"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Fenty/Rhee Announce Teacher Bribes Ahead of Tuesday's Vote

Looking to complete a Hail Mary that might turn around a losing game late in the fourth quarter, Rhee's corporate coaches have have decided that it is time to offer the $65 million in pay-for-score funds collected from the Waltons, Eli Broad, and former Enron kingpins.  And remember teachers, if Rhee Fenty is defeated, that money will go to some other school system desperate enough to be bought by the corporate testocracy. 

Does the brain trust on the sidelines really believe that some dirty money can "incent" teachers into the top quintile of test score generators?  Having all teachers performing as "highly effective" on DC's pay for scores evaluation scheme is the equivalent of having a baseball team where everyone is hitting .300--all the time.  Excuse the mixed metaphors.  From WaPo:
. . . the performance bonuses are targeted toward the highest-evaluated among them. If a teacher received highly-effective evaluations for two years in a row, his or her base pay could rise by as much as $26,000 a year in addition to the bonus pay.

Sixteen percent of the city's teachers were ranked highly effective last school year. . . . .

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