As the battle lines appear to be drawn and re-drawn in Wisconsin, a larger debate is brewing across the nation: the relevance and future of unions.
Previously questioning the concept of monitoring the performance of teachers, National Action Network and I have worked with President Obama, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and various mayors around the country trying to raise the notion of education reform. And as such, I take particular notice of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and their recent innovative breakthrough proposal. With an increasing number of politicians and opportunists wrongfully attacking labor unions, one of the most harshly scrutinized has decided to take matters into its own hands. The AFT, comprised of more than 1.5 million educators, recently thwarted unjust opposition thanks to its president, Randi Weingarten, and her newly proposed evaluation plan. Tackling the issue of tenure head-on, this groundbreaking idea emboldens both the strength of the AFT and simultaneously protects students from ill-performing teachers. Let the critics now be silenced.
At a Teacher Evaluation Conference in Washington, D.C. last week, Weingarten presented her bold and courageous plan to finally absolve the highly contested notion of tenure in our educational system. Long used by opponents of teachers unions as a means to inaccurately state that poor performing educators cannot be fired, tenure is not even close to being the root cause of our failing school system. But in a wise, preemptive maneuver to thwart unnecessary attacks against the AFT, Weingarten has announced a three-step process to properly evaluate all teachers -- including those that are tenured. It's really quite a simple idea: evaluate, support and hold a hearing.
In her proposed plan, Weingarten has asked for clear standards teachers must adhere to, a time-sensitive improvement process for those that are reviewed as not up to par and a fair hearing process for all. In other words, those tenured educators who are rated unsatisfactory will have one year to improve their teaching performance, or risk being fired within 100 days. According to Weingarten's new proposal, the evaluation process would consist of several steps including classroom visits and visible improvement on students' tests/work. Those teachers rated unsatisfactory will be given improvement plans that will then be followed up within the allotted time frame.
In this unprecedented move, Weingarten and the AFT have taken it upon themselves to advance the teacher evaluation process, as well as eliminate any incorrect notion of 'life-tenure'. But as she and others diligently work to rectify the teacher review process, it's important that we do not blame tenured teachers for this very grave problem. When schools in certain neighborhoods do not receive the same amount of funding as others, nor are they equipped with the appropriate tools necessary to educate our young, we cannot scapegoat teachers. This isn't a union problem, nor a tenure problem or an AFT problem. It is a national crisis; our greatest modern civil rights struggle today, and we are all to blame for neglecting our future generations.
At a time when budgets are being slashed and our elected officials are searching for as many ways to eliminate spending, we cannot allow our teachers and the workers of America to take the fall. In Wisconsin, the fight for the survival of labor unions wages on. But before those that want to place the burden on the backs of the people attempt to dismantle teachers unions, Weingarten has presented a noble solution and we should all work to ensure that it is implemented around the country for the sake of our schools, those that teach and most importantly for our most precious commodity -- the children.
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We all want students to be well educated. Therefore we need meaningful change. It might be prudent to have several school districts run sans union just to see what happens. If non-union schools better serve the students, they that is how they should be run. If not, then not. But we should have a few test cases to find out. Education is sacrosanct, not union membership.
I agree that teachers have it tough. Most of the real problem with education today is the parents. Parents no longer demand excellence from their children. When children don't do well, parents blame teachers when it's actually the parent's responsibility to ride their own kids. Quit empowering children by allowing them to underachieve. A school isn't what determins an education. It's the willingness of the student to learn and seek knowledge. All schools and librarys have books. How many of you parents out their have their children read book? Or do you just plant them in front of the Playstation becasue you want quiet? Have you introduced your chilren to Plato? Do you think your children are reading/discussing Plato in school? Education of children IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PARENTS AND YOUR DUTY AS PARENTS! Personal responsibility=personal empowerment. Learn it, teach it.
The GOP wants our schools to produce the most educated and job ready students that can be produced. Retaining poor teachers does not further this goal. Since unions make it difficult to removed non-teaching teachers, then are they part of the problem? Probably.
My step-son is a straight A, gifted program 3rd grader. His school is currently in the middle of 3 weeks of "preparation" for PSSA standardized testing to take place later this month. He knew all this stuff before he was taught it the first time. Now he's wasting away in school 7 hours a day being re-taught everything he already knows.
Because parents don't get involved until they believe their child is getting slighted, the school systems are no longer allowed to divide up students according to ability. We can't hurt anyone's feelings by admitting that some kids learn more quickly than other children.
Unfortunately, I have a good idea what is going to happen to my step-son if we can't find some other way of keeping him challenged at school. He'll turn out just like me, a 33 year old in college with two kids because he got too bored with school when he was younger.
Being bored in class also means, usually, that the student is not doing his work. It's not the material that is boring him, but his refusal to follow instruction. It is, therefore; a lack of discipline that is the problem and probably also a lack of motivation. Parents can help here. Saying that one is bored is an excuse for a student not to do his work. All students should be taught from day one to always do their school work. If they do this they will all be successful. Unless the student has a physical or mental problem there is never an excuse for doing bad work. It's just plain laziness, pure and simple.
