Talk Priority Schools

As attacks on collective bargaining heat up nationwide, a generation works hard to sustain hard-won gains.

By Brenda Álvarez

CHICAGO—Most retirees look forward to play time with grandchildren or good-old fashioned R & R on white sandy beaches and plush green golf courses. But the career of most retired public school teachers does not end with those final marks in well-worn grade books. It often continues in Priority Schools.

“We’re heavily involved,” said Barbara Matteson, NEA-Retired president. “We go back into the classroom to help tutor and mentor students, as well as substitute classes, and we work on teams to help develop programs for struggling schools—we bring experience and knowledge to the table.”

And NEA retired members are fired up about the hostile climate surrounding the labor movement. Often with the ability to build their own schedules for a change, retired members are picking up pickets and phones to call attention to the misguided attacks on public employees.

“We worked hard for the improvements that we bargained for, such as planning time, smaller class sizes and even maternity leave,” Matteson added. “It’s distressful to see state governments try to take those benefits away. We take it personally.”

Retirees know what it takes to bring about positive change to student learning. Take Wisconsinite Marlene Ott, a 45-year high school English veteran who retired from the South Milwaukee School District three years ago.

“When I was chief negotiator for my district we operated under consensus bargaining. We had a very collaborative relationship. When we wanted to change the curriculum, we talked about it and looked at student data to make informed decisions,” said Ott.

Ott continued: “Now, it just breaks my heart to see Governor Walker’s tactics and to see administrators do things arbitrarily without event talking to teachers—it feels like a knife to the back.”

Matteson will end her term as NEA-Retired president come August 31. Picking up where she leaves off will be Tom Curran, a 35 year veteran, who taught seventh and eighth grades in Westbrook, Maine.

As incoming president, Curran will encourage retirees to go back into the community and get involved in the education reform debate.

“As bad as the demands are with testing, being labeled as the ‘bad guy’ in the media or having others know more than me is bothersome,” said Curran, referring to those who have never stepped foot inside a classroom; yet, introduce education policies that have little to no value in education.

Curran advises retirees to, “stay in touch with schools from your area and get to know the teachers,” as one way to stay active and committed to public education.

The latest community outreach activity by the Jefferson County Teachers Association in Louisville, KY began when staff and leaders there decided members could benefit from new programs on the subject of diversity. For assistance, they turned to the National Education Association’s training on the subject; a proprietary series of modules that help educators build awareness of the diversity in their lives and classrooms and manage their own actions and relationships with others.

JCTA wanted “to take a shared approach to help members manage diversity issues with other faculty and in the classroom; and to help forge relationships with principals and the school district,” says Patricia Wright, a senior policy analyst with NEA and coordinator of the organization’s National Diversity Training Cadre.

But an interesting thing happened after a select group of JCTA members completed the rigorous NEA “training of trainers” and began work – they attracted clients outside the education world.

“We have a number of community outreach activities we do, but we were thinking of this much more in terms of our own internal professional development offerings, but we found after we trained the cadre that it went well beyond the Association and others involved in the community have been interested in participating,” said Brent McKim, JCTA president. “It’s been a little bit of a surprise, but a pleasant one.”

In addition to inviting community members into trainings, the Association has been approached about providing training to corporate and foundation groups in Louisville.

Interviewed this week at the summer meeting of the National Council of Urban Education Associations, McKim said, “I think it’s critical for the Association to reach out to the community and certainly our diversity training cadre is a great way of doing that. It allows us to make connections, it allows the community to see the role we play in helping to improve the quality of instruction. It improves the sensitivity of our members to the diversity that makes our schools the rich places they are – and it really just allows us to showcase the good work that we do.”

- Steve Snider

Thirty members of the Wyoming Education Association will begin making their way to Chicago next week, joining more than 9,000 colleagues and fellow NEA members  at the 149^th Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly (RA) to collaborate on critical issues in public education, including priority schools. Kathryn Valido, president of the WEA, spoke to Sheridan Media this week about the campaign: “Valido says the program has been ‘hugely successful’ in those states that do not fund programs that need funding.”

The largest democratically-elected decision-making body in the world, the Representative Assembly takes place during the final four days of the Annual Meeting. The theme of this year’s Meeting is NEA Standing Strong: for our Students, for our Schools, for America. Before the actual deliberations, debates and decisions of the RA, delegates will meet for a variety of policy and professional development sessions, including several with Priority Schools Campaign workshops and conversations.

