Programs to track pupil, teacher performance draw fire
By Jennifer Chaussee/Capitol Weekly
Final authorization is pending for a $9.1 million state contract to build upon a trouble-plagued, $34 million program to track pupil and teacher performance. But questions are being raised as the state is poised to put still more money into the effort. The program has become a political issue, and a candidate for state schools superintendent said it played a role in the state’s loss of Race to the Top funds. After already receiving $34 million to implement CalPADS, the database that houses student statistics, the computer hardware company IBM tentatively won the $9.1 million state contract bid to construct the online database that would catalog California teachers. (more…)