WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama called for tying teachers’ pay to students’ performance and expanding innovative charter schools Tuesday, embracing ideas that have provoked hostility from members of teachers unions.
He also suggested longer school days — and years — to help America’s children compete in the world.
In his first big speech on education, Obama said the United States must drastically improve student achievement to regain lost international standing.
“The future belongs to the nation that best educates its citizens,” he said. “We have everything we need to be that nation. . . . And yet, despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short and other nations outpace us.”
His solutions include teacher-pay and charter-school proposals that have met resistance among members of teachers unions, which constitute an important segment of the Democratic Party. But union leaders publicly welcomed Obama’s words, saying it seems clear he wants to include them in his decisions in a way President George W. Bush did not.
“We finally have an education president,” said Randi Wein garten, president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers.
The president of the 3.2 million-member National Education Association, Dennis van Roekel, insisted that Obama’s call for teacher performance pay does not necessarily mean raises or bonuses would be tied to student test scores. It could mean more pay for board-certified teachers or for those who work in high-poverty, hard-to- staff schools, he said.
However, administration officials said later they do mean higher pay based on student achievement, among other things.
“What you want to do is really identify the best and brightest by a range of metrics, including student achievement,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.
The union leaders also liked that Obama took on Republicans in his speech, saying the GOP has refused to spend more money on early-childhood programs despite evidence they make a difference.
There also has been considerable friction over charter schools. Many teachers are concerned that such schools drain money and talent from regular schools.
However, Obama said many of the innovations in education today are happening in charter schools.
Obama addressed the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a setting intended to underscore the need to boost academic performance, especially among Latino and black children who sometimes lag behind their white counterparts.
Broadly speaking, Obama wants changes at every level — from preschool through college. He is putting special focus on solving the high school dropout crisis and pushing states to adopt more rigorous academic standards.
Obama also wants kids to spend more time in school, with longer school days, school weeks and school years — a position he admitted will make him less popular with his school-age daughters.
