Missouri Teacher Performance Evaluation, Amendment 3 (2014) (St. Louis: school districts, taxes, live)

[tambre]

What are your views on Amendment 3, up for vote this November?

Official Ballot Title:

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

require teachers to be evaluated by a standards based performance evaluation system for which each local school district must receive state approval to continue receiving state and local funding;
require teachers to be dismissed, retained, demoted, promoted and paid primarily using quantifiable student performance data as part of the evaluation system;
require teachers to enter into contracts of three years or fewer with public school districts; and
prohibit teachers from organizing or collectively bargaining regarding the design and implementation of the teacher evaluation system?

Decisions by school districts regarding provisions allowed or required by this proposal and their implementation will influence the potential costs or savings impacting each district. Significant potential costs may be incurred by the state and/or the districts if new/additional evaluation instruments must be developed to satisfy the proposal’s performance evaluation requirements.

Fair Ballot Language:

A “yes” vote will amend the Missouri Constitution to require teachers to be evaluated by a standards based performance evaluation system. Each system must receive state approval in order for the local school district to continue receiving state and local funding. Teachers will be dismissed, retained, demoted, promoted and paid primarily using quantifiable student performance data as part of the evaluation system. The amendment further requires teachers to enter into contracts of three years or fewer with public school districts, with exceptions. The amendment also prohibits teachers from organizing or collectively bargaining regarding the design and implementation of the teacher evaluation system.

A “no” vote will not amend the Missouri Constitution regarding teacher contracts and performance evaluation systems.

If passed, this measure will have no impact on taxes.

[marigolds6]

Much like North Carolina, it will be the death knell for public school education here.

People will simply stop teaching here, and school districts will be forced to consolidate in order to increase class sizes or be able to afford to pay enough to attract teachers.

On the bright side, it will make it that much easier to continue the time-honored Missouri tradition of firing pregnant teachers and chronically ill teachers by allowing their contracts to lapse.

[tambre]

Originally Posted by marigolds6

Much like North Carolina, it will be the death knell for public school education here.

People will simply stop teaching here, and school districts will be forced to consolidate in order to increase class sizes or be able to afford to pay enough to attract teachers.

On the bright side, it will make it that much easier to continue the time-honored Missouri tradition of firing pregnant teachers and chronically ill teachers by allowing their contracts to lapse.

Sounds like the education system is seriously broken.

[ozarksboy]

Originally Posted by tambre

Sounds like the education system is seriously broken.

It is—in St. Louis.

But to answer your original question: This amendment deserves a huge NO vote. Does it make sense to you to judge a teacher's performance by his/her students' performance on statewide assessments (tests)? This puts the entire burden on the teacher, none on the student--or the parents.

if kids aren't learning anything these days, there are a helluva lot more reasons than teachers. This asinine legislation--the result of a billionaire's petition drive, not a grassroots response--puts all the blame on teachers.

I am not a teacher, by the way. I am just a lowly retail worker and a taxpayer, mostly pissed off at worthless parents who take no interest in the education of their children, a growing problem in our idiocracy.

[attrapereves]

Missouri is already one of the lowest paying states for teachers. Add this into the mix and people will start going to Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Arkansas, or Kansas to teach. Iowa and Nebraska pay a lot better than Missouri.

[tambre]

Anyone think this amendment is a good idea?

[SW Missouri Dave]

How about we pass a constitutional amendment that we don't need anymore constitutional amendments. For a conservative, keep government out of our business state - we spend an awful lot of time giving them more reasons to monitor our lives. If you want schools to do better - tell the government to get out of the education business. They prove very day they can't pass gas without screwing it up- so why do we want them telling our teachers how and what to teach? Enough already.

[geofra]

From the OP

Originally Posted by tambre

... Significant potential costs may be incurred by the state and/or the districts if new/additional evaluation instruments must be developed to satisfy the proposal’s performance evaluation requirements...

...If passed, this measure will have no impact on taxes.

What?

[tambre]

Originally Posted by geofra

From the OP



What?

Good point!

[nealrm]

Originally Posted by tambre

Anyone think this amendment is a good idea?

Yes - I think it is an excellent idea. The main opposition argument appears to be that a teacher has little control if an individual student chooses to study or if that student parents encourage him/her to succeed at school. That maybe true on an individual student basis. However, teacher don't have just one student they have 30 or more. In Jr high and high school they may have 100+ passing through their class. The teacher does have control of the average performance across all the students they teach. When that average is compared against the average of other teachers in the same school teaching similar subjects, trends do form. You will see that some teachers consistently have averages that are high, while others have averages that are lower. Those teachers that have higher averages deserve the rewards for doing better work.

Teachers are not the only job out there that doesn't have 100% control over every aspect. Heck, many jobs have significant outside influence. Those that are good their jobs have a higher success average than those that are not, regardless of the outside influences.