accountability

Representing Kids … or Adults?

Eduflack accountability, AFT, NEA, Students, teachers

What is the primary objective of a teachers’ union?  Is it to represent the adults in the system with the ultimate zealousness, or is it to improve student learning and outcomes?

In the 1980s, the great Al Shanker, long-time head of the American Federation of Teachers, was quoted as saying “When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of schoolchildren.”  And while some believe he may not have said those words, it is easy to see where such sentiment comes from.
For example, let’s take a look at the Connecticut Education Association.  In reading “About CEA” on the labor union’s own website, the CEA defines its role as, “advances and protects the rights of teachers at the bargaining table, and works with state policymakers to continue to elevate the teaching profession.”  
On that same page, we see the list of accomplishments the “state’s largest public employees union” can tout, including creating the State Teachers’ Retirement System, written notice on contract non-renewals, collective bargaining, fair dismissal laws, binding arbitration, pension benefits, indoor air quality programs, and increased state aid.
But something important is missing from CEA and many teachers’ unions like it.  In its nearly 700-word “CEA: The Advocate for Teachers and Public Education,” the word “students” only appears twice.  Once in saying CEA represents college students looking to become classroom teachers.  The second noting that students also benefit from the clean air rules that CEA fought for for its educators.
Let’s be clear here.  There is nothing wrong with CEA and other teachers’ unions advocating, lobbying, and acting on behalf of its members.  That is the point of a labor union.  It is fighting for the salaries, rights, and benefits of those who pay it dues.  In the case of public education, it is fighting for the adults in the room, ensuring those teachers and other educators are protected and don’t lose what is “theirs.”
But it begs the question, who is fighting for the students in the system?  Who is speaking for those kids who are slated to go to an historically failing school?  Who is speaking for the kids predestined to attend a drop-out factory?  Who is speaking for the kids on the short end of the achievement gap?  Who is advocating, lobbying, and acting on behalf of those kids?
In reform fights like those we are having in Connecticut, many school teachers will get up and say they are speaking for their kids (and we’ll try to overlook those scenes of ugliness when, at public hearings, teachers have been telling parents and kids to “sit down and shut up,” saying they had no business participating in the education reform discussion).  And in their heart of hearts, I believe that to be true. 
But when a discussion that began by focusing on student achievement, opportunity, and college readiness has devolved into one of tenure, property rights, termination procedures, and what is “owed” teachers who have put their time in the system, one has to wonder.  Can one represent both the educators and the students in the same fight?  Can you have it both ways when we know the benefits, to students, of excellent teachers yet we have union leaders saying “the last thing I’d want to do is get someone fired?”
There is no question that the rights of the adults in the room are important.  But at some point, we need to shift our attention to the students, the very reason why public education exists.  Over the weekend, Eduflack wrote about this needed shift in the Connecticut Post, in a piece entitled Conversation Needs to Focus on Children, Not the Adults.
In it, I wrote:
We’ve spent the past two months hearing the Connecticut Education Association and its local union heads focus exclusively on what is owed the adults in the room. We have heard teachers shout down parents in public forums, hurling insults and indicating that families are to blame for the failures of our school system. We have seen the CEA ads and publications spreading lies and misleading half-truths about the content and meaning behind proposed reforms, and personally attacking supporters of those reforms. No wonder the statewide conversation about reform has focused so much on fear and punishment and so little on what’s best for kids.

If we are going to have a serious conversation about improving our public schools, we need to bring all parties to the table — educators and advocates, parents and policymakers — and leave the vitriol at the door.  The stakes are too high for us not to focus on what matters the most … real, measurable student learning.

Tenure is “Not a Shield for Incompetence”

Eduflack accountability, AFT, teachers
“We have made mistakes.  You have to really focus to make sure you’re doing everything you can so that kids are first.  Tenure, for example.  Make sure tenure is about fairness and make sure it’s not a shield for incompetence.”
– Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, acknowledging in The Washington Post that “the unions have been too focused on fairness for their members and not necessarily quality in the schools.”

Do We Get CEUs For This?

Eduflack accountability, school boards, teachers

Down in Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal has offered an education reform package that leaves most other state reform packages in the dust.  Eliminate tenure.  Overhaul how teachers are paid.  Offer families vouchers to send their kids to private and parochial schools.

