"Reinvest, Don't Disinvest" in Education: Randi Weingarten Takes the National Stage

Randi Weingarten took the stage at the National Press Club on Monday to give her first major speech since becoming president of the American Federation of Teachers. The packed room featured a who's who of players in the national education scene, including NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and Rep. George Miller, chairman of the rebooted No Child Left Behind incubator, the House Education and Labor Committee. Michael Bloomberg swooped in from New York to introduce Weingarten to the D.C. crowd.

Weingarten's speech was an impassioned call to spare the hatchet--or scalpel-- in federal funding for education. Facing an economic crisis, states and local school districts are slashing budgets across the board, and education is feeling the pain. Weingarten emphatically cautioned the federal government from following suit. She said, "I propose that the nation reinvest--not disinvest--in education. By reinvesting, I don't just mean money... we also must commit to policies and programs that challenge our schools, demand that they do the very best for all children, and ensure that the people who teach our students are given the tools they need." She insisted that investing in education now is the best way to ensure economic success for our country's future.

Randi raised eyebrows when hammering home her assertion that AFT is ready for negotiations with the federal government and will seek common ground on educational issues across the board, even those traditionally not supported by the union. She said, "With the exception of vouchers, which siphon scarce resources from our public schools, NO ISSUE should be off the table, provided it is good for children and fair for teachers."

She called for "smart investment" in education, without waiting for the reauthorization of NCLB. The AFT's 10-point Smart Investments in Education proposal calls for:

1. Providing universal early childhood education, starting with low-income children.
2. Preparing young people for high-skill, high-demand "green jobs."
3. Providing a boost to high-achieving students from low-income households.
4. Offering high-quality educational choices within the public school system.
5. Focusing intensely on improving low-performing schools.
6. Establishing community schools that serve the neediest children by bringing together services that they and their families need.
7. Ensuring that every school facility is a place where teachers can teach and students can learn.
8. Expanding teacher induction so that new teachers are not left to sink or swim.
9. Creating an online teacher resource network with information on curriculum, lesson plans and source documents to enhance teaching.
10. Offering every student a well-rounded education that would stand in stark contrast to the "standardized test score competition" that has resulted from NCLB.

Those forward-looking goals sound right to this educator.

Weingarten and Bloomberg also touted a new initiative in New York City that is paying teachers and principals in high-need schools for improved results on standardized test scores and on the city's controversial school report card grades. Earlier this year, the city gave bonuses totaling $14.2 million to 89 elementary and middle schools. Weingarten said at the press conference today that 189 of the 200 schools in the program opted to stay in the program during the next cycle. With the teachers' unions buying in, it appears the performance pay train--at least in modified forms--is on the fast track.

Randi Weingarten has worked tirelessly in New York City to improve schools to benefit students, families, and teachers, and her opening salvo as president of the AFT indicate that she will continue the fight on the national level.

Additional reporting by Colleen Brown.

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Comments

[nee]

Education, like most government agencies, get more than enough money. They just don't use their money wisely. We need to look at where the money is being spent and reallocate it. Too much money is spent on administration. We also spend big bucks on programs that don't work. When schools are given money they are told to spend it all and do it quickly, because if they don't use it the money will be taken away and never seen again. Why aren't schools who spend their money wisely and do a great job rewarded? Instead these schools are given less money. It has never made sense to me. We are also educating children who don't belong here. I know it's not pc to say but when you are trying to educate children who don't speak English and who's parents have no intention of learning to speak English you are beating your head up against the wall. We spend BILLIONS to educate ILLEGAL ALIENS. We could be using that money on our own children.

[JustAnotherJoe]

Agreed. To throw out another analogy, paying oncologists by the number of patients they cure. There are no incentives for taking on the tough cases in the current ed system.

Research has also shown that the best predictor of student success is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. Until we start offering teachers salaries and benefits that make school teaching competitive with other career choices, the problem of getting the best and the brightest to stay in classrooms will continue.

I'm also not sold on the idea that our nation's economic success hinges on the overall achievement of schools. I have yet to see a legitimate study that directly correlates school achievement and the nation's economic output. There are politics at play. Because educators are so cash strapped trying to perform everything demanded of them, they'll offer up any arguement, no matter how shaky ,in hopes that one of them will get the attention of the politicians in charge of the purse strings. Larry Cuban out of Stanford has written extensively on the topic.

[Skepticat]

The best predictor of student success are really the kids' parents, community and peer group. If education is not valued by the parents, community at large, peer group etc the instructors will be fighting an uphill battle from the start with constant sabotaging of their efforts. Obviously some teachers can be more successful than others - but the root problem is that education is just NOT valued all that much.

I don't know if there is any exact correlation between national economic success and school achievement but the following countries are listed with under 60% adult literacy:
Haiti, Chad, Cote D'Ivoire, Angola, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Central African Republic, Bangladhesh, - anybody else see a pattern?

[TopProf]

any system that bases any decision, including teacher/ad­ministrato­r pay, on increased test scores is a corrupt system. The highest correlate of achievement test scores is social class. Unless a system changes boundaries to exclude lower status children or English language learners or special education students it's very difficult to raise test scores except by teaching to the test or cheating by other means. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHO CAN LEARN. all children can learn. IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH WHAT THE TEST MEASURES AND HOW EASY IT IS TO INFLATE THE SCORES WITHOUT CHANGING THE UNDERLYING TRUE LEVEL OF LEARNING. It's the same as basing pay raises for policemen on their number of traffic arrests. They will all be lurking behind overpasses rather than catching criminals. It's like basing promotion of army officers on body counts. On the Wire it was called Juking the stats. So this looks more like a political play and not reasoned discourse. And this is from someone who values teachers and public schools.

[nee]

Teacher pay, as far as Calfornia is concerned, is not based on test scores yet. That may be coming soon; but as of now it's not.