WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. states are moving to change their teacher-protection laws to become eligible for $4.3 billion in federal education funding, analysts say.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has demanded that states with laws prohibiting the linking of teachers' job evaluations to standardized student test scores drop them to be eligible for the funds. States such as California are vowing to do so, The New York Times reported Monday.
In California, a law that prohibits the use of student scores in teacher evaluations was passed with strong backing from teachers' unions, but state lawmakers, desperate to obtain a share of the Obama administration's Race to the Top grant program, say they will do whatever is necessary to become eligible for the funds.
The Times said the program's rules demand states applying must have no "barriers to linking data on student achievement or student growth to teachers and principals for the purpose of teacher and principal evaluation."
The requirement has brought complaints from teachers who supported President Barack Obama's campaign last year based on his promises to change the emphasis on standardized tests established by the No Child Left Behind law, the newspaper said.
