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Volu me 105 Issue 16
Race to the Top raises implementation concerns SAM K ING Investigative Reporter
Winning the “Race to the Top” (RT T T) grant on Aug. 25 has sparked some concern amongst Hawai‘i’s teachers and education professionals. The federal money, totaling $75 million, is meant to focus on creating a performancebased contract system for public school teachers and principals, turn around failing schools, implement national standards for Hawai‘i’s students, improve data collection to keep track of student progress grades K-12, and reorganize the Department of Education (DOE) to make it more effi cient. Clifton Tanabe, an assistant professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa College of Education, is happy to see Hawai‘i receive RT T T federal money, but he is concerned about the next steps. “Seventy-five million (dollars) in federal funds is a nice addition to the education budget, but without an extremely effective implementation process, it is unlikely to improve public education in Hawai‘i. Our job as community members is to make clear to the state that we want that money to go to good use.” Formerly a Sacred Hearts Academy teacher, Jennifer Porter is now a law school student at the William S. Richardson School of Law, and she is also concerned about how performance contracts will be initiated. “I have issues with performance-based contracts if those contracts depend upon how well a student does on a test,” said Porter. “Teaching to perform well on a test does not necessarily mean that critical thinking skills are being taught.” Zach Dilonno, a former special education inclusion teacher for the Teach for America (TFA) program, spent three years at Ilima
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Though the federal money promised to Hawai‘i is good news for its public school system, there are those who are worried about exactly how the money will be administered. Intermediate in Ewa Beach. Dilonno believes performance-based contracts could be an excellent tool for rewarding good teachers as opposed to a cudgel for punishing under-performing ones. Speaking on his own behalf, not representing TFA in any way, Dilonno said, “ W hy shouldn’t teachers who pull their students’ performance to
high levels be rewarded for their hard work and efforts?” “I was extremely frustrated that while I pushed my students’ reading levels two years in a single academic year ... several 5-, 10- and even 25-year veteran teachers, who remained indifferent and unmotivated to try new, innovative things to push student learning, earned the same or more than I did. This
is not fair and ... consistently convinces highly talented potential teachers to look elsewhere for a profession,” he said. At the press conference announcing the awarding to Hawai‘i, A lvin Nagasako, the head of the Hawai‘i State Teacher’s Association ( HS TA), the public school teacher’s union, explained that the per-
formance -based system has not been hammered out yet. The presentation team, which included representatives from Kamehameha Schools, P20 - an education lobbying group, the HSTA and the DOE, is set to return to Washington, D.C. to negotiate exactly how the money will be distributed to the state over a 4-year time period. No one seems to know if that money will be contingent on Hawai‘i living up to its reform promises or if it will simply fl ow in over time. One big development that could be signifi cant for school reform across the country has been Washington, D.C.’s recent contract agreement. That is big news because education reform heavyweight Michelle Rhee, D.C. Schools’ Superintendent, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Teachers Association’s 1.4 million member union, have been fi ghting a bitter fi ght over Rhee’s attempts to bring performance-based contracts to D.C. But the fi nal document they produced focuses part of teacher evaluations on tests scores and another part on in-class evaluations of the teachers. That will supposedly allow teachers to focus on teaching quality in class and less on teaching to the test. So far, Hawai‘i’s proposal sounds like it will be something close to that. As Nagasako said in the press conference, “Fifty percent of the teacher evaluation will be based on student growth and 50 percent will be based on teacher effectiveness and teacher growth.” Randall Roth, UH Law professor, former education reformist under Governor Lingle, and author of “Broken Trust”, agrees with Tanabe’s cautious optimism. “It’s a good plan on paper. If the implementation is equally good, there will be much to celebrate.”