An opportunity for significant school reform is fast approaching in New York City. In just one week, the agreement between the United Federation of Teachers and the Board of Education expires. The authors of an op-ed in the New York Daily News urge district leaders to both raise teacher salaries and change the way the school system works, by giving principals more autonomy to act as educational leaders, simplifying the teacher evaluation process, and extending the school day and school year. In Roanoke, Virginia, parents and students help to evaluate teacher performance. At this point, the school district is using these evaluations on a pilot basis along with several other evaluation tools.
Supervisors review the evaluations and work with teachers to address concerns.
Iowa's Governor Tom Vilsack is ready to duke it out with the state legislature to get more money for teacher salaries, ideally linked in some way to performance.