There isn't much hope at the moment for meaningful, statewide education reform in the Buckeye State, but there are promising things happening at the local level. Last night, the Columbus City Schools' teacher union approved a two-year contract that includes a new program to pay effective teachers more money to teach in low-performing schools and ties existing merit pay efforts to value-added data. Reports the Columbus Dispatch:
The agreement creates an annual $4,000 bonus for teachers selected to work in certain schools.Superintendent Gene Harris would hand-pick teachers for classes identified as academically struggling based on testing data.
Teachers with at least five years of experience, two years of improving students' academic achievement, and their principal's recommendation would be eligible to apply for the new program, according to the tentative contract. The deadline is Dec. 1 for the 2010-11 school year.
The program would allow Harris to match teachers' talents to schools' needs, she said.
"I think it's very exciting because individuals would have the opportunity to go into this and say, 'I want to be a change agent,'????????" Harris said. "I would not be arbitrary on this. I want to make good decisions."
The contract also ties an existing merit-pay program for teachers to "value-added" data. A class of students would have to show more academic progress than expected in a year's time for their teacher to earn the merit bonus under the Performance Advancement System program.
It's rare that an Ohio school district rewards teachers for performance or assigns its best teachers in its most struggling schools (though top charter schools have been doing this for years), so it's quite encouraging to see the state's largest district -- and top-performing urban one -- head in this direction.
