Teacher Evaluations, Klein's No Bid Contract Among Latest Education Controversies

It seems like the education world is getting more contentious each day. Lately in the news there have been conflicts about evaluation programs, a no-bid contract for ex-Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, boos for Bloomberg yesterday over some of his education initiatives (among other things)--and a new NYU campus in Brooklyn that would be a good, but possibly costly, addition to the city's technology education offerings.

Liu among critics who want to fail no-bid deal with Klein Co.

Critics are slamming the Department of Education's move to offer former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's Wireless Generation Co. a no-bid contract to track student test scores.

The News Corp. affiliate was able to slip through a legal loophole in order to receive the contract. By assigning the last month of an expiring five-year contract from IBM to General Wireless, the DOE gave Klein's company the opportunity to inherit IBM's option to a two-year renewal, according to The New York Daily News.

This transfer allows Klein's company to get the contract for the data system known as the Achievement Report and Innovation Systems, which tracks students' test scores and other data.

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Among the opponents is City Controller John Liu, whose office is currently auditing the contract

"There is a growing chorus of questions about the effectiveness of ARIS," Liu told Daily News. "Now after four years and $83 million the DOE wants to switch to a new company. Is this the best use of increasingly scarce classroom funds?"

Bloomberg and Cuomo team up to force evaluation programs

At odds with teachers unions, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have teamed up to ensure the implementation of an effective performance evaluation program for educators across the city and state.

Cuomo announced Tuesday that he is giving New York teachers one month to agree to a statewide evaluation program before he writes his own version into the year's budget, according to The New York Post.

As a part of his demand, Cuomo will insist that the New York State United Teachers union drop its lawsuit challenging the evaluation system, according to The New York Post.

Presently, the state is facing the loss of more than $700 million in Race to the Top and other education funds that will be awarded only at the adoption of an evaluation system of New York's educators.

School districts will have until January, 2013, to implement the evaluation programs or else the state will withhold a four percent increase in aid.

In his State of the City address, Bloomberg announced his plan to weed out half of the teachers at 33 of the city's low performing schools, while rewarding top-performing instructors with a 20,000 raise.

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