Business group says reforms will help teachers

Dr. Ed Fuller correctly states that these reforms will do little, if anything, to remedy the serious problem our state has with teachers who do not teach in areas for which they are certified. Relying on the TAKS test as a basis for teacher evaluation is indeed already being done and is resulting in enormous teaching to the test. -Angela

Business group says reforms will help teachers
Performance of students would play larger role in judging educators.

By Jason Embry
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, January 04, 2007

State law should require schools to fire teachers whose students repeatedly show little or no improvement after the teachers receive extra coaching, a business group said Wednesday.

That recommendation and others came from the Governor's Business Council, a group of 100 businessmen and businesswomen from around the state who periodically recommend changes in state law. Members of the council hope that lawmakers will work the recommendations into policies they will consider when their five-month session begins Tuesday.

Despite the group's name, Gov. Rick Perry does not appoint members of the business council or direct its work, Perry spokesman Robert Black said. But he said Perry's office would review the recommendations.

The group also called for extra money for teachers in low-income schools that show the most improvement and for teachers who take hard-to-fill assignments such as math, science and special education. Last year, the Legislature created a vast pay-for-performance program, much of which is still taking effect.

"We have yet to reach our goals because we have not gotten to the heart of the matter in our reform efforts," said Charles McMahen, a retired Compass Bank executive who leads the business council. "We must now focus directly on enabling our teachers to achieve excellence."

But some teachers groups responded to the business group's report by saying many of the council's goals can be met under current law.

The report said that current evaluation systems for teachers are inadequate and often reward vague concepts and fads. It calls for teacher evaluations to consider whether student performance improved.

Sandy Kress, a lawyer who led the business council's research, said performance would be measured by test scores and other factors such as graduation rates and success in Advanced Placement classes. Teacher evaluations should include reviews from principals and peers, the report says.

The report says veteran teachers who are deemed ineffective should receive extra help and coaching. If their students continue to perform poorly over three years, they should be fired, it says.

Teachers in their first three years, who are easier to fire than veterans because they get probationary contracts, should be watched more closely, the report says.

"If you had 10 teachers in your child's school and five of them were really effective, and four of them were on the path to effective and one of them was persistently ineffective, whose children would you want to be in that teacher's class? Yours?" asked Kress, who was a key adviser to President Bush on the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Jeri Stone of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association said that student performance is already a small part of the criteria that school districts use to evaluate teachers and that districts have the option of putting a greater emphasis on student performance. The council's proposal would ramp up the pressure that teachers and students face on tests, Stone said.

"It's a very small percentage of teachers who are underperforming, and principals and school districts have plenty of authority to make a change under current law," Stone said.

Ed Fuller, a University of Texas research associate who studies school staffing, said almost 43,000 Texas teachers are teaching subjects for which they are not qualified. He said he does not think the council's recommendations would affect that number significantly.

Fuller also said the state's main test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, is not a good tool for measuring student improvement.

The council also proposed that the state publish more data on students and teachers; develop new evaluations and pay incentives for principals; and rate teacher-training programs and colleges of education based on their graduates' effectiveness.

jembry@statesman.com; 445-3654

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