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StumbleEducation panel advances plan to qualify for $175 million
Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009 | 1:32 p.m.
Sun Coverage
The Silver State is inching a step closer to qualifying for as much as $175 million in federal education dollars.
To qualify for the “Race to the Top” grant program, a U.S. Education Department initiative that is expected to distribute $4.35 billion, states must allow teachers to be evaluated using student test data.
In 2003, Nevada lawmakers passed a last-minute bill that explicitly prohibited using test data in teacher evaluations.
The Legislative Committee on Education today approved a preliminary bill draft that would remove from the statute language that prohibits schools from evaluating teachers using student test data. The proposed change still needs to win legislative approval in a special session, which can only be called by Gov. Jim Gibbons.
Nevada is one of a handful of states with similar prohibitions. California changed its law in November, and New York’s prohibition expires in March.
The revised language approved by the Education Committee would allow student test data to be as a key factor – but not the sole determinant – when evaluating teachers.
Gibbons’ deputy chief of staff, Stacey Woodbury, told the Education Committee that Nevada already has missed the deadline to submit a letter of intent for the first round of funding. However, the second round of funding deadline isn’t until June, and that gives Nevada time to put together a thoughtful and comprehensive application, Woodbury said.
Potential funding is determined by the size of the state’s student population: California, Texas, New York and Florida are each eligible for $350 million to $700 million. Nevada could be eligible for $60 million to $175 million.
Even though the first deadline has passed, Nevada might still get its full amount, education officials say. The state is also eligible for tens of millions of dollars specifically intended to turn around its lowest performing schools, and for public-private partnerships intended to foster innovation and reform.
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Harley, I've had this conversation with other people, but I'd like to hear from you.
I'm a big proponent of performance based compensation, but I realize that I don't know everything about a teacher's job. I see that our education system consistently ranks in the bottom 3 in the country, and our spending/student is also near the bottom. $$ doesn't always equal performance, as evident by Washington DC, but it seems like NV isn't even trying to improve our situation.
My question to you...What measurable criteria can we use to grade/judge a teacher's performance? What realistic changes do you think we can make that would have an impact on our performance/rankings?
In brief, my experience is that the best educators where the ones' that could take the most complex subject matters, break them down into the simplest forms and effectively communicate them to an audience in various ways. Noting that disseminating information/concepts, the essences of teaching/learning, requires effective two-way communication -- I am not aware that a process of evaluating such attributes in a comparative as well as meaningful way has yet been devised.
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If the "lawmakers" want to begin to reform Clark County's K-12 the first thing they need to do is pass a law mandating that school districts in Nevada not exceed 100,000 students!
As for the special session, bring it on! But no, hello no, not one legislator from Clark County needs to go to Carson City, they can do business (video conference)from the Grant Sawyer building.
Another magic bullet. Allow teachers to have the final say on who goes to the next grade level and I will be all for this. Also, elected officials should be required to take all subject matter exams and have the results publicly displayed for all to see. I would also like to see some accountability for the testing companies (the true winners in this system). No one knows who grades these tests and there is no way for a student to contest a grade they receive.
Another thing...it occured to me that after eight years of teaching, not once has anyone ever asked any feedback from teachers or students as to how education could be improved. I think that what we have to say would not be very convenient for those making plans for us. Wouldnt be very profitable for the testing companies.