This morning I posted about a bizarre proposal to change (demolish) the teaching profession in North Carolina, called the 60-30-10 plan.
It included features such as, all teachers re-applying for their jobs in 2015. Flipped classrooms. Larger class sizes. Teachers paid per student. No teacher allowed to teach more than 20 years. Constant churn. No profession, just a temp job monitoring work on computers.
And more:
““The NC 60/30/10 Plan, which “embraces high teacher turnover,” would place teachers on one of three tracks: Apprentice, Master or Career.
“Sixty percent of all North Carolinian teachers would make $32,000/year in the Apprentice category and be allowed to teach for up to twenty years, at which time they must retire or move on to another industry.
“Thirty percent of teachers would be eligible for the Master category if they have been teaching for three years, have completed an online training program, and can demonstrate mastery of the teaching method based on “customer survey data.” Master teachers would earn $52,000/year.
“Ten percent of teachers would become Career teachers, making $72,000 if they have an advanced degree and can innovate and lead.
“All teachers would be able to serve in North Carolina for no more than 20 years. If the plan were to be adopted, all teachers in North Carolina would be required to reapply for their jobs in 2015.”
The author of the plan then wrote to this blog to say that the reporter didn’t interview him and that his plan was evolving.
Now the reporter, Lindsay Wagner, wrote a new post saying that she tried to interview the plan’s author but he did not return her call. She apparently has now interviewed him. The 20-year deadline for teachers is gone, he says.
Wagner is the best investigative reporter in North Carolina. Lucky she reported on this pernicious proposal before the extremists in the legislature passed it into law.
Best of all is that the blog became a platform where the new compensation plan was aired to a national audience, bringing an immediate response from its author, and at least a few corrections. But every other part of the plan is still an insult to professional educators.

Excellent work, Lindsay and Diane.
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I don’t want my own children in a flipped classroom. I want them with good teachers, interacting in a classroom with other kids, a variety of ideas, a variety of personalities and lots of laughter.
And the pay component is ridiculous. What kind of teachers will be attracted to that model? Answer: not the kind I want my children with.
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Sorry–meant to add: Thank goodness this idea was exposed nationally!
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It is very bizarre how Lodge ignores the recruitment aspect of this. Assuming that “good teachers” rise from the ranks of bright individuals with many useful skills and talents, why in the world would any of them be attracted to a risk-reward scenario that is so lopsided? This kind of model may work at Goldman Sachs but at least when you claw your way to the top there you will be firmly placed in the 1%. And if you are not a top dog at Goldman, you still have an opportunity to earn a good living and build transferable skills. I am seeing figures for “top” teachers at around $100,000. That is certainly a nice income but it is hardly worth the risk of the “bad” teacher scenario.
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Keep the fires burning, Ravitch! NC needs your voice!
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I am coming to Raleigh on Feb 11 and Durham same day.
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Can you help Indiana? Our board wants to allow anyone with any degree and a B average just take a test to be a licensed teacher. The goal is to put more “quality” teachers in classrooms. No special degrees or licenses for principals and superintendents needed either. They are continuing this battle with Glenda Ritz.
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Elizabeth,
Please send a link or two describing situation in Indiana.
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There are two sites that will explain the insanity in Indiana. One is the website for the Indiana Department of Education. There is a link to comment on the proposed changes (called REPA 3) until January 31st. These are changes that had been propsed by Tony Bennett and are now back with this appointed board. Another site is the Indiana Coalilition for Public Education (www.icpe2011.com/) and click on Vic’s Statehouse Notes. He sums up the hearing and adds insight to the story. ICPE also has a facebook page that has these articles posted. Another item brewing in IN is a bill to fund preschool for the first time ever. Sadly, it is a voucher bill and will only apply to private schools and will allow students to obtain vouchers for kindergarten if they attend preschool at that site. It is really just an expansion of the nations most expansive voucher program.
