Measure 95 defines teacher job performance
■While some say Ballot
Measure 95 would hurt
schools, others argue that it
would improve teaching
Lindsay Buchele
Oregon Daily Emerald
Ballot Measure 95, designed to
base teachers’ salaries on the per
formance of their students, will po
tentially threaten job security and
create competition between teach
ers, Oregon Parent Teacher Associa
tion President Kathryn Firestone
said. Proponents, however, argue
that such accountability will im
prove the quality of teaching in Ore
gon’s public schools.
Supported by Bill Sizemore of
Oregon Taxpayers United, Mea
sure 95 will require student learn
ing, not a teacher’s seniority or ed
ucation level, to determine their
pay
Oregon currently has the “Fair
Dismissal Law,” designed to protect
teachers from being unfairly fired.
Seniority plays no part in a teacher’s
employability, said Ted Heid, head
of the Human Resource Department
for the Eugene School District.
Supporters of the measure argue
that seniority does exist and is keep
ing unqualified teachers employed.
They suggest that teacher’s unions
are working to keep teachers em
ployed through seniority so the
unions have more power.
“From the moment teacher’s
unions have been in existence, they
have been focused on keeping teach
ers employed because of seniority,”
said Becky Miller, the measure’s
sponsor and an Oregon Taxpayers
United employee. “Since then, stu
dent learning has gone down.”
The measure does not specify
how students’ learning will be
measured. In fact, such details have
been purposely left out of the meas
ure so that each school district can
determine its own form of measure
ment, Miller said.
Bob Bruce, of the Oregon Univer
sity System’s Chancellors office,
said that the proposed legislation
would have no bearing on higher
education, as the language of the
ballot speaks to public schools.
“Professors at the university are
on merit-based pay anyway, so it
wouldn’t affect them,” hie said.
It is assumed that student per
formance will be tested through
standardized tests given at the be
ginning and the end of the school
year, Firestone said, though the ac
curacy of the tests in determining
student learning is debatable.
“Standardized testing is not a rea
sonable evaluation,” Firestone said.
“To most kids, tests mean nothing.”
Firestone said he feels that using
standardized tests will cause stu
dents of all levels to suffer.
“I’ve had a number of parents
come to me and tell me their ldds just
don’t test well,” Firestone said.
“Also, for those kids in special educa
tion classes, a good day is when they
don’t lash out at a fellow classmate.
No test can show progress like this.”
Miller argues the ballot defines
job performance as the degree to
which the appropriate knowledge
is learned.
“Students will be measured on
what they are expected to learn,”
Miller said. “Children in special ed
ucation classes will not be expect
ed to meet the same criteria that,
say, a child from another school is
expected to learn.”
Miller also argues schools will
end up with the best teachers,
thanks to the results of the student
evaluations.
Firestone disagrees, saying that if
teachers are fired because of their
student’s performances, they will
start to compete with other teachers
for honors classes.
“Teachers will only want to teach
the AP [Advanced Placement] and
honors level classes so that their
students do well,” Firestone said.
Miller said that rather than com
peting for jobs, teachers will be
more likely to request better mate
rials and resources to help students
learn better.
Both sides said parents should
play an active part in the process,
whether or not the measure passes.
Registration
continued from page 1
don’t want to let other people de
cide students’ futures.”
Kevin Iervolino, a senior sociology
major and registered voter, added
that students who don’t vote should
n’t be surprised if candidates and leg
islators don’t pay much attention to
student issues in the elections.
“People complain that the candi
dates don’t address our issues,” he
said. “But they don’t have the right
to complain if they’re not voting, be
cause they aren’t swaying the elec
tion.”
For the past few weeks, the leg
islative team has been reaching out
to students by visiting student-pop
ulated areas such as the University
Commons, greek houses, residence
halls, and the west University
neighborhood. The ASUO has also
talked to representatives from the
Guinness Book of World Records,
and is planning to set the record for
the world’s largest ballot box to
draw students to vote. The box,
which will be built by the Carpen
ter’s Union, will be 21 feet tall with
a 7-to 8-foot base.
On Friday, the University had
about 4,700 registered voters, mak
ing it first in the nation in terms of
total number of students registered
to vote. State Affairs Coordinator
Brian Tanner said this year’s cam
paign has been one of the most suc
cessful ones in recent history.
This year, the Oregon election
will be held exclusively by mail.
Students who are already registered
in Oregon can update their address
and other information up to elec
tion day, but Tanner said students
should make their changes by Tues
day as well. Tanner said students
may not receive ballots in time to
vote if they wait too long to change
their information.
For the next three weeks, the leg
islative team will focus its efforts on
educating voters, and will give pre
sentations about seven ballot meas
ures — 7, 8, 9, 88, 91, 93 and 98 —
which deal with financial funding
and directly impact students. Tan
ner said that although many of the
election issues don’t seem to apply
to students now, they will be impor
tant in the long run.
“Since we’re usually the youngest,
we have to live with die election re
Jackson
continued from page 1
“!t was just good timing," Tanner
said. “It just landed in our laps as
of [Sunday] morning."
Jackson planned to be in the
northwest already, but Tanner
said he wasn’t sure what hap
pened for Jackson to come to
campus on such short notice. He
said he’d like to think he’s com
ing because of the number of stu
dent voters the ASUO has regis
tered this fall.
suits the longest,” Tanner said. “Right
now people over the age of 60 with a
high school education are more like
ly to vote than a college student. But
at some point, our generation will be
running the country, and by the time
we get there we don’t want to have
our hands tied by previous genera
tions ... We want candidates to real
ize that our needs need to be ad
dressed for the future because we are
the future.”
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i I t 4.1 Mi
f f J I
PAT GRANEY COMPANY
Wed, October 181
7:00 PM * Gerlinger Theater» UP campus
Take a closer look at the choreog
raphy of the Pat Graney Company
s> m $ * * m m m w # •*
with a lecture/demonstration by
Graney and Company dancers.
G an y 'll sha th* d and
Inspiration that shape the themes
of women's issues in her work.
Company dancers will perform
excerpts of the bold, athletic
choreography the company is
known for, complete with costume
changes. Don't miss ah opportunity
to get inside the choreographer's
mind and glimpse the visually stun
ning work of this company before
its performances of Tattoo at the
Hult Center on October 20 and 21.
sored by theUO
4 Dance and Women's
Studies Departments
and the Hult Center
for the Performing
Arts1 Community
Involvement Program.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS’*
‘AT GRANEY
4ptistic Director