CCSSO State Consortium on Educator Effectiveness scee.groupsite.com

SCEE is pleased to offer our November webinar on Tuesday, November 13, from 2 - 3 p.m. EST.  The webinar- Post-Election Analysis and Policy Update-will look at elections results at every level, with a focus on educator effectiveness.  The webinar will be followed by a 30-minute live chat from 3:00 - 3:30 p.m. EST. 

Though many famed pundits will be dissecting the results throughout the week following the elections, our webinar will offer SCEE members a focused discussion about how state and federal elections results may impact our work in the years that come:

Chief State School Officers

How many new Chiefs are likely to result from this election?  Chiefs in a number of states are up for election this year.  Contests in Indiana and Montana are particularly heated.  There also are eleven gubernatorial races to watch.  With races in Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia, how many new governors soon will be appointing new chiefs?

In addition, in the ongoing debate about how chiefs should be selected, the race in North Carolina is receiving national attention because of the very public debate about whether to continue electing the top education official or making it an appointment. 

Governors

Of the eleven gubernatorial races this year, have any had educator effectiveness as a key issue?  Has educator effectiveness played a role in any of the races? (To see some background and pre-election speculation on the potential outcomes of the various gubernatorial races, see Governing's article, The Final Handicapping of the 2012 Governors' Races.) 

State Legislatures

Fifteen states have term limits, barring large numbers of legislators from running for re-election.  According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (as reported in Stateline), "... when the winners of next month's elections are sworn in, likely close to half of state legislators will have two years of tenure or less-the highest rate of turnover over two election cycles in 50 years." (emphasis added)  How many new legislators will we actually get and how will this turnover impact the rollout of educator evaluation systems and other related initiatives? 

Ballot Initiatives

Several initiatives on state ballots will be interesting to SCEE members:

• Idaho Propositions 1, 2, and 3 would limit collective bargaining, institute performance-based pay and modify school district funding, respectively. See the September 23 New York Times article.

• Michigan Proposition 2 would amend the state constitution to make collective bargaining a constitutional right. According to a recent poll conducted by the Detroit News the measure has a double-digit lead.
• South Dakota Referred Law 16 would create a program for teacher merit bonuses, mandate a uniform teacher and principal evaluation system, and eliminate state requirements for teacher tenure. See the Attorney General's Explanation of the initiative.
  
• Five states-Arizona, Missouri, South Dakota, California and Oregon-have state ballot initiatives about tax increases to support public schools.
• Two states, Georgia and Washington, will decide on pro-charter initiatives. See the October 22 Wall Street Journal.
  

The Administration and Congress

What will the new make-up of Congress tell us about education policy?  What are the anticipated priorities for education at the federal level?  To what degree might there be changes in staffing at USED?

ESEA

What is likely to happen to ESEA after a new Congress, and possibly a new Administration, take the reins?

The Center on Education Policy notes that new initiatives in many states may meet an abrupt ending if "... a revamped ESEA, or a new Administration, introduces a different set of policies."  They state: "Waiver states may end up devoting considerable time and energy to implementing accountability systems that are little more than interim measures, in effect for just a few years or less." 

What does the make-up of the federal legislative and executive branches now suggest about the possibility for ESEA reauthorization?

Our November webinar will dig into the election results in ways the broadcast media will not likely examine. 

Let us know what you looking forward to learning about as we look at elections results by posting a comment to this blog!