The Politics of Teacher Reform: Evaluations, Merit Pay, and the Elimination of Tenure in Florida

• In Event: State and Local Politics of School Reform

Abstract

Following a multi-year debate, Florida lawmakers passed the “Student Success Act,” in March, 2011, introducing some of the most sweeping educational reforms in the state’s history – the introduction of teacher evaluation systems based on value-added modeling, mandatory “performance pay” for teachers, and the elimination of long-term professional service contracts. Using Stone’s Causal Stories framework (1989), this article analyzes arguments made for and against these reforms by numerous policy actors. Analysis of transcripts, news coverage, and policy reports reveals competing stories regarding the “causes” of poor student achievement. These competing causal narratives were central to actors’ efforts to portray the proposed reforms as solutions to the problem of underachievement, on one hand, or ill-conceived and poorly targeted answers, on the other.

Authors

• Christopher Harrison, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Lora A. Cohen-Vogel, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill