Calif. Groups Unite To Promote Peer Review

By Jessica L. Sandham

Four major education stakeholders in California came together last week in an unprecedented collaboration aimed at helping alleviate concerns over the nation's first statewide peer-assistance and -review program for teachers.

The state's two largest teachers' unions and the school administrators' and school boards' assocations, unveiled a statement of commitment to the program, which was a highlight of a package of school changes proposed by Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and passed by state lawmakers last spring. ( "Reform Bills Pass in Calif. Legislature," March 31, 1999.)

A handful of districts, including Cincinnati and Rochester, N.Y., have tried such programs, but California is the first state to adopt and financially support the measure that many educators and other experts believe will lead to a corps of teachers that is more competent and willing to...