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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Senators Hear Teacher Worries Over Education Reform | Sunshine State News

Senators Hear Teacher Worries Over Education Reform | Sunshine State News

Senators Hear Teacher Worries Over Education Reform

Tenure tinkering, teacher evaluations on educators’ minds
BY: GRAY ROHRER | POSTED: JANUARY 29, 2011 3:55 AM

Stephen Wise

Sen. Stephen WiseHide

Hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s uproar over Senate Bill 6, legislators sought input from teachers Friday during a workshop meeting of the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee.

The education reform legislation that would have tied teacher pay to performance was vigorously opposed by teachers unions, leading former Gov. Charlie Crist to veto the bill. Legislators still want to pass a law requiring greater accountability of teachers, but would like a more inclusive process to address teachers’ concerns. Only two of the five senators on the committee, however, attended the workshop.

Of particular concern to teachers is the potential of a merit pay system based solely or heavily on student test scores at the end of the year. Some have suggested testing children at the beginning of the year as well, in order to determine how much they have learned over the course of the school year, because many students enter a new year with skills far below their grade level.