Los Angeles Teachers Union Seeks To Halt New Evaluation Pilot

As different districts and states re-imagine the way teachers should be graded, the country's second largest school system has hit a roadblock.

Los Angeles' schools chief John Deasy wants to revamp teacher evaluations -- but the local union isn't having any of it.

Deasy's plan includes a new system that would evaluate teachers partially based on their students' standardized test scores. Though both the city's Board of Education and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa support it, the Los Angeles teachers union filed a complaint seeking an injunction to halt the the program, claiming the school district never entered into sufficient negotiations with teachers over its terms.

"Everything I've heard about John Deasy is that he's a collaborator. This is not the John Deasy I've heard about," A.J. Duffy, the outgoing president of United Teachers Los Angeles, told the L.A. Times.

The injunction request came after years of discussion between the school district and the union, both of which agree the city's system needs a retooling after 99 percent of all teachers received positive scores from a subjective evaluation program.

Apparently, leveraging the legal system is not a new tactic used by teachers unions, said Larry Sand, who runs the California Teachers Empowerment Network. "They have a team of lawyers," said Larry Sand. "If they feel that the district acts inappropriately, they don't hesitate to take it to court."

Deasy's pilot evaluation program would launch next year, aiming for expansion in the 2012-2013 academic year. Almost 1,000 teachers agreed to partake in the voluntary pilot for a $1,250 stipend and paid days off for professional development.

The union asserts that it can't be implemented without collective bargaining approval.

Deasy told the L.A. Times he was surprised by the union's filing, particularly because the program was optional and appeared to be popular.

"I think there is a large disconnect between what the leadership has done and what the rank and file is saying to us," Deasy said. "They're not only excited about the evaluation system, but they're chomping at the bit to use it."

Imperfections aside, Sand admitted Deasy's evaluation plan was an improvement. "Almost anything is better than nothing," he said. "It's shameful that we can send a man to the moon but we can't figure out how to evaluate a good teacher from a bad teacher."

Education activist Anthony Krinsky said he never expected the pilot to go far. "No education reform has a bright future so long as the power asymmetry between unions and reformers continues to exist," Krinsky said. "The unions love a charade."

The lawsuit also seeks to stop the city's plans to hand control of South Los Angeles' schools to a charter-school network manager and opposes the school district's attempt to implement abbreviated agreements that would allegedly force teachers to work under conditions not specified or permitted in their contract.

Comments

[becut]

11:22 AM on 05/27/2011

Teachers and/or teacher's unions are suppose to be responsible for students that do not speak English. Many of the low performing schools are filled with limited English speaking students, their parents do not speak any English (so the children are translating), and the curriculum is English Only with Prop 227.

[CaptainVideo]

11:04 AM on 05/25/2011

The problem with objective tests is that if teachers are evaluated on the basis of them, they have a strong incentive to teach the test and not teach all the other things that students need to learn that are not on the test.

Also if tests are used in spite of this, teachers cannot be evaluated merely on the basis of the performance of the tests, but, rather on the students' imporvements over time on the tests. Simply evaluating the teachers on the basis of the tests is totally unfair to teachers that teach students from poor and disadvantaged neighborhoods, who, in spite of the teachers' best efforts will not do as well as students from advantaged neighborhoods. This provides teachers with a strong incentive to avoid teaching at schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

[brainonbrett]

11:01 AM on 05/25/2011

What are the teachers, as well as every other union, afraid of?? Actually having to hold up their end of the bargain?? I work in a union plant and teh union amost screwd us out of profit sharing a few years back. Strictly because the company wanted to use a personal factor in determining each employee's bonus. So, now everyone gets a personal factor of 1 to go into the bonus equation. Therefore, while I am sweating and taking pride in my work, the lazy, unmotivated people get the same benefits. The point is this: Our society has got to move to a strict merit based environment. Or will fall behind the rest of the world. Work defines us. I have more articels about my viewpoints on my blog site...www.brainonbrett.com

[PirateJohn]

06:37 PM on 05/26/2011

What are the teachers, as well as every other union, afraid of?

-------

Have you bothered to read the comments? What they're "afraid of" is that their careers will be made or broken based on a tool that is a completely inadequate and inaccurate method of measuring teachers' skills.

