NJDOE Commissioner Invites Stakeholders to Discuss “Race to the Top”
New Jersey Education Commissioner Lucille Davy has invited stakeholders to meet with her in early October to discuss the Race to the Top, President Barack Obama’s $4 billion effort to improve education. The new money will go only to those states that use data effectively to reward effective teachers, to support teachers who are struggling, and when necessary, to replace teachers who are not up to the job.
To access the funds, New Jersey will have to determine an approach for measuring student growth, use this measure as part of a process for differentiating teacher effectiveness, and use the data to make decisions on evaluation, compensation, career advancement, and tenure. Student data are vital: States barring the use of student data in decisions about teacher and principal evaluation will not even be eligible for funds.