And like most states that face such reform proposals, Louisiana’s teachers’ unions are none too happy.  Unions leaders are standing up to the reform proposal.  They are speaking out.  They are rallying the troops.
But in a new twist, the unions are also getting local school districts to close their schools so that teachers can go to the state capitol to protest.  Officially, these newly decided days off are billed as “professional development” days, as the Advocate reports.
According to Learning Forward, the nation’s premier organization focused on educator effectiveness, the definition of PD is “a comprehensive, sustained, and intensive approach to improving teachers’ and principals’ effectiveness in raising student achievement.”
Now Eduflack is all for everyone having the right to exercise their First Amendment rights and ensuring that their voice is heard during the legislative process.  But all this begs an important question.  Does protesting pending legislation, waving signs, speaking out to protect your benefits and the like, serve as a “comprehensive, sustained, and intensive approach” to raising student achievement?  Does it demand that taxpayers, through their local school boards, cancel school days for students and pay teachers to go exercise their lobbying rights?
And if it does, can one get CEU credits for lobbying state legislatures or marching against the governor?

Evaluatin’ Teaching Hoosiers

Eduflack accountability, teachers

No, it isn’t just states like New York and Connecticut that are currently focused on strengthening teacher evaluations and putting some real teeth into the process.  The good folks over at Hechinger Report have previously reported on similar efforts in Florida, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.  Next up … Indiana.

As Scott Elliott and Sarah Butrymowicz report:

Teachers across the state will be rated 1 through 4, with 1 being the lowest. Those ratings will be based in part on the test-scores of their students.

The ratings come with consequences.

Those who receive ineffective ratings can be dismissed at the end of the school year. After two years, anyone twice rated as needing improvement—teachers rated a 1 or 2—also can be fired. Teachers rated in the bottom two categories also can be blocked from receiving a raise.

“This is a culture shift,” said Mindy Schlegel, who leads a new division within the Indiana Department of Education focused on educator effectiveness. “This is saying, ‘If you’re not good, you don’t deserve a raise.’ ”

How significant is this change? Consider this: Currently, many teachers are not observed even once a year. Few are rated as ineffective.

The reform is championed by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, who thinks the current system, which leaves evaluation up to each school, does not address poor performance. He pointed to a study of a sample of school districts that showed 99 percent of teachers were rated effective.

Bennett calls that a “statistical impossibility.”

Some required reading, particularly for those who are seriously looking at how to make educator effectiveness efforts meaningful.

Ed Reform: Team Play or One-Man Band?

Eduflack accountability, Parents, teachers

Are teachers to blame for all that’s wrong with our public schools?  Of course not.  While many frustrated folks may want to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of educators, it simply isn’t the case.  There are too many factors in the mix for any one individual to bear all the blame.  

When we look at problems like achievement gaps and graduation rates, we know that these issues did not materialize overnight.  There is no one stakeholder to blame.  We all bear responsibility for our situation, be we parent or policymaker, educator or activist.
Why, then, is it OK for the defenders of the status quo to say that only teachers should be involved in education reform efforts?  
For years now, we have heard some educators say that those who are not in the classroom have no business engaging in school improvement efforts.  That this is only for teachers to solve.  The classroom educator knows best.
If teachers aren’t solely responsible for our K-12 ills, why would be possibly think that they are solely responsible for fixing all that’s wrong in our public schools?  It took a village to get us to our current level of educational mediocrity, and it will take a similar village to get us back on an upward trajectory.
As a parent, I have a responsibility to do everything possible to ensure my kids get the best public educations possible.  As a homeowner, I want to know that my local school district is excelling, exceeding expectations.  As a taxpayer, I expect my taxes are being well spent and my schools performing above the state mean.  And as an advocate, I demand that all children — regardless of their race, family income, or zip code — have access to great public schools.
Rather than looking to exclude key stakeholders from the ed reform discussion, we should instead be focused on how to build greater awareness and involvement from all of those in the educational village.  It is the only way we will make the progress needed … and it may be the one way we ensure that others at the table don’t place the blame solely at the feet of our teachers.  We all need to own the reform process.

Working with Unions on Reform

Eduflack accountability, AFT, teachers

Can real reforms, particularly those targeted at fundamental issues such as educator evaluation, be done in partnership with teachers, or must they be done in spite of teachers?  This has been a question asked over and over in recent years, usual with a poor answer that gets us back to the same question.

Of course teachers need to be part of the reform process.  Educators are the ones on the front lines, the ones who need to implement (with fidelity) the reforms and transformations that policymakers, parents, and educators themselves are seeking.  Excluding them from the process only likely sets us a process destined to fail.
Case in point, the New Haven Public Schools teacher evaluation system.  Here, the City of New Haven worked with the American Federation of Teachers to build a better mousetrap.  An effective evaluation model.  A system that prioritizes student performance above all.  A system that finally aligns our expectations with what is happening in the classroom.
And the system is starting to show its potential.  Nicholas Kristof at The New York Times has also taken notice, penning an interesting piece on “The New Haven Experiment.”
From Kristof:

Yet reformers like myself face a conundrum. Teachers’ unions are here to stay, and the only way to achieve systematic improvement is with their buy-in. Moreover, the United States critically needs to attract talented young people into teaching. And that’s less likely when we’re whacking teachers’ unions in ways that leave many teachers feeling insulted and demoralized.

The breakthrough experiment in New Haven offers a glimpse of an education future that is less rancorous. It’s a tribute to the savvy of Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers and as shrewd a union leader as any I’ve seen. She realized that the unions were alienating their allies, and she is trying to change the narrative.

Yes, the model itself is a remarkable step forward for public education.  But it is particularly refreshing to see NHPS, Mayor John DeStephano (New Haven is a mayoral control district), the AFT, and the New Haven Federation of Teachers working together to develop, implement, improve, and maintain.  
As Kristof notes, “It’ll take years to verify that students themselves are benefiting, but it’s striking that teachers and administrators alike seem happy with the new system.  They even say nice things about each other.  In many tough school districts, teachers are demoralized and wilted; that feels less true in New Haven.”
Indeed.  If only all reforms could work this way.


What Parents Want from Student Assessments

Eduflack accountability, assessment, high-stakes testing

It is quite clear that student assessments are quickly becoming the driving force in public education.  In state after state, we are now using student assessment to drive funding, teacher evaluation, and institutional direction.  While many may squabble on what types of assessments to take and how to apply them, there is no denying that student assessment is now ruling the day.

So what is that parents (and teachers) actually want from the learning assessments administered in our classrooms?  That is the question that the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) and Grunwald Associates asked earlier this month, and some of the responses were surprising.  All told, Grunwald Associates surveyed more than 1,000 K-12 teachers, more than 1,000 K-12 parents, and 200 district administrators.  The findings included:
* 90 percent of parents said monitoring their kids’ progress in school, knowing when to be concerned about progress, and determining preparedness for the next stage of learning was “extremely” or “very” important;
* More than eight in 10 parents (84 percent) said formative assessments are useful for instructional purposes, while only 44 percent said summative assessments were; 
* More than six in 10 teachers cited monitoring individual student performance and monitoring growth in learning over time as most important to them;
* With both parents and educators, 90 percent said it is important to measure student performance in math and English/language arts, as well as in other subjects like science, history, government and civics, economics, and technology and media literacy; and
* Only half of parents believe that summative assessment results are delivered in a timely manner.
And the big takeaways?  Teachers value formative and interim assessments far more than they do summative assessments (and that opinion is trickling down to parents).  The vast majority of teachers and parents want more testing (at least in more subjects) and want results delivered in a timely manner.  And an inordinate amount of K-12 parents seem to understand the subtleties among formative, interim, and summative assessments (or at least pretended to in distinguishing between all comers in responding to this survey.
It is valuable to see that we continue to discern value from student assessments, regardless of the form they come in.  But we also have a few key lessons learned from the NWEA/Grunwald data:
* We still aren’t seeing that data is being effectively used in classroom instruction.  Neither parents nor educators seem to believe that current data is being used to tailor and improve instruction in the classroom.  Why not?  With all the data we capture, we should be putting it into practice.  If not, this is all a fool’s errand.
* Testing turnaround time is taking too long.  Teacher and parent alike seem to believe the turnaround time from taking the test to getting the scores is just too lengthy.  Seems like the perfect opportunity to call for online, adaptive testing (whether it be formative or summative) where scores can be turned around and applied in real time.
* Parents follow the lead of their children’s educators.  On the whole, parents’ responses aligned with the teachers leading their kids’ classrooms.  Both the frustrations and benefits of teaching, from the educators’ eyes, is making it back to the parents at home.  This relationship can serve as a valuable tool.
* There seems to be a call for adding testing to the school calendar.  While some bemoaned those “horrible” “high-stakes” summative assessments, there was a strong call for more tests on the front end.  This seems to run contrary to the drumbeat that there is too much testing in the classroom, and, if used properly, can be powerful in further shaping data-driven classrooms.
While such surveys will likely have little impact on the in-developed common core standards assessments or on current state exams, they do provide some interesting context as we look at how to use tests in educator evaluation and other such measures.  Some food for thought.

