Proposed teacher evaluation system draws opponents

Local educators and school board members are voicing opposition to a proposed state constitutional amendment that would tie teacher evaluations to student performance.

The initiative, known as Amendment 3, has been certified by the Secretary of State's office and is set to be on the Nov. 4 ballot.

A "yes" vote would amend the Missouri Constitution to require teachers to be evaluated by a standards-based performance system, and each system must earn state approval for the local school district to receive state and local funding.

Additionally, teachers would be "dismissed, retained, demoted or promoted" using student performance data as part of the process. Teachers would be required to enter into contracts of three or fewer years with public school districts, with exceptions. The amendment would prohibit teachers from organizing or collectively bargaining on the design and implementation of the evaluation system.

A "no" vote would not amend the state Constitution.

Kate Casas, spokeswoman for TeachGreat.org, which spearheaded the initiative, said proponents are delighted the amendment will be on the November ballot "and are excited to begin initiating an inclusive discussion with Missourians about the importance of rewarding and protecting good teachers, supporting struggling teachers, making it easier for schools to hire more great teachers, and increasing the control local elected school boards have over contracting decisions.

"Missouri voters demonstrated overwhelming support when signing our initiative petition to ensure this measure will appear on the Nov. 4, 2014, statewide ballot. We are confident that Missourians are ready to return local control of hiring elected school boards and that they are ready to find solutions for improving education in Missouri's struggling school districts," Casas said in an email.

Retired financial executive Rex Sinquefield is one of TeachGreat's supporters.

Of eight congressional districts, two had insufficient valid signatures, including districts 4 and 8, of which Cape Girardeau is part, according to the secretary of state's office.

Groups at the state level, such as Protect Our Local Schools, a coalition of parents, teachers, principals, superintendents and school boards, and local teachers and superintendents have voiced opposition to the measure.

"The proposed amendment to the Constitution would create more restrictions on the evaluation process and would impact the ability for Missouri school districts to attract quality teachers and principals, especially in high-risk or low-performing schools," Jackson School District superintendent Ron Anderson said in an email. "There is not a need for a constitutional amendment. Districts already have the ability to evaluate teacher performance based on multiple measures and assist teachers to meet expectations."

Cape Girardeau School Board president Kyle McDonald said his main concern is that, if passed, the amendment would take a lot of control out of the hands of the local district and school board, especially on how teachers are paid, who's hired and who's not.

Plus, it would be an added expense to the district because it would involve implementing some type of evaluation system for each class, including classes such as art, PE and music. Currently, only certain classes are evaluated based on grade level.

Developing some of those evaluation tools, McDonald said, could be rather expensive.

"We just started putting in a new evaluation tool for all our teachers that we had our technology department develop for us," he said. "It allows all of our administrators to evaluate teachers [using] iPads to evaluate and write notes, so we would basically scrap [everything] ... that we've just implemented. Then, if you don't evaluate them correctly, or to the correct standard, this would cause us to lose state and federal funding. There's a lot of not good things that would come out of this."

Halley Russell, a Jackson High School history and government teacher who is president of the Community Teachers Association and serves on the regional board for the Missouri State Teachers Association, said this initiative has been talked about since April.

"As a teacher ... I think I'm more worried about the fact that we're looking at a one-size-fits-all-type approach, and that's really scary because when I approach teaching, there's not one student that's like another student. ... You have to know each individual student and what's best for them. What this is going to say is we have to treat our students like numbers, they have to take high-stakes [tests] and those results reflect back on us," Russell said.

Her students, she said, are not the same as those who attend Sikeston, Perryville or St. Louis schools. "I look at it [Amendment 3] like I'm trying to fit a round piece in a square hole and that's what they're trying to do at the state level, and we just can't do that," Russell said.

Districts then would have to pay for those testing tools, because the state won't have the money to pay for them, Russell said.

Sheryl Smith, of the Cape Girardeau Area Retired Teachers group, said basing teacher evaluations on student test performance would be fine if every class had the best and brightest students. But low-performing students have to have teachers, too.

"There are just some variables that cannot be controlled," Smith said.

"Our students are not cogs. They're not all the same. ... You've got to take into account the individuality of those students ..." Smith said.

Smith noted a variety of factors go into how students perform, such as home life and parents.

"It seems like they want to put all the ills on the teachers," she said.

"As a retiree, it's certainly a concern because as they create more and more hoops and obstacles to what teachers actually do in the classroom, that thins our resources," Smith said. If they're not valued, some will find jobs in other industries.

Although it varies, Smith said Missouri ranks 44th to 47th out of 50 states for teacher pay, but the retirement system is "wonderful," so it's a trade-off.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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