I a at a loss to understand why people keep saying that just because teachers are opposed to standardized testing that they must therefore be opposed to any form of accountability. That's like saying that a person who doesn't want a Magic 8 ball to be used in courtrooms is opposed to putting criminals in prison.

[blindjester]

10:04 AM on 05/25/2011

This talk about evaluation systems continues to be a great red herring for the deformers.

Make the people think schools are failing--check. Make them think it's because of bad teachers--check. Make them think the bad teachers are there because of the union--check.

The truth is, American schools get great results, considering the number of students in poverty. US schools with less than 10% in poverty (Finland, as a nation, has only 2% poverty) outscore all the countries we're compared to. If the US were ranked based on the scores of students in all the schools up to 50% poverty, the US would be 4th in the world.

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/10/problem-is-poverty-evidence-from-gerald.html

[hpilot717]

11:02 AM on 05/25/2011

Why did we rank so much higher back before teacher unions were allowed?

[blindjester]

01:06 PM on 05/25/2011

Sounds like a made-up factoid.

[Atwill]

08:00 AM on 05/25/2011

There is a reason for unions to want senority prioroties. This stops companies and the governement from just firing people who have a long standing postion becasue they are getting older and close to retirement. Before this, many places would fire peope just before their 20 or 30 year mark, to pay them much less in retirement benifits and so they could hire new younger people at half the rate. Thus, pushing an older and more experinced person, who was dedicated, out into the cold with alot smaller pesion then what they they deserved. You still want to have a system to rate the teachers fine, but you also need to look at the years of service.

[Clif25]

04:59 AM on 05/25/2011

The public education system is a complete mess in LA. The union is bad and so is the school board. They have spent about a billion dollars on like two schools' construction in the past few years and complain about a lack of money. Then there was also all of those homes they demolished that was supposed to be a new school too...

It makes me scratch my head to this argument that education and health care are so important that it can only be managed by government. Let us see where this is taking us...

[Impaler]

05:14 AM on 05/25/2011

40 years of Democrat & Union control and people are surprised. This is why the smart people move.

[blindjester]

09:52 AM on 05/25/2011

The hope that private schools--charters--will do better has proven to be a false one. On the average, charters do worse. They underperform on the same tests that people use to evaluate the public schools in the first place.

Your belief that the schools are a mess has to be put into context--a mess, compared to what possible alternate reality? Under what conditions would you be getting better results? Right now, well-off kids get great scores (on the average) and inner-city students get poor scores (on the average). How do the schools you call a mess get so many kids to do so well? Somebody either knows something, or demographics is more important than you know.

[Clif25]

02:44 PM on 05/25/2011

I was talking more specifically about the school board and the teachers union. There are far too much politics involved. Too much of the money allocated to education, to these school districts do not go to education.

For an example of these pity and idiotic political conflicts read this article. I bet there are many examples of this throughout the nation.
http://reason.com/archives/2002/07/01/stand-and-deliver-revisited

Demographics is an excuse. In addition to the previous example, here is another example of minorities achieving when they are given programs that work, which usually contradicts what the mainstream bureaucracy of education allows.
http://www.freedompolitics.com/articles/school-2023-money-schools.html

Yes, but let's blame it on the students' race! Race and income are not barriers to learn. Not having the institutions that emphasize learning is the big barrier.

[Nerdboy2317]

11:48 PM on 05/24/2011

Is the issue here really teacher evaluation or one of shared governance? Districts need to work with their teachers and their union to create a system of evaluation. This can be done transparently and with the involvement of parents as well. Systems designed in this manner are more successful. Not consulting all the stakeholders is just asking for a fight. So is admin trying to provoke the union or are they trying to improve schools?

[6p023E23]

10:07 PM on 05/24/2011

Has any teachers union ever has come up with a relative evaluation system for teachers to weed out bas teachers and successful implemented it? I think at any time at least 5-10% teachers are under performing. (very low balling here). what is the union's solution for getting rid of them?

[changing]

10:50 PM on 05/24/2011

This is not about teachers; stop the witch hunting. This is about money and taking over our public schools. Money to be made by charters, testing companies, etc. Stop this war on teachers.

[Impaler]

05:15 AM on 05/25/2011

The Teachers Union are the evil doers here, not the parents, taxpayers, or the politicians that Union members have bought and paid for. What you really suffer from is buyer's remorse.

