Policy Issues in Education

Policy Issues in Education

Over the past few years state legislatures and some agencies dealing with education issues have tried to reform public education by taking a close look at tests (especially standardized tests), at teacher tenure, and at the whole idea of evaluating schools through performance measures. An article in The New York Times points out that a group called StudentsFirst has been pushing for the changes mentioned earlier in this Introduction, and their efforts -- and accomplishments -- will be reviewed in this paper.

Eleven States Get Failing Grades on Public School Policies

Led by former schools chancellor in Washington State, Michelle A. Rhee, StudentsFirst has issued a report earlier in 2013 that ranks states according to how well they have applied important reforms to their educational policies. In addition to teacher tenure, standardized tests and the need for charter schools, StudentsFirst has also graded states on how school districts are governed and managed, and on pensions that school districts offer to teachers and staff.

The first thing that jumps out at a reader of this article is that "…no states" received an "A" grade, and only two of the fifty states were given a "B" -- and in both cases it was a "B-" (Rich, 2013). Those two states getting a "B-" were Florida and Louisiana, Rich explains, and points out that 11 states were "branded with an 'F'" which leads to the obvious point that StudentsFirst has chosen to be a "harsh grader," Rich continues.

When Rhee was interviewed by the Times, she said the StudentsFirst goal was not necessarily to show people "how bad it is," but rather, the goal was to "…show the progress that is being made" (Rich, p. 1). States receiving an "F" grade from StudentsFirst included Alabama, California, Iowa and New Hampshire; states receiving a "D" were New York and New Jersey, and Connecticut got a "D+" (Rich, p. 1). When asked about strategy vis-a-vis the grades given to states, Rhee said she believes that when a child is in a class with an "ineffective teacher" the parents should be appraised of that situation. In fact StudentsFirst recommends that teachers should be paid based on "performance" and not on "experience or the attainment of a master's degree," Rich points out. Moreover, some states, like Idaho, have passed legislation that eliminates tenure entirely; Idaho also introduced "performance pay" for teachers based on evaluations and test scores, but voters overturned that legislation in a referendum (Rich, p. 2).

There are critics that believe StudentsFirst is out to get publicity by attacking the school system. The chief deputy superintendent of California schools is Richard Zeiger, and he stated that StudentsFirst "…is an organization that frankly makes its living by asserting that schools are failing" (Rich, p. 2). Zeiger is blunt when he says that the "F" rating California received from StudentsFirst is "a badge of honor" -- and the "F" grade was given to California even though the state has a "…parent-trigger law," that allows parents at "underperforming schools" to vote on whether the faculty or administration should be removed from those poor schools (Rich, p. 2).

Why did Louisiana receive a relatively high B- grade when many states got failing grades? The state superintendent of schools, John White, said Louisiana has reformed the requirements for graduation, has "strengthened prekindergarten programs" and has reformed the way in which teachers are trained and credentialed (Rich, p. 3).