Source: NCPA
If implementing Common Core means suspending teacher accountability, the standards will be a disservice to both our children and our education system, according to a new report by National Center for Policy Analysis Senior Research Fellow Lloyd Bentsen IV and Research Associate Helm MacNeil Dobbins.
“The most important goal of education reform should be linking student performance to teacher accountability,” say Bentsen and Dobbins. “Value-added measures of accountability are the key to reforming our nation’s education system.”
The backlash against Common Core has grown steadily since states first began implementing the initiative. Now, teachers’ unions are withdrawing their support for the standards over its increased teacher accountability requirements.
Despite the unions’ opposition, numerous studies have found that teacher accountability is inherently linked to student performance. Bentsen and Dobbins point to IMPACT, a local initiative in Washington, D.C. that rated and rewarded “highly effective” teachers while removing teachers rated as “minimally effective.” Between 2011 and 2013, the District of Columbia:
- Removed teachers rated as “minimally effective” or lower two years in a row,
- Increased student achievement at high levels, and
- Significantly increased teacher effectiveness.
“The teachers’ unions advocate revoking the most critical component of improving student achievement: teacher accountability ratings,” report Bentsen and Dobbins. “If implementing Common Core includes suspending teacher accountability, the program will not achieve its goals.”
A Hidden Cost of Common Core: Teacher Accountability:http://www.ncpathinktank.org/pub/ba803