Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced some controversial proposals for education reform Wednesday while addressing the Center for American Progress in the nation's capital.
Speaking beside U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the mayor announced that the city will begin immediately using student test scores to help decide whether a teacher gets tenure.
The state recently passed a law banning the use of student test scores in tenure decisions.
Bloomberg said a close reading of the law shows that the city can use the test scores for teachers up for tenure this year. He said he has asked Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to begin using the test scores in that decision-making process.
"We should use all means that we have to evaluate who the better teachers are, promote them, pay them more if we can," said the mayor. "And, at the same time, those that aren't up to standards, give them the remedial work that will make them integral teachers, and after all that, they can't cut the mustard, then I'm sorry, they just can't work in our school system.
More revolving door shit, and the kids will be screwed over. Test scores don't mean crap. The kids don't even take the tests seriously to begin with.
Worse still, Bloomberg wants to give principals even more power to boot teachers they don't happen to like.
More about Bloomberg's latest scheme:
The tenure law, passed last year after heavy lobbying from the city and state teachers unions, bars the use of student test scores as a factor in teacher tenure decisions.
But the mayor pointed out this morning that the rules apply only to teachers who began work after July 2008. Teachers up for tenure this year were hired in 2007 and so are not subject to the provisions, Bloomberg argued. If legislators allow the law to expire on schedule this June, then it will never have applied to any teacher.
Right now, 1,200 teachers are receiving regular paychecks and benefits even though they don’t hold full-time positions in the city schools. Bloomberg is proposing to make it easier to move those teachers off the payroll.
Bloomberg also targeted the “rubber rooms,” which hold teachers accused of offenses ranging from incompetence to abuse. A backlog of accused teachers means the rubber room is clogged with people waiting for a verdict on whether they can go back into the classroom.
Bloomberg said that his proposals should not come as a surprise to the union.
“I didn’t consult with them, but they certainly know my views that we should use all means that we have to evaluate who the better teachers are, promote them, and pay them more if we can,” Bloomberg said.
Of course he didn't consult with the union. Who needs them anyway?
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