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Race to the Top? California Not Included

Arne Duncan accepting the nomination as Secretary of Education

The Department of Education is now offering states competitive grants through a program known as Race to the Top. Money from the fund, about $4.35 billion, is supposed to act as an incentive to states to boost reform efforts at a time of severe budget cutbacks. Education Secretary Arne Duncan wants US schools to use student test scores to measure teachers’ performance, a demand that might prove a little tricky for The Golden State, despite the enticement of federal grant money.

The rub is this: a 2006 California law established a teacher database (CALTIDES) but prohibits the state from using test data to hold teachers accountable for student performance. Since the main focus of Obama’s education policy is data-driven school reform, California suddenly finds itself at odds with the department of education, whose secretary has threatened to withhold stimulus money from states that fail to get in line with the administration’s policy.

Duncan has called California’s law “ridiculous” and “mind-boggling” because it prevents the state from identifying which of the state’s 300,000 teachers should look for another job. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Duncan has been clear about what states must do:

In recent speeches, Duncan has laid out four key areas of reform where applicants must show progress: adopting rigorous academic standards; recruiting and retaining effective teachers; turning around chronically low-performing schools; and building data systems to track student achievement and teacher effectiveness.

As if these grant funds and specific outlines weren’t enough, Obama has now weighed in, chastising California for its failure to use test data to distinguish good teachers from bad. He also threatened to deny the state federal school dollars. In a speech at the Education Department on July 25, Obama said:

You cannot ignore facts. That is why any state that makes it unlawful to link student progress to teacher evaluations will have to change its ways.

The only possible opening for California is that while the 2006 law prohibits student test scores from being used to evaluate teachers on a statewide basis, it does not prohibit individual school districts, where student data can be used to rank educators. Only a handful of districts currently do that.

Smelling federal greenbacks, Arnold Schwarzenegger chimed in:

We will seek any reforms or changes to the law deemed necessary, including changes to our data system laws, to ensure California is eligible to compete [for federal funds].

Meanwhile, frustration mounts in the state.

First, the state does not need to change its law in order to be in compliance with Race to the Top. This month top education officials sent the Obama administration a letter explaining that no changes were needed to state law. So far the administration has not responded.

Second, the teachers unions are resistant to the reforms mandated by the administration, including data-driven teacher evaluations and performance pay. The teachers unions insisted that the 2006 law include an amendment saying:

Data in the system may not be used . . . for purposes of pay, promotion, sanction, or personnel evaluation of an individual teacher or group of teachers, or of any other emplyment-related decisions related to individual teachers.

Some California education officials have begun to express doubt that the state will be able to comply with the administration’s demands. Rick Miller, California Deputy Supt. for Public Instruction, says he shares the Obama administration’s goals but questions the possibility of compliance:

There is . . . [a] possibility nobody will apply. . . . They’re asking for fundamental changes in all sorts of areas, and you have to commit to all of it by October. . . . That’s a heavy lift.