Maine's legislature recently held hearings on several reform bills that would make the state more competitive in the Race to the Top. Here are some highlights from an article in the Kennebec Journal:
"We resent the national pressure being applied by the federal government to change state laws as a prerequisite to applying for Race to the Top funds," Richard Durost, executive director of the Maine Principals' Association, told members of the Legislature's Education Committee. "If the result was guaranteed funding, we might be more agreeable. In its present form, this is nothing more than federal blackmail."...
The Maine Education Association, the teachers' union, voiced its opposition to striking down the prohibition on using student achievement data as a factor in teacher and principal evaluations.
"There is little or no evidence that tying student test scores to teacher evaluations is an accurate or useful way to measure teacher effectiveness," Chris Galgay, the union's president, said.
--Andy Smarick
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