Whitney Tilson's School Reform Blog: Policy and Politics Mark Race to the Top Accord

It looks like there's a deal in NJ as well – and, yes, DFER played a key role:

In the end, it was an agreement notable for both its policy and its politics.

After two weeks of negotiations, the New Jersey Education Association yesterday afternoon emailed state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler a letter supporting his bid for federal Race to the Top money, a contentious proposal of reforms in teacher and school accountability.

Although the actual application has not yet been released, compromises appeared to come on both sides, with the union agreeing to new and fundamental changes in how teachers are evaluated and the Christie administration leaving tenure laws mostly intact.

…Still, a fundamental shift came in how all teachers—as well as principals and supervisors—are evaluated, with student performance for the first time an explicit and significant factor in the evaluations.

The proposal calls for 50 percent of an educator's evaluation to be decided by "multiple measures of student learning," including test scores, according to the union.

Still, much will rest on the details of what those measures are, with the proposal calling for a committee of stakeholders to devise the statewide evaluation system.

Groups championing major reforms in the state said they were watching closely in how this teacher evaluation piece settles out.

'Whether that is watered down is a big concern," said Kathleen Nugent, state director for Democrats for Education Reform. "But we're guardedly optimistic."

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Policy and Politics Mark Race to the Top Accord

Compromises from the teachers' union and the Christie administration help turn contentious bargaining into 'win-win' situation

By John Mooney

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/10/0527/2144/

In the end, it was an agreement notable for both its policy and its politics.