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Wednesday, June 15, 2011 | 11:13 a.m.
Sun Coverage
CARSON CITY – Four education bills making it easier to reward high-performing teachers and get rid of ineffective teachers have been signed into law by Gov. Brian Sandoval.
The bills overhaul the makeup of the state Board of Education, giving the governor more authority and creating a new board to oversee charter schools.
Sandoval called these “groundbreaking education reform bills.”
Assembly Bill 229 requires each school district to create a program of performance pay for the recruitment and retention of teachers and administrators. Starting in July 2013, evaluation of teachers and administrators will be based at least 50 percent on student achievement.
A teacher who receives an unsatisfactory rating for two consecutive years will be deemed a probationary employee who is easier to fire. Assembly Bill 225 provides that a probationary employee who receives notice that he or she won't be retained is entitled to an expedited hearing.
Senate Bill 197 gives the governor authority to appoint a state superintendent of public instruction. The superintendent is now appointed by the 10-member elected state school board. The superintendent also will be a member of the governor’s cabinet.
Under the new law, one member of the state board will be elected from each of the state's four congressional districts and one member each will be chosen by the governor, the Assembly speaker and the Senate majority leader.
There will be four non-voting members on the school board – one from a local school board, one being a local school superintendent, one named by the university regents and a student from public schools.
Also created is a state Public Charter School Authority to regulate and judge the effectiveness of charter schools. Senate Bill 212 says two of the authority members will be appointed by the governor, two by the Assembly speaker, two by the Senate majority leader and a representative from the Charter School Association.
In signing the bills, Sandoval issued a statement that said, “We have replaced traditional tenure with an evaluation system that allows for the removal of ineffective teachers from the classroom and dramatically alters the practice of using seniority as the only factor in school district layoffs.
“Other factors including performance and effectiveness must now be included in teacher evaluation as will student achievement data,” the governor said.
This is a fantastic start and I hope to see many more like this from our lawmakers.
Funny that he should be able to approve a bill that gives him more power (SB197)... wish I could authorize a 'bill' to give myself a raise LOL... nah didn't think so. This guy is a buffoon.
This will go a long way toward upgrading our sad education system.
This will create an interesting situation.
Any teacher knows that achievement in the classroom is affected by many factors, not just teaching. Making the teacher responsible for 50% of the achievement is a two edged sword. If the student does not do well, the teacher can be fired. What about the other 50%, what is the penality for students or parents? The teacher pays the penality for the child that does not come to school or do homework.
Every classroom is composed of a significant variation in students. Some are high performers and are self motivated to learn while others have no motivation to learn or perform. There are a group of students in the middle and other groups between the high performers and the middle as well as groups between the non-performers and the middle.
Additionally, there are at least seven different learning styles. Add in the English Language Learner and the Inclusive Special Education student and the classroom is composed of at least seven different learning levels and styles.
It is going to be difficult at best to show academic progress of each student. If not, the teacher's job is on the line.
Sandoval is going to get what he wants, legislative control over the unions, and all teachers making a starting teacher's salary. This doesn't improve education, it only makes teaching more unrealistic. The teachers are bearing the TOTAL brunt of a system that does not recognize other failures or solutions. Who would want to stay under those conditions?
Governor Sandoval and Michelle Rhee would have us believe that education reform is based on ending teacher tenure. We get rid of seniority, then magically, education will be fixed. That is a smoke screen, and not REAL education reform.
If you truly want to reform education in the state of Nevada, think outside the box. Why is the school year only 180 days, with a three month vacation? No other major industrialized power in the world has such a schedule. That schedule has existed since the 1850's when children provided much of the labor force for the family farm. Why not radically change the calendar, to better match what our competitors are doing. Much of Europe and the Far East has school years of 200-220 days with the longest break being one month. Ask teachers how much re-teaching they have to do to regain the skills lost over the summer. Other countries have a longer school day as well. Why do we only have a day that requires students to be in school for less than 7 hours per day.
Smaller class sizes seem to lead to better student achievement. Look at the Proficiency results from the smaller school districts in the state, and compare those results to the individual high school results in the larger districts such as Clark Counties. Are the results better? Over 80% of high schools outside of Clark County made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2009-2010 School Year. In Clark County, only 53% of the schools made AYP. Students in those small schools have the same teachers, smaller classes and in part, due to those factors, are more successful. If that model works in the smaller counties, why won't it work in the larger counties? The major drawback is the cost. Many other counties in the state spend more than 15K per student with some going up to over 30K per student. Require skills tests for promotion. The military does it all the time. A soldier has to demonstrate that he has the skills needed to be successful in the next rank. Require the same for students. End social promotion. A student has to demonstrate that they have mastered the skills needed to be successful at the next grade level. That would end social promotion and a teacher would be assured that the new students have a certain skill set and are ready to move on.
We all want the best teachers in our classrooms. How do we recruit, train, mentor and retain teachers. We don't! We have no selection program to get our best and our brightest to become teachers. Look how many of the teachers in your school districts are over 45 years old. Where do the replacements come from? With the low pay, long hours, and lack of support and respect, why would anybody become a teacher? We need to look at other models that are more successful and have demonstrated success in student achievement. In other countries, the national government recruits the best and the brightest to become teachers. There is little, if any, turnover of teachers. They are highly valued members of society, whose professional judgment is respected. They are given the resources to be successful. They are paid as professionals. In the United States there is no effort to recruit the best and the brightest to become teachers. Time Magazine had an article in the April 11, 2011 edition which describes Finland's approach to education. Finland is currently ranked in the top 10 in the world in Math and Science.
An excellent article appeared in the New York Times about "The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries." The article points out that when soldiers don't succeed, we don't blame the soldiers, we blame the leaders and work harder to give soldier more and better resources. When students fail, we blame the teachers, take away resources and make their jobs more difficult. Why? We want our schools and teachers to be successful, but we take steps to make their jobs harder, remove resources, and take actions to force them from the profession. We need to think differently about how we view teachers. In South Korea, teachers are viewed as nation builders, here they are the enemy. They are not the enemy, but the persons most responsible for the future economic survival and growth of Nevada.
We also need to change the culture to value education. We are stuck with the old belief that education is not important. "I can get a job as a valet and make lots of money." The economy has changed forever, and that way of thinking will lead to failure. We need to show that those days are gone forever and to be successful in the 21st Century economy, a quality education is vital and more importantly be willing to back it up by paying the cost necessary.
@Tanker1975...
"when soldiers don't succeed, we don't blame the soldiers, we blame the leaders and work harder to give soldier more and better resources. When students fail, we blame the teachers, take away resources and make their jobs more difficult. Why? We want our schools and teachers to be successful, but we take steps to make their jobs harder, remove resources, and take actions to force them from the profession. We need to think differently about how we view teachers."
Well said, Tanker.
The B.S. "reforms" are NOT about "improving Education" in Nevada. Quite the contrary. They are about power & control. I get the distinct impression the Guv doesn't have a clue about education reform, nor does your average union-busting wannabe, like the cheesehead TeaNuts in Wisconsin.