Thinking and Linking by Joanne Jacobs
If you plan to be reincarnated as a low-income student and you’d like to be literate, pick Tampa, New York City or Miami, writes Matthew Ladner, who’s been looking at the urban NAEP results. Avoid Milwaukee and Fresno, where very few low-income students reach proficiency in reading.
Washington, D.C. “has improved but is still horrible,” he adds, writing on Jay Greene’s blog. ”Everyone in Wisconsin ought to be horrified by the abomination that is the Milwaukee Public Schools.”
Miami is giving performance pay to teachers under a plan the teachers’ union helped design. Federal Race to the Top dollars are paying for bonuses based on students’ or schools’ test scores and gains.
For Miami-Dade teachers who do not teach FCAT subjects — such as P.E., chemistry or drama — their entire school’s FCAT reading scores will be factored into their reviews for the 2011-12 school year. Eventually, under state law, there will be a test for every subject that will be used to evaluate students and teachers.
In the first wave of bonuses, about 85 percent of the Miami-Dade district’s 20,000-plus teachers qualify for extra money in four categories, depending on how their school, department or students scored on the FCAT. Most bonuses range from about $500 to just more than $1,500. Some teachers will not see any extra money.
All Florida districts are required to pay teachers based on effectiveness by 2014.
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