Rewarding excellence in the schools: SB 5901
By Liv Finne
April 4, 2013
April 4, 2013
Breaking news: Reform-minded Senator Litzow (R-Mercer Island) and Senator Tom (D-Bellevue) just introduced a bill to reward excellence in the schools. It is SB 5901, available here. I am reading through it now. Here is what the bill does that jumps out at me:
- Gives A—F letter grades to schools. This is Governor Inslee’s idea, to help parents find out how their schools perform. See Section 302.
- Allows school districts to provide extra pay to teachers based upon the number of schools in that district that receive an A, B or C. See Section 107(4)(b).
- Offers strategic innovative grants to school districts for implementing effective educator and school leadership compensation systems.
- Recognizes highly productive schools, rewards innovation and supports schools that are struggling.
Identifying and rewarding excellence in the public schools would be an important step forward. Washington state has many highly skilled, hard-working and excellent teachers and principals. Unfortunately, the best are compensated just like every other teacher and principal. Teachers are not rewarded for their ability to motivate and inspire young learners, but instead for their seniority and for the paper credentials they have. Teachers must take expensive school of education classes to enhance their salaries, though these courses may do little to enhance teachers’ ability to teach and engage children.
Rewarding excellence — this bill advances good, commonsense ideas for improving the schools. Bravo, Senators Litzow and Tom.
No comments:
Post a Comment