[MSchlagel]

02:13 AM on 05/25/2011

In my experience, teacher's associations have worked to draft language regarding the PARS process but most contracts do not allow teachers to grieve the contents of an evaluation. They can only grieve the steps in the process and whether they have been completed according to timeline. This is a problem when the contents (test scores for example) contain errors or inappropriate comments. In one evaluation in another school district, it was written that I needed a "more cherry disposition." I could not even correct the spelling of the comment because my association rep kept insisting I could not question content. I asked him to leave the meeting and worked with the administrator to revise the evaluation with the errors corrected. I understand the need for union representation and have great respect for my local representatives who are wonderful and extremely knowledgeable. I do not feel the same way towards major union representation who seem less capable of effectively negotiating. You have to put something on the table. I would suggest that unions insist (i) districts use standardized test scores to determine student promotion and that (ii) all districts have a mandatory attendance policy that limits the acceptable number of absences per term and (iii) that all core classrooms are capped at 30:1. Then the district can use test scores as part of the evaluation (20%)..

[maester]

09:41 PM on 05/24/2011

Can someone point me to an urban school leader who believes that students and their parents are ultimately responsible for their educational outcomes?

I'm so sick of hearing that teachers are responsible for student achievement. If they're teaching even remotely well, then the blame for a student performing poorly rests with both him and his parents.

[patililac]

05:46 AM on 05/25/2011

Thank you. There are a few bad teachrs, but most of these are weeded out, pretty much because they can't stand teaching! Everything I've read suggests parents, economic status, and student motivation play a great role in students' successes. Which is not to say a horrible teacher won't contribute negatively. But, really, do these teacher-haters think ALL the teachers in the country are bad!! It boggles the mind. They learn a subject and they teach it! What the heck do people think they are doing in the classroom?

[hpilot717]

11:04 AM on 05/25/2011

Head in the clouds much?

[researcher]

06:30 PM on 05/24/2011

unions and capitalism do not get along. like oil and water one has got to go.

the capitalists have the money and therefore the power.

end result: bye bye unions hello third world. americans brought this upon themselves with their survival of the fittest individualistic mentality.

you would think a so called christian nation would not be in love with a survival of the fittest mentality. you would be wrong as capitalism creates a very self centered mentality.

all that charity you hear churches brag about; find out how much of their budget goes to the poor. ie I suspect less than 5%, the rest is wages upkeep new church start up, evangel overseas preaching, etc.

if there is one thing this christian nation loves is our super power status nation building wars and our individualism. two aspects of capitalism. capitalism has had more of an impact on americans way of life than the teachings of jesus.

even our religious oriented supreme court is in love with capitalism and called corporations persons. and those that dont think economic and political systems influence human behavior think again.

my point: we blame teachers for our systemic failures.

[patililac]

05:48 AM on 05/25/2011

It's because they are not Christians. Real Christians love even their enemies. Real Christians are humble. Real Christians are not greedy.

[Uhgg]

05:43 PM on 05/24/2011

According to LA Times these are the worst performing schools in LA why not run the test program in these schools

[Uhgg]

05:43 PM on 05/24/2011

http://projects.latimes.com/schools/custom-ranking/county/los-angeles/statistic/api-scores/order/lowest/

[Rocket80]

05:06 PM on 05/24/2011

Unions are going to be one of those things where our kids look at us in 20 years with disgusted faces and say "people let that happen?!"... just like the gay marriage issue.

[Nerdboy2317]

11:52 PM on 05/24/2011

Please give up everything Unions have done you. Start with your 8 hour work day.

[hpilot717]

11:09 AM on 05/25/2011

I started working out of high school (before being drafted) in a unionized brass foundry. I was 18. I have always been ambitious and hard working. I was told to STOP working so hard or fast or I would face problems. I was told I could be harmed or my car attacked etc! That was my first and LAST time ever in a union.

[Uhgg]

05:04 PM on 05/24/2011

What LA needs to do is send the Test Program to a Red State and see if it works then get with the Union with the results and negotiate

[thumbtax]

04:14 PM on 05/24/2011

The LA teachers union is probably the most corrupt anti-student organization going. They only care about themselves. Screw the community and students.

[MrBwood]

05:27 PM on 05/24/2011

And what do the children and the parents of these children do to support the learning process? NOTHING

[6p023E23]

10:04 PM on 05/24/2011

They are PAYING them. Teachers are "employed" by the parents and the students.
Teachers are supposed to be "serving" the students; they are your customers.

