newjerseynewsroom.com

Race to the Top loss won't stop pursuit of merit pay and changes to seniority

New Jersey has been shut out of the federal Race to the Top education grant that could have been worth as much as $400 million to transform parts of the state's public school system. New Jersey had been one of 18 finalists.

New Jersey's Education Department had high hopes that the state could win the grant as a way to jump-start programs favored by Gov. Chris Christie. Christie included elements in New Jersey's proposal such as individual merit pay for teachers, putting job performance over seniority when cutting staff, and giving bonuses to highly effective faculty.

NorthJersey.com reports the governor and education commissioner Bret Schundler have said that they would forge ahead with these controversial changes even if the state failed to win the money.

While the program has been praised for instigating such swift reforms, competition for many states was an uphill battle, with teacher unions hesitant to sign on to reforms directly tying teacher evaluations to student performance on standardized tests, and education leaders concerned winning meant giving up too much local control.

According to an Associated Press report in the Daily Record, more than a dozen states vying for the money changed laws to foster the growth of charter schools, and at least 17 reformed teacher evaluation systems to include student achievement. Dozens also adopted Common Core State Standards, the uniform math and reading benchmarks developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association.

— BOB HOLT, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM