It was disappointing to learn Monday that Colorado wasn’t among the states to receive Race to the Top funding, but it wasn’t surprising given the failure (so far) to tie teacher evaluations to student progress.
Colorado ranked 14th out of the 16 finalists, finishing ahead of only New York and Washington, D.C. The low ranking, however, was a surprise, and it needs to serve as a strong call for decisive action from Colorado lawmakers, Gov. Bill Ritter and the teachers unions if the state hopes to receive any money in the second round of funding.
Only two states, Tennessee and Delaware, were awarded grants in this first round, signaling that the Obama administration intends to keep the bar high. Educators in those states promised to implement the kinds of data-driven reform Colorado was pursuing but partially abandoned. The winning states won hefty union support for plans that tied teacher evaluation to student performance.
Colorado’s prospects for getting a grant seemed high last year when the program was unveiled, given the fact the state already had made progress on many of the goals outlined by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, including broader charter school opportunities and performance pay programs. But the state’s application didn’t include a key reform: overhauling the K-12 teacher tenure process. Legislation was drafted to do just that, but it couldn’t even get a hearing. Instead, the governor issued an executive order to create a panel to more fully explore the issue. He wanted to give the Colorado Education Association a seat at the table.
Delaware and Tennessee, however, managed to move far beyond the debate over whether consistent measuring of student data ought to reflect on the tenure of teachers. They’re doing it, and unions support it.
Delaware plans to send so-called “data coaches” into schools to work with teachers to track the performance of their students. Under the plan, teachers wouldn’t receive good ratings if their students performed poorly, and mediocre ratings could mean a denial of tenure or other sanctions. Strong teachers would reap bonuses and would be further rewarded for taking assignments in troubled schools.
Tennessee’s plan is to base half of a teacher’s evaluation on student- achievement data and connect evaluations to how teachers are paid, promoted or let go.
When the Race to the Top process was outlined late last July, Ritter’s senior education analyst told us he believed the state had developed the “cleanest and most robust” teacher evaluation model in the country. Obama said at the time that the $4.3 billion in Race to the Top funds would go to states that used student- achievement data to “reward effective teachers, to support teachers who are struggling and, when necessary, to replace teachers who aren’t up to the job.”
Colorado, sadly, has fallen behind.
We don’t need more study groups; we need action.
The pressure is on Gov. Ritter to lead and to get the teachers unions on board. And the unions need to step up and realize that reform is happening, and if they want a stake in it, they need to cooperate.
If Colorado misses out again, it won’t be hard to figure out who is to blame.