Paul does his work. My big issue is that they get about 5 minutes of homework a night. Believe me, I spent 8 years in the military, and am in college myself. Nobody in my house gets away without doing their work.
He has an interest in cars, so we've started working on building models together. We just started his first, as we had to work on his pinewood derby car. That is, I had to provide guidance as HE built his pinewood derby car. His car beat most of the parent-built cars on the track.
I do like your reading idea, and will discuss implementing something like that at home with my wife.
I will also try cultivating his interest in science by having him create and maintain his own hydroponics garden this year. He'll also be helping to design and build our shed and a new front porch.
Anyway, it was nice to have your input.
americans have to decide if they want a social democracy and unions or capitalism.
americans still have this idea that capitalism and workers rights can co exist.
yes it can exist for some time and it has but the capitalists are way to smart to not eliminate unions. look over the past 30 years how the capitalists have reduced unions to having little if any political power.
the capitalists own the media and if you own the media you can make most americans hate unions.
if you can own the supreme court then you can pass laws to take all the workers rights out of unions. we know the capitalists own congress and the white house, next up will be lower federal courts.
unions became history while americans slept and with their apathy unions became no bodies. powerless.
third world is coming to america and those that say other wise want something from you. votes money etc.
With that choice, working class folks like myself (a teacher) stand a much better chance in this world.
let's see- you are wrong about unions protecting bad teachers. They protect all of their members, but they have no special love of keeping bad ones safe, and often times want the bad teacher out just as bad as the other people do.
As for benefits- i guess if we took more money instead of getting rear-ended for a salary, then we wouldn't have a problem paying more into our benefits. You telling me any professional with a degree that is supposed to take 30k and be happy? Please. THere's got to be some perks to going into the public sector because everybody else screams into the private sector where the big bucks are.
That part time comment really irks me, though. Get into a classroom and see for yourself. Oh, and thanks to people like you, we'll be enjoying classrooms with 40+ kids in them soon. Win for everybody, right?
The teachers unions do protect all of the teachers equally and that is bad for the good teachers. You could be a great one and not get the credit you deserve while there is someone else in the classroom next to you doing half the work and getting the same benifits and pay. It's sad really, and that's why many parents want to see teachers be held a bit more accountable for their students. I know if over 50% of my work failed I would be fired.
The corporate media would have you believe it's an epidemic. The truth is more on the order of 3-5% (and I'm being generous to the myth that there are a lot of bad teachers out there).
I asked one, once if he was having trouble with his new/used computers. He replied, "I don't care, you see I'm here for the money. If a kid's computer breaks I just give him a pass to the library" True story. There were a lot like him.
Tenure helped them to stay in place.
But it won't.
In the meantime, could we get the following?
1. a contract with PARENTS that their kids will eat something besides sugar, that their kids will turn off the tv/music/facebook at some point, etc.
2. meaningful discussion of the timing of the school day and year. Kids don't need to help with the harvest any more, so why do we have this huge block of time off during the summer?
3. a freakin' MORATORIUM on blaming teachers for everything.
However I understand at least part of your complaint. We need to be producing better educated students and it's not just the teachers, I'd guess; who are at fault for it not happening. I do not believe that throwing money at the problem will fix it however. So, yes, I agree with you, there are other reasons for poor school performance, but as I've posted elsewhere I saw an awful lot of really terrible teachers.
Does that make for higher taxes? perhaps, but we'll pay them, gladly. Our future as a nation depends on our youth to be ready for the challenges ahead.
Now we allow malpractice with our poorer kids-putting the five week wonders and untrained newbies in the classroom to cut cuts and deprofessionalize education. If San Diego and other communites have problems with too many newbies being cut in the poor schools, then some of the experienced teachers should be transferred to the poorer schools in the district. That is the solution not firing good experienced teachers and leaving the untrained in charge of poor kids. San Diego has always ditched the deform movement and has gone to parent/teacher collobortion. California often is ahead of the game and certainly it is in challenging this deform travesty.
America was founded upon a union, and it is still a union.
Only by being united, can the people succeed over powerful capital interests.
Remember: United we stand, divided we fall !
Be a patriot and stand with our teachers and all workers of America!
I have long admired your advocacy of equity in America. You are a champion of Americans of modest means.
But you yourself have historically advocated for charterization/privatization of America's PUBLIC education system without realizing its derivatives on Wall Street that seek to gut public education at its core to capitalize on the $500 billion annual budget of public education in America for fun and profit, and NOT in the interest of quality education or its reform...
You need to rethink THESE issues in favor of KEEPING PUBLIC EDUCATION PUBLIC instead of the strategic onslaught waged against teachers and their unions by the current corporate right...
You're already STRONG on addressing POVERTY and PARENTING as key factors in education success -- now PLEASE get with the program and help stop privatization moves that simply gut the budgets of already cash strapped PUBLIC schools...
Thank you...