School Reformers Grade 'Son of 6' Ed Reform -- and Flunk It

Submitted by Anonymous on April 8, 2011 - 2:11pm

Two leading national education-reform experts are casting doubt on Senate Bill 736, Florida's newly enacted teacher tenure and performance law.

In a podcast last week, Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute said the law "isn't ready for prime time."

Hess called the successor to last year's vetoed Senate Bill 6 "a step in the right direction," but said it contains the same flaws, notably a "mess" of metrics that have yet to be clarified or agreed upon.

"We know there will be problems. ... There are huge concerns about the reliability of data. ... This is not a way to build public support for a sustainable system," he said.

"Talk about teaching to the test," added Fordham Foundation researcher Mike Petrilli.

Taking a page from the teacher union's stall-and-delay playbook, Hess said Florida policymakers should have "Take[n] a few more years to bribe and bring a few districts into it first."

Listen to the podcast here.
http://www.edexcellencemedia.net/GadflyShow/2011/GadflyShow040711.mp3

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