Teaching Profession

Another NEA-AFT Split on Race to the Top?

By Stephen Sawchuk — May 10, 2010 1 min read
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As goes Colorado so goes the nation? Right on the heels of the news that the Centennial state’s National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers affiliates are on different pages about tenure legislation in that state—which is seen as a key element of its Race to the Top bid—an analogous situation is developing in Maryland.

The state is working on a plan to make student-achievement growth part of a new system of teacher evaluation. In its RTTT application, the state plans to make student growth 50 percent of the teacher rating, although test scores wouldn’t be more than 35 percent of the overall growth figure.

The NEA affiliate says that the plan violates the recently passed law that laid the groundwork for changes to evaluation. But the Baltimore Teachers Union, an AFT affiliate, supports the state’s application.

The Washington Post’s Michael Birnbaum has the full scoop.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Teacher Beat blog.