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By Staci Hupp A plan to grade Iowa teachers in part by how their students do in classrooms will take up to four years to put in place, a timeline critics say is too slow and threatens the state's shot at millions of dollars in federal aid. The time is needed to make sure tougher evaluations are fair to teachers, state education officials say. "It's really a complex thing that we have to figure out," said Kevin Fangman, the Iowa Department of Education's interim director. "What if a student is off the charts in one area but not off the charts in another? What does it mean for a fine arts teacher versus a sixth-grade social studies teacher?" Some school reform advocates say Iowa's timeline lags behind other states and could hurt a bid to win up to $175 million through President Barack Obama's signature school reform effort, Race to the Top. The grant competition prompted state leaders to agree to toughen teacher evaluations. Iowa's plan does little more than outline the perceived strengths of current teacher evaluation requirements, said Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, a research and advocacy group in Washington, D.C., that has studied evaluation plans in several states. "It's OK to figure out some of that stuff later if you have the framework, but if you don't, you really don't have much," Jacobs said. Iowa's plan for teacher evaluations is "overall pretty weak," Jacobs said. The $4 billion federal grant rewards states that commit to an expansion of charter schools, challenging academic standards, intervention in the lowest-rated schools and a strong tie between student progress and teacher pay and promotion. Iowa lost points in Race to the Top's first round in part because judges weren't convinced that state leaders were serious about making student progress a "significant factor" in teacher evaluations, as rules require. The application also provided weak evidence that evaluations would be used to get rid of bad teachers, some judges said. Iowa's application for a second phase of grant money, due last week, emphasized a plan to collaborate with education advocates. It also outlined a change in state rules that says teachers must provide "multiple forms of evidence of student learning and growth." Members of the Iowa Board of Education approved the change last month. Left out were key details, including how student progress will be measured, how much weight their scores will carry in teacher evaluations and what happens to teachers who fall short. It's also unclear whether teacher evaluations will be uniform statewide or vary by school district. Gov. Chet Culver, who has led the state's bid for Race to the Top, said he does not believe the missing details will hurt Iowa's chances, which he has described as strong. Jim Flansburg, a spokesman for Culver, said, "The process cannot be rushed if we want to ensure that the evaluations are valid and meaningful to students, parents and teachers." Fangman, of the Department of Education, said many states, including Delaware, have yet to determine the degree to which student growth will factor into teacher evaluations. Delaware and Tennessee beat out 38 other states to win the grant competition's first round. Still, the Delaware application specified how teacher evaluations will be used: - A uniform teacher evaluation based on student achievement would be used statewide in the 2011-12 school year. - Evaluations will be used for decisions about tenure, teacher pay and promotion. - Teachers can't be rated "effective" unless they have met growth targets. - Teachers who are rated "ineffective" more than once will not be granted tenure. Delaware's plan also includes coaching for school administrators who will write the evaluations, bonuses for "highly effective" teachers who take jobs in the neediest schools and merit-pay options. Iowa was one of the first states to evaluate teachers annually, but the process has not factored in student progress in the classroom. Earlier efforts to add bite to Iowa's teacher evaluations have failed. Eight years ago, a landmark plan approved by the Legislature was supposed to make Iowa the first state to link pay increases with a strict evaluation system. But the salary link was dropped and replaced by extra paperwork and more feedback from administrators. Some Iowa teachers predict a battle over teacher evaluations this time, too. "The real problem for students not achieving in schools has to be studied," said Dwain Pedersen, who heads the Council Bluffs teachers union. "It's automatically politically correct anymore for the politicians to turn around and say, 'It's because of the teachers and because of the curriculum, and it's never the responsibility of the parents and what's going on at home.' " State officials said they will tie teacher evaluations to student progress, even if Iowa is not named a Race to the Top winner in September. Thirty-five states applied. Fangman said the tougher evaluations could be part of federal education law some day. "I don't think it's going to go away for this administration," he said. |
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