How Tenure Reform Can Improve Teaching

Eduflack accountability, teachers

Does tenure reform denigrate the teaching profession?  Earlier this week, Eduflack spotlighted teacher tenure proposals offered up in Connecticut.  The significance of this is that Connecticut is a true-blue state, Dem legislature, Dem governor, with strong teachers unions.  So efforts to eliminate “life-long tenure” demand one stand up and take notice.

A valued reader, though, commented that such an approach must mean that Eduflack is anti-teacher.  Nothing could be furthest from the truth (if I were, I don’t think my teacher mother would let me come home for Christmas).  But I do believe, as Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy does, that one can be both pro-teacher and pro-reform. 
As I’ve written on these electronic pages many a time, there are few professions as demanding, as necessary, and as downright hard as teaching.  Far too many of us (Eduflack included) are just not cut out to be classroom teachers.  Those who enter the profession do not do so for the pay, the pensions, or other such considerations.  They do so to make a difference in the lives of kids, no matter how difficult it may be.
In return, they get low pay.  They get berated by parents.  They get attacked in the media.  They become the punchlines for jokes and the targets of horrible urban legends.  
Just last year, as a leader on a local school board, my district was working hard to find a way to provide raises to our educators, who had seen there salaries frozen for several previous years.  We did give them the pay increases they deserved (or at least a start to what they deserved), but along the way, I heard some choice words from constituents about how teachers don’t work full time and how they deserve low pay because they have those “huge” pensions coming to them.  To folks like that, teachers are simply a commodity, not a partner in the process.
But I digress.  If done correctly, efforts such as tenure reform can return a needed level of professionalism and respect to the teaching profession.  Yes, tenure is earned.  Yes, any teacher worth her salt is doing everything possible to encourage learning in her classroom.  So why not have that check-in every five years to ensure that a tenured teacher remains on task?  Use the process to applaud the leaders, while helping provide additional resources and supports to those who may be struggling.
Ultimately, tenure reform is a necessary component to current efforts to focus on educator quality.  We start with certification, and what is necessary to gain entrance to the classroom.  It is followed by educator evaluations and those measures necessary to determine if effective learning is happening in our classrooms.  And it is followed by a tenure process that incorporates the key tenets of that evaluation system and ensures those goals are embedded in keeping our best educators in their classrooms for their entire careers.
Certification reform is about getting the highest-quality teachers in the classroom, dispelling the myth any warm body can teach.  Educator evaluation is about demonstrating the effectiveness of our teaching force, not about targeting teachers for dismissal.  And tenure reform is about demonstrating the effectiveness of all our instructional leaders, not about taking away benefits or collective bargaining rights.
For far too many, education reform is seen as a punitive action, as an effort to assault our classrooms and attack our teachers.  And yes, in some instances, that has indeed been the case.  But it does not and should not be that way.  At its heart, education reform is about strengthening the teaching profession while improving the learning processes for all of our students.
Real reform, real school improvement, cannot happen without educators.  Our teachers and principals cannot do it half way, they can’t sit on the sidelines and hope to wait out reforms, and they certainly can’t ignore the proposed changes.  They need to be full partners in the process, and agents for improvement in the classroom.  We need to trust all educators to implement with fidelity, and we need to provide them the resources and supports to do it right.
To get there, we need to continue to build a public confidence in our educators.  We need to demonstrate that the strongest, most effective teachers are teaching “my” kids.  To do that, we need to use the continuum of certification, evaluation, and tenure.  All teachers — from first years to veterans — should be held to the highest standards.  They should be evaluated every year.  Those who need additional supports should get it.  And those who are exemplary should be rewarded for it.  
Most educators I talk to are not afraid of such measurements or such expectations.  They just ask that it be applied fairly and with a common sense that can often be lacking in public education.  Couldn’t agree more.