Essay Question #1
A.) Recently, Mayor Slay of St. Louis publicly stated that he would be pushing for more charter schools within the city. Is this a viable alternative to traditional public education or something that undermines it? Explain your answer and the rationale behind it.
B.) The trend at the state level appears to be towards limited union power. At the moment there is a strong push for merit-based pay as an alternative in retaining and attracting talented educators. This may come at the cost of teacher union’s collective bargaining power and even over the discontinuation of “tenure” (as well as other possible unintended consequences). Examine both sides of this argument, with a particular emphasis on the possible externalities (both positive and negative) as well as practical implementation issues of this policy. Also address consequences of non-action or alternative approaches (more money is not a suitable answer by itself)
The following links may be helpful as they contain radio discussions on the topic and can be streamed online (for you audio learners).
April 13, 2011
A conversation about ongoing efforts to change the way teachers are evaluated.
http://www.stlpublicradio.org/programs/slota/archivedetail.php?showid=4477
March 09, 2011
A discussion with Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp about the twenty year history of the organization and her new book detailing her thoughts on closing the achievement gap in education.
http://www.stlpublicradio.org/programs/slota/archivedetail.php?showid=4439
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