(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)
The Wall Street Journal reports that Education Secretary Arne Duncan is planning on leveraging stimulus money for states to improve their collection and use of data demonstrating progress on student achievement and teacher quality.
How well states collect — and act upon — that data will determine whether they qualify for money, Mr. Duncan said. “In order for us to improve, we must be much more open and honest about what works in the classroom and what doesn’t,” he said in a conference call with reporters. Mr. Duncan added that the funding would be carried out with “absolute transparency and accountability.”
So far so good.
However, the article then says it wants states to track qualifications, especially in high-poverty schools.
There is of course a very large problem with that. Low-income students with high quality but “poorly qualified” teachers are lucky to have them. Far luckier than those with low quality but highly qualified teachers.
Overall, however, I like the direction they are going. If you are going to be doling out an absurd amount of money, you may as well try to get something in return for it. Participation is voluntary, and competitive, which is also good.
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