RACE TO THE TOP

Schools already have tools to fire teachers

The search for easy answers almost always ends with wrong conclusions. Such is the case with Race to the Top ("Our $250 million weak spot: Weeding out poor teachers," April 4).

The headline and story strongly suggest that if we could just get rid of all those "bad teachers," Minnesota would have won federal Race to the Top funding.

Such analysis begs the question: How many "bad teachers" can there be in a state with the best ACT scores in America? Common sense provides the answer: not many. Minnesota's high graduation rate and strong test scores prove it.

It should surprise no one that 97 percent of Minnesota's teachers are deemed highly qualified under the No Child Left Behind guidelines. They really are highly qualified, because Minnesota has some of the highest standards in the country for getting a teaching license. And yet some people now argue for alternative teacher licensing that does away with those high standards. They will harm education quality in the name of improving it.

Minnesota school administrators already have all the tools they need to get rid of ineffective teachers. It's a matter of the administrators doing their jobs. The position of Education Minnesota -- the teachers union -- is very clear: There is no room in the profession for ineffective teachers. One of the big problems with Race to the Top is that it prescribes a checklist of changes that states must follow or they will lose out on the funding. It presumes that issues in one state are the same in all 50. But Minnesota's challenges are unique to Minnesota, and Minnesotans know best how to solve them. That's what we need to be doing here.

Minnesota's biggest education challenge is closing the achievement gap. That must be our priority, whether we get those temporary Race to the Top dollars or not. Get resources into those classrooms. Get class sizes down. Add time to the school day or school year if needed. Recruit more teachers of color. Target needed social services to those schools. Bring parents, teachers and schools together to help children learn. And yes, hold teachers accountable, with a sensible approach to student achievement that involves more than just test scores. These methods are proven to work. At a time when money is tight and getting tighter, let's focus our attention and our resources on what's really wrong and quit seeking easy answers to complicated questions.

TOM DOOHER, PRESIDENT,

EDUCATION MINNESOTA

tim walz

Representative working hard for his district

I've been discouraged by the attacks on U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., or as I know him, Coach Walz ("GOP sees Walz seat as ripe for picking," April 5). As a Mankato West High School graduate, I saw him in action on the football field and in the classroom. If there is another man or woman more passionate about the well-being of the residents of Mankato and southern Minnesota, I have yet to meet that person.

It is unfortunate that the same folks who are attacking Walz for not listening are the people who aren't listening.

U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., hit the nail on the head: Don't catch yourself being biased by Fox News. It's OK to disagree with a policy, but personal attacks are unhelpful. If there is disagreement on an issue, help make it better, don't just say no. Unfortunately, it is good political strategy for Republicans to just say no.

ANDY WILKE, NORTH MANKATO, MINN.

toyota

U.S. as auto regulator and Toyota competitor

Regarding possible penalties for Toyota ("U.S. asks $16M fine from Toyota," April 6): No matter how much you hate big business, there's something wrong with the parent company of General Motors being able to fine its competition.

CHUCK CHARNSTROM, WATERTOWN