The continued push toward accountability.

Yo dawg, I heard you liked Race to the Top
so I put some Race to the Top on your Race to the Top.

Obama, a series of left-leaning education think tanks, and news organizations like NBC and the Huffington Post (but not teacher's unions) are now moving forward on proposals that aim to increase accountability, reduce union power, and end teacher tenure/seniority. Obama's proposals include two accountability reforms. First: he wants to implement merit pay for teachers. He already moved forward with this idea in a limited fashion when he required states to implement merit pay in Race to the Top. 26 school systems in Georgia, for example, will be implementing merit pay and the state must then adopt it within 4 years. Merit pay, the argument goes, ought to help teachers hold themselves accountable and it provides an incentive to other professionals who feel more comfortable with a competitive pay system. Teachers' pay will be based (in some way) on the scores their students receive on standardized tests. From what I can tell, Georgia is planning to use a bonus-style system that will add to the teacher's base salary but nothing is finalized yet.

Second: Obama and the education left (but not teacher's unions) want to hold teachers directly accountable under No Child Left Behind. When you hear that he wants to overhaul, reform, or otherwise change NCLB, it doesn't mean he wants to scrap it. He wants to build on it. No Child Left Behind it the foundation of Obama's education policy. Not only should teachers get paid more if their kids do better on tests but school systems should have the authority to directly remove teachers whose students don't perform well on those tests. This would be a much bigger policy change in states with teacher tenure and strong unions than it would be in Georgia. Principals and school systems here already have that authority. Many states, including Georgia, are planning to move away from a single NCLB graduation test in favor of testing students at the end of each year. While, this will probably help with graduation rates as students won't have to remember 3-4 years worth of learning for a single test, the real reason to implement these tests is, of course, teacher accountability. When a student fails the current graduation test in 11th grade, how do you know if it is due to a bad teacher in 9th, 10th, or 11th grade? With the new yearly tests, we'll know right away which teachers aren't adequately preparing their students for the test standards. This will also make merit pay easier to distribute to the "good" teachers.

I don't have many positive things to say about Obama when it comes to education. Most of his education policies seem to be a continuation of Bush era policies (just like his approaches to Wall St., lobbyists, Mid. East wars, Guantanamo, torture, and the ever expanding power of the executive branch). This is the case because increasing accountability is the only politically acceptable option. To his credit, Obama is looking to reform the funding structure set up in NCLB. Failing schools that receive funding cuts for failing to achieve AYP often find themselves trapped in a self perpetuating loop: reduced funding yields lower performance which in turn yields lower funding. I expect this aspect of NCLB to end when Obama gets a bill put in front of congress. Other aspects, as I noted, will be carried over. Much of what will change in education is still speculative at this point. The president's attention is elsewhere. The budget is undecided. Both parties are gearing up for the next election cycle. When the reforms do come, don't expect a drastic change from the status quo.

I hope that clears up the current policy choices (at least on a macro scale) that affect schools. I also hope I presented it fairly and objectively. Tomorrow's post will be a bit more editorial as I'll present my criticisms/articles criticizing the accountability movement.