Yesterday Terry outlined five ideas for strengthening Ohio's Race to the Top application for round two submission: invite critics into the conversation; remove the fat from the proposal; focus on real measures of teacher performance; remove the teacher unions' veto power over reforms and; take school turnarounds seriously.??
The last three reforms are ones for which Fordham and other reformers have been advocating in the Buckeye State well before Race to the Top even began. Not surprisingly, as reflected in the reviewers' scores and comments, those grading Ohio's application agreed that the state's weakest area was ???Great Teachers & Leaders.???
Ohio's weakest application areas, in order of areas with the lowest scores, are:
- Great Teachers & Leaders Ensuring equitable distribution in hard-to-staff subjects and specialty areas (3.6 points out of 10 ??? 3.6/10)
- State Success Factors Improving student outcomes (12.8/25)
- Great Teachers & Leaders Ensuring equitable distribution in high-poverty or high-minority schools (9.8/15)
- Great Teachers & Leaders Improving the effectiveness of teacher and principal preparation programs (9.2/14)
- Great Teachers & Leaders Providing effective support to teachers and principals (14/20)
- Data Systems Fully implementing a statewide longitudinal data system (18/24)
- Great Teachers & Leaders Providing high-quality pathways for aspiring teachers and principals (16.2/21)
- Turnarounds Turning around the persistently lowest-achieving schools (28.6/35)
- State Success Factors Translating LEA participation into statewide impact (12.4/15) [quote]
- Great Teachers & Leaders Using evaluations to inform key decisions (23.4/28)
- General Ensuring successful conditions for high-performing charter schools and other innovative schools (34/40)
- Data Systems Using data to improve instruction (16.4/18)
- State Success Factors Securing LEA commitment (41.2/45)
Nearly half of Ohio's lowest-scoring sub-strands come from ???Great Teachers & Leaders.??? This is evidence that not only is Ohio weak in this area, but also that improving teacher effectiveness is one of the most difficult reform areas as it consistently runs up against teacher unions reticent to evaluate teachers based on student performance, think innovatively about certification, seniority, placement, etc.
It's notable that even the most generous reviewer of Ohio's application (who gave Ohio 452 out of 500 points) cut significant points in the Great Teachers & Leaders section.
The writers of Ohio's second-round application probably have already started poring through the comments. Here are a few especially worth paying attention to:
???Processes to remove ineffective educators are not provided.???
???It became clearer during the Q&A session that since the state is a ???bargaining unit' state, professional union participation is presently only contemplated in many LEAs and formal participation will need to be negotiated.???
??????Only half of the LEAs committed to using evaluations to inform compensation and promotions.???
???This section [Support Educators to Increase Student Growth] does not offer a plan to measure, evaluate, and continuously improve these supports over time.???
???[There is an] absence of a similar index [Teacher Shortage Index] and shortage analysis for principals.???
?????? The state's negotiation with the teacher union may result in delays or modifications to the state's plan to design and implement the planned initiatives??????
Unfortunately, the writers of Ohio's second-round application may face a Catch-22 which many observers noticed yesterday (and Andy created a cool scatter plot to illustrate) ???Sec. Duncan sent the message loud and clear in selecting Tennessee and Delaware that stakeholder buy-in, especially from unions, matters a great deal. But strengthening the area of ???Great Teachers & Leaders??? is likely to fuel even more union opposition rather than win their favor. If second round selection is like the first (it may well not be if 10-15 states win), it seems nearly impossible for Ohio to both strengthen its weakest application areas and win more union support. Good luck walking that tightrope.
- Jamie Davies O'Leary
