Corrected: An earlier version of this story had a quote about testing and teacher performance from Education Secretary Arne Duncan that has since been amended, subsequent to reviewing the official transcript.
Includes updates and/or revisions.
At a sit-down on Monday at the offices of Education Week, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed a number of issues that strike at the heart of teachers, including worries over being shut out of policy decisions, tying performance evaluations and pay to student test scores, and the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act.
In response to teachers feeling like they are too far from the center in terms of decision-making, Duncan spoke of the Education Department鈥檚 鈥渦nprecedented effort and commitment鈥� to reach out to classroom teachers to find out what is and is not working for them. On every school visit he makes, Duncan said, he sits down with classroom teachers and solicits their ideas and opinions. He also referenced the Department鈥檚 Teacher Ambassador鈥檚 program, which was started under the Bush administration. Duncan pointed out that the current ambassadors are working in the department, as well as in the classroom, and providing feedback to the department. But he also conceded, 鈥淭here are a lot of teachers in the country. We can鈥檛 reach everyone that we鈥檇 like.鈥�
On the subject of tying teacher effectiveness to student testing, Duncan said multiple measures should be looked at, but stressed the connection between scores and teacher performance. 鈥淭o say there鈥檚 no correlation there, or there shouldn鈥檛 be a correlation there, defies logic.鈥� Duncan added, 鈥淚鈥檝e said repeatedly you have to look at multiple measures. One of those measures has to be student achievement.鈥�
According to Duncan, only Louisiana is currently tracking student gains back to teachers and to the education schools that trained those teachers. Duncan said he cannot understand why this kind of holistic tracking is only happening in one state. 鈥淚t is not a miracle of technology,鈥� Duncan explained, but rather about connecting student outcomes back to teacher preparedness, which he called a 鈥渉ealthy鈥� process. 鈥淐hanges are being made by tracking these things,鈥� he added.
About the reauthorization of the NCLB law, Duncan said that education must rise above politics. He said doesn鈥檛 expect 100 percent consensus on a new bill, but the current conversation across the aisle has been 鈥渆ncouraging.鈥� Duncan wasn鈥檛 specific on key elements of the bill, but he stressed that data, and financial support for the use of data, would be a component. Duncan described a scenario where there would be greater rewards and incentives for districts, schools, and 鈥渟uperstar teachers.鈥� 鈥淲e are moving towards a growth model [which measures results over time]. We want to be tight goals, but loose on the means to get there.鈥�
Having been the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public 69传媒 for eight years (the longest tenured big-city school superintendent in the country) Duncan said he understand the concerns from teachers about the imposition of the federal law, but he also stressed that his focus would be on accountability that is fair. Duncan said that he has heard universally from teachers that they support growth and gain over absolute test scores, which he said levels the playing field. 鈥淣o one鈥檚 saying, don鈥檛 hold me accountable,鈥� he explained. 鈥淭his is not a 鈥榞otcha鈥� thing.鈥� He also stressed an urgent interest in rewarding excellence. 鈥淎s a country we have missed the opportunity to encourage and define excellence,鈥� he said.
Duncan also described current teacher evaluation models as 鈥渇undamentally broken.鈥� And he added, 鈥淟et鈥檚 not use the excuse that we don鈥檛 have the answer [to fix the evaluations] to do nothing. We鈥檝e said that data, talent matters, turning things around matters鈥攂ut it鈥檚 also about how you get there. How can you defend teacher evaluation that is divorced from student progress? How do you defend that?鈥�
