WASHINGTON, D.C. | February 9, 2012
The Department of Education operates approximately 80 programs tied to K-12 classrooms, each with its own set of burdensome rules and reporting requirements. According to Virginia's Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Edgar Hatrick, navigating this complicated system often results in "resources being diverted from the mission of teaching and learning." Additionally, federal teacher quality provisions place excessive emphasis on credentials and tenure. While these are certainly important criteria for our educators, none of these factors alone can determine whether someone will be able to effectively motivate students and improve achievement levels.
States and local school districts should have the freedom to direct federal resources to the programs that best serve their student populations. Additionally, instead of focusing on a teacher’s credentials, states and districts should be able to identify, recruit, and retain the teachers who have the most talent for improving student achievement. The Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act will reduce burdensome federal mandates and regulations, grant states and school districts the freedom to innovate, and support more effective teachers in the classroom.
THE ENCOURAGING INNOVATION AND EFFECTIVE TEACHERS ACT
- Asks states and school districts to develop teacher evaluation systems that measure an educator’s influence on student learning.
- Requires teacher evaluations to be locally developed and implemented within broad parameters that factor in student achievement, incorporate multiple measures, and include feedback from all stakeholders.
- Supports opportunities for parents to enroll their children in local magnet schools and charter schools, and enhances statewide parental engagement.
- Consolidates a myriad of existing K-12 education programs into a new Local Academic Flexible Grant, which provides funding to states and school districts to support local priorities that improve student achievement.
- Provides states with the tools to support private entities engaged in activities that promote innovation and reform outside of the traditional public school system and typical school day.
- Eliminates more than 70 existing elementary and secondary education programs to promote a more appropriate federal role in education.
- Repeals all of the current programs and special provisions targeted to specific national organizations to comply with the House earmark ban.
To read a summary of the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act, click here.
To learn how the bill supports effective teachers in the classroom, click here.
To learn how the bill reduces the federal role in education, click here.
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