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Will AFT Teacher Evaluation Effort Succeed?
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten stirred education circles with a recent speech in which she called for a new template for evaluating public school teachers, including changes to the procedures for dismissal, formally known as due process. "Too often due process becomes glacial process," Weingarten acknowledged. "We intend to change that." The AFT tapped a top-notch attorney, Kenneth Feinberg, to oversee the effort to revise due process. In addition, Weingarten has reached out to key groups -- including the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the American Association of School Administrators, among others -- to create a forum for improving relationships between labor and management.
What did you think of the proposed teacher evaluation model? If the AFT succeeds at generating consensus among the relevant national players, can it effect change at the local level? What is the significance of the fact that the National Education Association has remained silent in the wake of this announcement?
-- Eliza Krigman, NationalJournal.com
Should Parents Dictate School Reforms?
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed education reform legislation on Jan. 7 that will give unprecedented power to parents whose children attend the worst-performing public schools. Under a provision known as the "parent trigger," if 50 percent of parents at a given school sign a petition, the school board must choose among several options, including closing the campus, converting to a charter, or replacing the principal and other administrators. Advocates of the controversial measure hope that it will make the state more competitive for Race to the Top money, in addition to improving education; opponents, such as the California Teachers Association, are concerned that the approach is too punitive.
Is the parent trigger a good idea? Did California make the right choice by adopting it, or should the state rely on other school improvement strategies?
-- Eliza Krigman, NationalJournal.com