Maryland and the District each have received a piece of $3.4 billion in funding as part of the federal “Race to the Top” program, intended to recruit high-quality teachers and turn around the country’s lowest-performing schools. Maryland was awarded $250 million and D.C. $75 million under the program, part of the 2009 federal stimulus plan. Virginia, meanwhile, dropped out of the race for the grant money.
Maryland will base 50 percent of teacher evaluations on student performance and growth — 30 percent at the state level and 20 percent locally — as part of its initiatives under the grant. The Maryland State Board of Education is working to identify what type of metrics will comprise “student performance.”
State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick says the change will make teachers and principals more accountable to their students.
“I think it is a very fair consideration,” she said, noting that the performance metrics will take into account students’ varying learning abilities.
“It’s looking at every child individually and it’s measuring the progress of that student,” she said. “So if the student has a reading disability, for instance, you wouldn’t be expecting the same progress — or acceleration of progress — that you would with a student that might be gifted and talented.”
The agency is required to submit its pay-for-performance plan by June.
Grasmick said the metrics to determine student performance will rely on a number of factors — not just grades or standardized testing scores.
Montgomery County, meanwhile, opted out of the program.
“We are very concerned about dramatically altering our current teacher evaluation system,” said Montgomery County Public Schools spokesman Dana Tofig. “Meanwhile, the state’s plan has far too many unanswered questions, including what measures and assessments will be used and how educators who teach untested subjects will be evaluated.”
Examiner Staff Writers Hayley Peterson and Lisa Gartner contributed to this report. [email protected]
