Education reform package produces odd alliances:
"The package of education reform bills just signed by Gov. Jim Doyle featured an unusual lineup of friends and foes, with politics making some strange bedfellows.
The state’s largest teachers union, Wisconsin Education Association Council, reversed its long-standing opposition to using student test scores to evaluate teacher performance.
The Wisconsin Association of School Boards switched positions, too. In the past, the school board association supported the use of student test data in doing teacher evaluations; this time the group was opposed."
The Milwaukee Association of Commerce, not usually an ally of WEAC, was on record in favor of the legislation. Madison Teachers Inc. did not formally oppose the bills, but executive director John Matthews distanced himself from WEAC’s position, bluntly cautioning against hasty lawmaking in an effort to chase down federal funding.
“We should be careful to change laws based on what’s best in the long run for Wisconsin,” he says.
The new federal funding causing all the fuss is associated with President Barack Obama’s “Race to the Top” program, which allows states to compete for $4.3 billion in stimulus funds aimed at education reform. Obama touted the program last week in Madison at Wright Middle School.
"The package of education reform bills just signed by Gov. Jim Doyle featured an unusual lineup of friends and foes, with politics making some strange bedfellows.
The state’s largest teachers union, Wisconsin Education Association Council, reversed its long-standing opposition to using student test scores to evaluate teacher performance.
The Wisconsin Association of School Boards switched positions, too. In the past, the school board association supported the use of student test data in doing teacher evaluations; this time the group was opposed."
The Milwaukee Association of Commerce, not usually an ally of WEAC, was on record in favor of the legislation. Madison Teachers Inc. did not formally oppose the bills, but executive director John Matthews distanced himself from WEAC’s position, bluntly cautioning against hasty lawmaking in an effort to chase down federal funding.
“We should be careful to change laws based on what’s best in the long run for Wisconsin,” he says.
The new federal funding causing all the fuss is associated with President Barack Obama’s “Race to the Top” program, which allows states to compete for $4.3 billion in stimulus funds aimed at education reform. Obama touted the program last week in Madison at Wright Middle School.