Faculty expertise includes rhetoric, politics, redistricting, teacher tenure

SAN FRANCISCO, July 14, 2005 -- San Francisco State University offers several political experts who can provide analysis of the special election in California scheduled for Nov. 8. See below for SFSU faculty experts who are available to offer their perspectives on various aspects of the election.

For additional assistance locating an expert, contact the SFSU Office of Public Affairs and Publications at (415) 338-1665 or pubcom@sfsu.edu or visit: www.sfsu.edu/~news/expert.htm.

Corey Cook, assistant professor of political science, is an expert on California politics and government, urban politics and comparative state politics. He can be reached at (415) 405-2471 (office), (510) 336-0978 (home), or coreyc@sfsu.edu.

"Clearly, when you change the way districts are drawn, you change the composition of the electorate, and perhaps alter the partisan balance of the state Legislature. It is unclear, however, who would benefit from this," Cook said. "The assumption is that more moderates will be elected -- indeed this is Arnold's assumption. But given the geopolitical divisions of the state, that is not a given.

"At the least, it will certainly affect current incumbents who might find themselves thrown into competition with one another -- something that would make the legislature less likely to compromise, not more -- and would probably impact the racial, ethnic, linguistic and gender diversity of the institution."

Mark Phillips, professor of secondary education and director of school relations and educational outreach, can discuss Proposition 74, the teacher-tenure initiative. Phillips is a proponent of keeping tenure, but also improving teacher evaluation and training for beginning teachers and instituting post-tenure review and merit pay. He can be reached at (415) 338-3464 (office), (415) 205-5990 (home), or markps@sbcglobal.net.

"Teacher organizations have not promoted post-tenure review and merit pay, possibly because they fear that the processes will be tied to test results and controlled by state legislators. Yet, if properly done, I think it's the best solution to the dilemma," Phillips said. "Teachers who are evaluated highly should receive merit pay. Those who are not should be given additional training to increase their effectiveness. If after such training peer reviewers still assess a teacher to be ineffective, that teacher should be counseled to seek another profession.

"Teachers have a major responsibility to advocate and develop this process. If they don't, there will be increasing pressure from the outside to eliminate tenure, however destructive that might be. If they do, they will raise both the level of the profession and the level of public confidence in teachers."