Education Week - February 4, 2015 - 20

Views Converge on Teacher Evaluation in ESEA Debate
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16
service teacher preparation.
The proposal touches on several
additional teacher provisions as
well, including enshrining in law
and increasing appropriations for
the Teacher Incentive Fund, which
provides grants to districts to create
alternative-pay programs.
In addition, the draft would eliminate
the current law's "highly qualified"
teacher provisions; states would
still have to guarantee that teachers
meet state licensure requirements.
The measure would also loosen the
requirements that ensure students
in high-poverty schools have access
to as many qualified teachers as
those in wealthier schools. Instead, it
would require states to provide some
assurance that low-income students
get good teachers and school leaders,
and strong instructional programs.
Democratic Angst
The hearing teased out the first
major policy chasm between Republicans
and Democrats in the
esea reauthorization.
Under the draft, both Title II and
Title IV, the latter of which funds
things like school climate, school
safety, and mental health, would
be converted to block grants, and
states would be able to transfer 100
percent of the funding between the
two grants.
Most education policy and politics
watchers expected this would be a
problem for Democrats. Ranking
member Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.,
said early on in the process that she
expected such language would be included
in the draft bill.
During the hearing, Sen. Elizabeth
Warren, D-Mass., railed
against language in the draft, arguing
that turning the funds into
block grants would give states
millions of dollars without any requirement
that they spend any of
the money on teachers.
"Maybe it will happen sometimes,"
Ms. Warren said about states directing
money to help teachers, "but nothing
in this proposal requires states to
spend a single dollar on teachers."
Asked in an interview after the
hearing whether there might be room
for negotiating with Democrats on
those issues, Mr. Alexander laughed.
"That's a traditional difference of
opinion between Republicans and
Democrats," he said.
Should Congress succeed in overhauling
the federal K-12 law, the
lack of teacher evaluation requirements
will likely stop in its tracks
the Obama administration's efforts
to push states to adopt evaluation
systems based in part on student
test scores and performance-based
compensation systems.
Those policies are at the heart of
the U.S. Department of Education's
nclb waivers, which for the last couple
of years have dictated how states
operate their education systems. But
as the administration's tenure comes
to a close, its sway over states has
already begun to diminish.
Waivers were a popular punching
bag at the Senate hearing, including
jabs by Terry Holliday, the commissioner
of education in Kentucky.
"In order to create a system of support
for teachers and school leaders,
we as state leaders in education do
not need review or approval from
the U.S. Department of Education,"
he said.
He agreed with the intent of the
waivers and even said that the entire
teacher-and-principal pipeline should
be revamped. But he underscored
that such changes take time and
that none of them will be successful
if they are not done in collaboration
with teachers and principals.
"Our teacher-and-leader-effectiveness
systems took years to develop,
and we are continuing to improve
the systems," he said.
Timeline for Reauthorization
The Senate education committee
was to convene again Feb. 3, for a
discussion about innovation in education
at the state and local level.
Mr. Alexander said he still anticipates
completing markup of the
reauthorization bill by March, but
conceded that the path forward
after that may take some time.
"We have to go to the floor for
an extended period of debate and
discussion," Mr. Alexander said.
"Then we have to go to conference,
and then we have to discuss it with
the president. So this isn't the final
word. This is step one."
The House of Representatives is
slated to begin work on a reauthorization
bill as early as this week.
Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., chairman
of the House education committee,
said he will use the Student
Success Act-the bill he ushered
through the House in the 113th
Congress-as the starting point
for the legislative process, which
he said is also on track to clear the
House by March.
The top Democrat on the committee,
Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., pushed
back on the chairman's decision to
forego hearings on the reauthorization,
arguing in a letter sent to Kline
late last week that the new committee
members would benefit from
exploring the various policy issues
included in the reauthorization.
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Education Week - February 4, 2015

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