their child. If they want their child out (of a failing public school), they should have that option."

Meeks is right. There's little risk, and much reward, in liberating kids from the city's worst schools so they can go find the best school for them.

Members of the Illinois House: Liberate them.