Education Reformers Clash over Charter-

School Teacher Evaluations

BY: Dylan Scott | June 7, 2013
Very quietly, a civil war is brewing within the education reform movement over a single issue:
Evaluations for teachers at charter schools.
Some point to the release of a paper called The Hangover in September 2012, sponsored by the
American Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank that advocates for broad reform, as one of
the first signs of this growing dispute going public. The paper showed that following the release
of a 2009 report called The Widget Effect, which concluded that the current teacher
evaluations were ineffective because they graded 99 percent of teachers as satisfactory, there was
significant pressure to make teacher reviews more stringent.
That became official federal policy when the Obama administration called for statewide teacher
evaluation guidelines, based in part on student performance, while soliciting for Race To The
Top in 2009 and then No Child Left Behind waiver applications in 2011.
A number of states, such as Delaware and South Carolina, used that impetus to create statewide
teacher evaluation systems, bringing all schoolsincluding charter schoolsunder one uniform
system. Thats where the problem lies, according to AEI and those who advocate for more
charter schools. Here is the key passage from The Hangover:
Charter schools are independent public schools of choice that, in many states, are granted
broad flexibility from regulatory requirements in exchange for accountability, the authors
wrote. New state teacher evaluation policies, by mandating teacher evaluations that meet
certain parameters, could infringe on charters historical freedom in personnel matters.
Some experts saw the papers angle as an attempt to walk back the push for more aggressive
teacher evaluations once reformers realize they could impede the progress of charter schools.
Reformers are really caught in the uncomfortable position of arguing for new teacher evaluation
approaches, says Preston Green, an education law professor at Penn State University, but then
trying to distinguish charters from public schools. Its become one of the unintended
consequences of reform.
Put simply, a mandated teacher evaluation system upends the entire notion of charter school
autonomy. Charter schools are supposed to have complete authority within their wallsauthority
to hire, fire and otherwise evaluate teachers as they see fit without outside requirementsin
exchange for being held accountable for their students success. If a charter school cant prove
success, it can be closed much more easily than a traditional public school.
Thats the deal, says Michael Petrilli, executive vice president at the Thomas B. Fordham
Institute, a conservative education think tank and former official with the U.S. Department of
Education during the George W. Bush administration. The idea of top-down teacher evaluation
mandates violates the terms of that deal.
This attempt to micromanage teacher evaluations from the state level really cuts against that
autonomy. Having this one-size-fits-all approach is really a bad way to go, Petrilli says. Its
taken a little while for the charter school movement to wake up to this threat. This shows you
that the school reform is not monolithic.
But theyre waking up now, and the fight between advocates for teacher evaluations and charter
schools is moving from the theoretical think tank world to the realm of actual policymaking. One
of the best examples is the dispute between the state of New York and the Northeastern Public
Charter School Network, which represents many of the state's charter schools, over the states
Race To The Top application.
As part of its application, which brought $700 million in federal funds into the state, New York
promised the Obama administration that it would collect teacher ratings (i.e. evaluations) from
all of its public schools, including charter schools. Charter schools were allowed to use their own
evaluation system, but they had to provide the results to the state education department. Charters
could also decide whether they wanted to participate in the program or notthough if they
didnt, they wouldnt be able to access the Race To The Top money. Two-thirds of New York
charter schools elected not to participate.
But then at the end of last year, state officials tried to go after the non-participating charter
schools teacher ratings as well, according to an internal memo. Charter school advocates made a
strong push for schools to ignore the states demands. There are a lot of New York-specific
intricacies to the debatenamely, the state's Race To The Top application didn't change the
existing charter school law regarding teacher evaluations and the state's education department
authorizes many of the state's charter schoolsbut it is a microcosm of the larger debate.
It crystallizes on one specific issue: Some New York charter schools have teacher evaluation
systems that are incompatible with the state system. If they were to provide the state with teacher
evaluation data, they would either have to manufacture data or change their system entirely to
align with the state's. That would undermine their independence as charter schools, says Bill
Phillips, president of the Northeastern Charter School Network.
This is about whether or not the state can force their system on the charters, Phillips says. "It's
really important to remember the charter model is: We give you more autonomy for greater
accountability, so therefore we're just not going to take their instruction. That's totally foreign to
our accountability process."
The charter association and state officials have exchanged numerous memos over the issue, with
little sign of reconciliation. Phillips expects the state might try to force the issue when charter
schools authorized by the education department are up for renewal, requiring them to adopt the
state's teacher evaluation system. That, Phillips says, "would invite litigation. I think that's going
to be difficult for them."
In a few states, the issue has been resolved more peacefullyPennsylvania, for example, simply
exempts charter schools from its new teacher evaluation programbut the debate is expected to
continue. The newly unveiled U.S. Senate bill to replace NCLB contains similar language on
teacher evaluations as the Obama administrations NCLB waiver program, which means more
states could move to state-mandated teacher evaluation standards.
So expect continued conversations about whether charter schools should be exempted from
evaluation standards placed on traditional schools, experts say. It is quickly becoming one of the
defining issues of the education reform movement. How the debate shakes out could have long-
lasting consequences for both charter schools and teacher evaluations.

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evaluations-and-charter-schools.html