[hpilot717]

11:20 AM on 05/25/2011

We give up our children expecting an education! It always worked well in the past but now it can't! HOW COME? Oh yeah, good old UNIONS.

[MSchlagel]

02:23 AM on 05/25/2011

Corrupt no. Ineffective...absolutely. I'm not certain how effective they really can be given the size of LAUSD. What frustrates me is the constant barrage of paperwork they send me every day. Pounds of it are generated for no useful purpose. If I have questions, I ask our reps who immediately respond. These reps are also highly experienced and successful educators. I can't tell if UTLA's governing board is terribly familiar with the practicalities of teaching. UTLA is extremely unsuccessful at communicating with the District and its own members and has no negotiating skills beyond saying "No.". LAUSD is a giant organism with no structure. It expands in size and never seems to evolve. "Too big to fail" didn't work for the financial system; I'm dumbfounded as to why we think it would work with education.

[Dave McRae]

04:14 PM on 05/24/2011

Let's talk real facts. I have sat on the School Board in a District with about 35% ESL students and about the same in terms of poverty. I do know what test scores are available, and I do know how they can be used to fairly evaluate teachers.

You do NOT test students and conclude, "Teacher A's class scored a 88 and teachers B's class scored a 77 so teacher A is the better teacher." YOU DO NOT DO THAT!!! It's meaningless.

What you do is look at the level students have enetered Teacher A's class in terms of performance and look for imrpovement over a year. Over a 5 year period, clear trends develop.

In my District, a group of 4 math teachers (6th grade) in a very poor school decided to get EVERY student to grade level in math. EVERY teacher reading this knows what that is asking, and the fact that's an INSANE goal!!!

These teachers, using innovative methods and a team teaching approach USING data to inform, got over 90% of their students (ESL and poverty students, the usual teachers excuses) all included.


To take ANY class, let alone a class in a poor, largely Mexican-American neighborhood where the parents had basically no education, and get them ALL up to grade level in math?!!!

The last SAD fact was these teachers didn't want ANY recognition because they felt their fellow teachers would criticize them and talk bad about them.

Sad.

[ArborialBiped]

04:58 PM on 05/24/2011

Well said. Fanned and faved.

The persistent, loud, rude and unproductive argument here on HuffPo as elsewhere is based on a discredited false dichotomy: Teacher accountability "versus" teacher's rights.

One side is trying to take away all teachers union rights based on a right-wing economic ideology about privatization, taxation, etc.

And the other side, led by the powerful narrow interests of union bosses and those caught within their ideological spin-zone, argues vehemently against any sort of real measurement of student progress and teacher effectiveness, because it might lead to (heaven forbid!) good teachers getting paid more and bad teachers getting fired or demoted.

There is a productive, fair and attainable middle ground, as you point out. And testing can be done in a way that doesn't directly compare apples to oranges (poor schools to rich schools) but rather apples to apples.

[maester]

10:03 PM on 05/24/2011

Sorry, but I'm sick of hearing that it's a teacher's job to "get" their students to grade level.

One of the major problems with urban education today is that there is absolutely zero accountability for the students. When they do poorly, school leaders don't tell them that they need to do better; instead they tell the teachers that it's their fault the students did poorly and that they need to do better.

Let's be honest about something here: these problems of chronic low-performance are not found in wealthier communities and often times not even in middle class ones. They're overwhelmingly found in low-income communities, and it's not because they just happened to get hoards of bad teachers or because we've yet to discover how to education children.

Instead of blaming teachers when students don't perform, why not tell the students to work harder, study more, pay more attention, stop disrupting class, etc. Why not tell their parents to get their act together and start parenting? And how about removing those students who chronically disrupt class--which is a major problem in urban districts.

Then again, I'm probably yet another former urban teacher who just hates kids (or whatever label the school reform movement is assigning me at the present time). I guess I should have served on the school board, because then and only then would I actually understand the problems in the classroom.

[patililac]

05:50 AM on 05/25/2011

It's hard to want to study when you're hungry. I agree with you.

[Dave McRae]

07:07 AM on 05/25/2011

Yes, I do think a teacher's job is to get students to grade level, and beyond. A teacher's job is to teach students. That's a hard task, clearly. But that's the job. I don't know how else you'd define a teacher.