Share
Four years ago when newly hired Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman rolled out his 2010 Strategic Plan, we praised it - particularly its emphasis on getting more of the best teachers into low-performing schools. His ambitious plan made a stunning and previously unacknowledged admission - that low-performing, high-poverty schools didn't have the same quality of teachers that higher-performing CMS schools had.
Gorman pledged to change that, and through sometimes controversial moves he made great progress. State report cards last week indicate it's paid off where it matters - in student achievement gains.
Now, in a new four-year road map to boost student performance Gorman aims to complete the task of ensuring effective teachers in the classroom by linking pay to performance. We applaud the move. Done right, tying pay to effective teaching can't help but benefit students, educators and the rest of us in this community and state.
Effective teachers are the linchpin in improving student performance and preparing students to become productive citizens. But it's crucial to develop a system that doesn't hold teachers solely responsible - home environment, parents and other factors matter too - and does more than reward test-taking.
So we're glad to see that Gorman aims to create measures based on input from teachers, and that reward innovation and creativity, student progress and test performance. He said he also wants to pay teachers more for taking on challenging assignments, such as in schools with high numbers of poor, low-performing kids or where subject areas are hard to staff. CMS is already a part of a national research project to help determine what makes an effective teacher as well as part of a federal pilot program on pay for performance at some academically struggling schools.
The unveiling of the "Strategic Plan 2014: Teaching our Way to the Top" comes at an opportune time. Statewide report cards released Wednesday highlighted the gains CMS students made last year - some of the biggest made at schools where teacher credentials and effectiveness had lagged four years ago.
Systemwide, the performance of black and low-income teens on state tests now surpasses that of their peers in Wake County and across the state. And predominantly black West Charlotte High, just four years ago tagged by a judge as a place of "academic genocide," has recaptured its standing as one of the best CMS high schools with a pass rate of close to 70 percent. Five years ago, it was 37 percent.
Still, Gorman was right to acknowledge the continuing wide gaps in CMS pass rates between white and black students (and white and Latino students), and between students from low-income and higher-income families. Notably, the biggest gaps are at some of the highest performing schools, with a huge 34 percentage-point gap between the pass rates of black and white students at one high flyer.
Gorman also rightly notes that graduation rates remain too low. Only half the students at some CMS schools graduate.
The schools cannot solve these issues alone. So while Gorman has outlined critical education goals for 2014, achieving them will require a community-wide strategy. Every child in our schools deserves access to the best education possible. We all benefit when they get it.
