The Flaws In The Teacher Evaluation Ballot Initiative

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Ashley Klann, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

A crucial ballot issue coming in November is already raising concerns for local students, teachers, and school systems. The Stand for Children ballot initiative is being condemned by local school committee members and Boston-based organization Jobs With Justice for its lack of clear language and its lack of fair treatment for teachers.

According to an online open letter from former Stand for Children activists about the ballot measure signed by local education advocates, “The proposed ballot measure attempts to blow up the collaborative work that created the new regulations last spring. It does nothing to improve teaching in our schools. What it does is put the careers of our teachers at the mercy of an untested rating system, violating the recommendations of the people who designed that system.”

Signers to the letter included: Isabel Gonzalez, Former Stand staff organizer, Tracy Novick, Worcester School Committee member, Natalie O’Hayre, and Deb Steigman among many other area representatives.

“We fear the result would be to drive some of our best teachers away from the schools that need them most,” the letter said. “This ballot measure fits the ideology of its corporate sponsors, but it is not what we want for those who teach our children. Most of all, it is not what we want for our children.”

The Issues

“Jobs With Justice is a coalition of community organizations and labor groups.That’s why we’re uniting under our coalition to fight for better working conditions and also against the Stand for Children ballot initiative. This is our way to make sure all children get the best education they can get,” said Lily Huang Community Organizer and Public Education Organizer at Jobs With Justice.

“This ballot initiative is really tricky,” she said. “It comes from an organization that claims they’re grassroots when they get millions from bank capital and corporations like Wal-Mart. They’re not asking what we want for our schools.”

Stand for Children disagreed with these allegations, saying that they are a transparent organization, especially concerning their funding.

“For us in Massachusetts, almost all of our donors are families who support our mission,” said Stand for Children’s spokesperson, Sam Castaneda Holdren. “We are an organization fully transparent about our donors. The reality is that there are a number of people who care about the schools. We have conversations with anyone interested in our mission – for any child regardless of background can graduation from high school.”

The Impact

Regardless of funding, opponents of the initiative say it has extremely adverse effects for students. The ballot initiative will use a newly established evaluation system in order to judge teachers' performance – something Huang says is very problematic. “The issue is how much we rely on an evaluation system just being rolled out,” she said. "We have to figure out how to make it better before implementing across the board. If the Stand for Children ballot initiate gets its way then the teachers who work with urban populations and special needs populations, are going to feel the consequences of low test scores.” Huang added that teachers are already held accountable for test scores and that low test scores might be due to outside influences for some children, especially those in urban areas.

Stand for Children’s spokesperson, Castaneda Holdren says the group is aware of these sentiments, and says their system will not cause these negative effects.

“That’s something we’ve definitely heard. We agree that it’s not fair to hold teachers accountable, but they’re responsive for the growth of their children and have an impact on their success,” he said. “We’re also not using just one standardized test.”

Huang and other opponents still say that once seniority is off the table, it makes room for discrimination and playing favorites.

“If you have two teachers, and one is a quality third year teacher and one has taught for 10 to 20 years, during a time of budget crisis, they may choose to keep the younger one because she’s cheaper,” Huang said. “But teaching is a profession, and we shouldn’t run schools like a bank.”

Disadvantaged students would also feel the backlash of this ballot initiative.

“It takes off special needs population students or those who are taking English as a Second Language courses as well as low income, urban students. Nowhere does this ballot initiative talk about them. It takes them off the table,” Huang said. “Teachers have been standing up for students longer than corporations have. We need to listen to our teachers and our families. We shouldn’t have a Wal-Mart education. We should have an education for everyone.”

Stand for Children continues to hold by its message, however.

“We recently decided that as soon as those evaluations are implemented, all schools should use them to keep the most effective teachers in our schools,” Castaneda Holdren said. “There are some schools that are falling behind and one of the greatest indicators is having a good teacher.”

Lawsuit Up in the Air

“Right now, a number of groups, including both teachers’ unions, have sued to stop it, asserting that it is confusing (it has 31 parts by one count),” said Tracy Novick, member of the Worcester School Committee. “So what the court will find is very much up in the air.”

“Those of us who oppose it are planning for it moving ahead, and so we are laying the groundwork. Right now, there's a great need for education on this,” she said, adding that they should be prepared for it to pass.

“The initiative is eleven pages long. As a community member, it was really difficult to understand,” Huang said “Imagine being a parent seeing ‘great teacher, great leader.’ It’s a confusing message that doesn’t talk about all the pieces in our education system. It has devious wording, and it’s confusing.”

Stand for Children is relying on the attorney general and the state’s established guidelines to hold true in determining if the ballot initiative is clear.

“Stand for Children is not a party in the lawsuit but it’s a challenge to the ballot issue,” their spokesperson said. “Our response is that the constitution clearly sets up a system for deciding if this is a clear ballot.”

While the ballot initiative is slated for vote in November, the lawsuit is up in the air. Education leaders in the area are continuing to support awareness on this issue that could affect schools across the state.