By Brooke Dollens Terry Texas Public Policy Foundation
Frustrated by high dropout rates poor academic performance and a refusal by the education system to change many prominent national and state leaders are calling for ambitious changes to how teachers are paid poor performing teachers are evaluated and states treat innovative charter schools.
A new organization called the Education Equality Projectled by Joel Klein Chancellor of the New York City public schools and civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharptonis working to assemble influential leaders from both parties to support such fundamental reforms.
Just this week President Barack Obama joined the chorus in a speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce by embracing teacher incentive pay and calling for states to remove caps on excellent charter schools.
For too long teachers have been paid with a one-size-fits-all policy of paying every teacher the same amount regardless of their performance skill or difficulty of work assignment. This salary schedule has been in place since 1921 and is used by 97 percent of school districts nationwide. Allowing local school districts the flexibility to target their limited resources to recruit recognize and retain good teachers is just plain common sense.
Here are some excerpts from the Presidents speech championing a new way to compensate teachers:
Were taking steps to prepare teachers for their difficult responsibilities and encourage them to stay in the profession. Thats why were creating new pathways to teaching and new incentives to bring teachers to schools where theyre needed most. Thats why we support offering extra pay to Americans who teach math and science to end a teacher shortage in those subjects.
Now heres what that commitment means: It means treating teachers like the professionals they are while also holding them more accountablein up to 150 more school districts. New teachers will be mentored by experienced ones. Good teachers will be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement and asked to accept more responsibilities for lifting up their schools."
Many innovative charter schools around the country are successfully educating poor and minority students and preparing them for college or the workplace. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have some type of cap limiting charter school growth. President Obama called for lifting such caps in return for more accountability.
Here are excerpts from President Obamas speech on charter schools:
Now that leads me to the fourth part of Americas education strategypromoting innovation and excellence in Americas schools. One of the places where much of that innovation occurs is in our most effective charter schools. And these are public schools founded by parents teachers and civic or community organizations with broad leeway to innovateschools I supported as a state legislator and a United States senator.
But right now there are many caps on how many charter schools are allowed in some states no matter how well theyre preparing our students. That isnt good for our children our economy or our country. Of course any expansion of charter schools must not result in the spread of mediocrity but in the advancement of excellence. And that will require states adopting both a rigorous selection and review process to ensure that a charter schools autonomy is coupled with greater accountabilityas well as a strategy like the one in Chicago to close charter schools that are not working. Provided this greater accountability I call on states to reform their charter rules and lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools wherever such caps are in place."
Hopefully Texas lawmakers will take a page out of President Obamas playbook and support both teacher incentive pay and lifting the cap on Texas charter schools.