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Diane, your blog is not to be missed … Daily … Hourly … Minute by minute.
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Yet another reason to admit that. I’m a teacher in North Carolina. 😦
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Again, can’t the leaders in NC see that no intelligent company will ever relocate to NC and in fact I can foresee many companies leaving. Companies will not be able to keep or attract intelligent, competent, educated employees if this is the state of education they have to offer said employee’s children. I, seriously, wanted to retire in NC but not now. I’d never be able to sell my house when the time came (though I’m sure I could probably get a good price buying one!)
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Who in their right mind would ever want to teach under such a program. And like it or not this man doesn’t understand the collaborative spirit of a good school where teachers help one another. His system appears divisive possibly setting teachers against each other as they are forced to compete in a race to the top of their profession and try to keep their job.. What nonsense. Why impose wall street values on education they don’t mix. A school is not a business at it’s best it’s a loving supporting family with cooperative team work. At it’s worst it’s a competitive soap opera where everyone is watching everyone.
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These so-called leaders is attempting to tear down what Generations have created.
This is bizarre and it will not fly in NC..Buy your house in NC…CARY444….Retire in NC…
This will not happen.
It is as bizarre as the leadership in our state…
2016…2016….2016…..2016…2016……
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Let’s start with 2014!
http://turnerfornchouse.com/
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I still want to know what the mysterious “online training program” that would qualify a teacher as “master” is. In fact, I chuckle (and roll my eyes) when I read that.
“And if they complete this approved online program, we will give them a badge and a bone.”
What happened to student teaching?
How many ways can we dance around a subject without just cutting to the chase. The teaching profession is not broken. The people trying to fix it are (at least the ones who come up with silly ideas that have a name that belongs on a savings account or other banking product).
Pay the teachers. Provide public schools for the children. Quit tap dancing around the subject to see if money jumps out. It won’t.
Plant a garden and get some chickens if you want to see something grow. Quit waiting for education to make money for the state in the short term, rather than investing in it for the long term. Pony up. Pay your workers. And quit beating the horses
“And the dancers who work in the bar.” (To quote a favorite band)
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This sounds like a way to make sure that there are a slew of lawsuits from the outcomes of all the current teacher corps reapplying for their jobs. You know that the rehiring cannot possibly come out 100% fairly, so you want to expose the state to that scale of a legal challenge???? Um, crazy.
If you hate tenure so much just turn it into a set of rolling three year contracts. That seems far more fair.
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I am currently a graduate student pursuing my Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) in the Department of Public and International Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. I am contacting you to seek your participation and assistance in distributing a statewide survey that will serve to evaluate how teacher evaluation and merit pay reforms are impacting teachers across the state of North Carolina. UNCW Professor, Janna Siegel Robertson, Ph. D., is noted as the principal investigator (PI) who has worked with me over the past couple of months on this project and is continuing to guide me in my research.
Our goal is to collect enough data to fairly represent the opinions of NC teachers that will later be combined with other statewide data and relevant literature to make appropriate recommendations to the state legislature. So please feel free to forward this message to any NC schools or teacher organizations that you feel would be interested in participating!
To participate in the survey go here:
http://20.selectsurvey.net/uncwmpammo/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=96KH4l7
As stated in the informed consent section of the survey, the data collected in this survey will serve as a component of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Capstone project. Of course all 28 questions in the survey are voluntary and information that is collected is completely anonymous. Permission for this statewide study was approved by UNCW’s federally mandated Institutional Review Board (IRB) on March 31st, 2014.
If you have any questions you can contact me at mmo2074@uncw.edu or Dr. Janna Siegel Robertson at Robertsonj@uncw.edu.
Thank you for your assistance in this endeavor!
Regards,
Megan Oakes
Human Resources Intern | New Hanover County
MPA Graduate Student Association | Social Chair 2013-2014
Masters of Public Administration 2014
University of North Carolina Wilmington
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