Tag Archives: Education policy

Another Colossal Pay Disaster

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Remember this? It seemed like such a good idea at the time!

If you’ve been following the news, you’ll know that on last week, Governor Little just unveiled at $225 million dollar teacher pay increase to help make our state more competitive in the teacher pay department. I support Governor Little, and while that sounds great, as soon as I looked at the details I realized that this bill-like the advanced portfolios for expert teachers-is a disaster. If we pass this bill, with one stroke of pen we will ensure that every “advanced” teacher on this payscale will have either a 3 or 4 (on a 1-4 point scale) on all 22 components of their annual evaluations. 

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The Square Root of Stupid

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StupidRecently National Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that the federal government will be changing the way in which it allocates federal money for special education services to states.  Secretary Duncan wants to tie test scores for special education to the amount of money a state receives from the federal government for reimbursement of special education services.

The logic is simple:  states that send back high special education student test scores will get more money, those with lower scores will get less or even no money.  Surely this will improve student learning, right?  Clearly No Child Left Behind’s (NCLB) emphasis of tying student test scores to federal money was a major success!  Cloning NCLB tools for special education students sounds like a real winner.

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IEA President, Penny Cyr, Responds to Tiered Licensure: Administrators will Have the Power to Revoke Certification

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cyrLast week I sent my concern about the impact the proposed tiered teacher certification and Value Added Model (VAM) model to all members of the Career Ladder / Tiered Licensure Committee.

It was my hope to make sure special education students are a priority as this new possible model is being discussed, obtain some answers regarding the draft language, along with getting some input from committee members and lawmakers on their personal feelings regarding the proposed model. Continue reading →

Diane Ravitch Gave Us a “Shout-Out” on TFA

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diane_cover-248x300National education blogger and education advocate, Diane Ravitch, posted Levi’s Op-Ed on TFA today on her website.  Thanks Diane for including Idaho in the national conversation of education policy!