At the Joint Conference on the Concerns of Minorities and Women, June 28-29, the theme is Empowerment from Within: Educators Take Action. According to organizers, “at every Joint Conference session in 2011, participants will be asked: “What actions will you take?” Our focus will be more on action, less on analysis. We will identify the actions that affirm who we are and what we stand for. In the past, we have discussed reducing stress. This year, in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail,’ we will explore actions that create stress—actions that foster such a tension that the people who scorn us will have to listen and will have to negotiate.”

The conference program includes a June 29 “Learning Labs” session entitled Advocate, Organize, Realize: Follow the Priority Schools Campaign Framework to Student Success. The session is led by Dr. Sheila Simmons of NEA, director of the Priority Schools Campaign.

On July 1, NEA’s first ever Day of Learning includes a variety of learning opportunities about critical issues, including PSC. Two of the workshops – Transforming Schools is Union Work and Union Success: Involving the Community in School Transformation feature a local affiliate presidents, state staff, local school leaders and NEA staff.

For WEA’s Valido, the bottom line of the Priority Schools Campaign is a needed resource whether onsite, “on paper” or online as Wyoming is using. As she told her radio audience; The Priority Schools Campaign is “an opportunity for school districts to access resources that the NEA has to help with special needs schools – schools that have high numbers of very challenging students or situations. They can as I said, offer resources both to the school and the teachers.”

– Steve Snider

Achieving National Board Certification is a huge professional milestone, but NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira urged National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) from the Capital Region to answer the calling for another title: teacher leader.

“National Board Certification is not an endpoint — hopefully it’s the beginning for each one of you to take the lead in making a difference,” Neira said at a celebration honoring more than 220 “master teachers” from nearly 50 Capital Region school districts. “You can’t wait for someone to ask you, ‘Come and tell me what you think.’ You have to step up and lead in your own way.”

Teacher leadership can take many different forms, said keynote speaker Ellen Holmes, a National Board Certified Teacher from Maine who works for the National Education Association’s Priority Schools Campaign. Holmes asked the audience members to close their eyes and picture a teacher leader, then share their vision with a neighbor.

“I bet the person’s name would be different,” Holmes said. “We all have a different notion of teacher leadership … Teacher leaders don’t come in one size or one definition.”

Holmes urged NBCTs to take the time to ask themselves “What’s next?” She offered a long list of possible leadership roles for NBCTs: mentor, lead teacher, coach, team leader, department head, quasi-administrators. But it doesn’t have to be a new job title, Holmes stressed. She invited NBCTs to help the colleague who never comes out of her room, or another who might be thinking about pursuing National Board Certification.”

Read the full article on the NYSUT website.

(Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday signed into law Senate Bill 7 (SB7), education reform legislation developed during four months of negotiations involving education employee unions, school administrators, legislators, reform advocacy groups and other education stakeholders.

(In the end, the three major education employee unions, the Illinois Education Association, the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union all backed the reform bill which sailed through the General Assembly.

(Below is a transcript of IEA President Ken Swanson’s remarks at the bill signing, which took place in Maywood on Monday morning. The video can be found here.)

It is to the credit of Sen. (Kimberly) Lightford, Gov. Quinn and others that they stood up to pressure when a school reform proposal, developed with NO input from Illinois teachers, was brought to the statehouse.

They took the position that no one has better ideas, a better sense of what will improve teaching and learning for their students, than Illinois teachers.

So when the teacher unions came up with their own proposal, based on what teachers know will work in Illinois schools, Sen. Lightford and Gov. Quinn encouraged the process that brings us here today.

For IEA, SB7 is the next logical step in addressing the issues of student achievement. Over the last 20+ years, IEA developed or co-developed Priority One, RISE, CEC/CEI, and the Burnham Report. When the opportunity came there was no “learning curve” for the teachers or their unions.

What Gov. Quinn signs today is not Performance Counts. It is not Accountability for All. It is SB7 — it contains historic shifts in long held positions by everyone involved in its development.

Teachers want the opportunity to improve. In the rare case when a teacher does not demonstrate improvement and is deemed ineffective, we all agree that chronically ineffective teachers should be removed through a streamlined but fair process.

With SB7, tenure is based on teaching quality for the first time. And this legislation makes it possible for high-performing young teachers to remain in the classroom, even during difficult financial times for districts.

With SB7 as law, the focus must shift to implementation. Success depends on teachers and administrators receiving necessary support; that means the state providing the resources we need to ensure that the decisions on evaluations are being made by effective evaluators.

No matter how well crafted or implemented, no reform bill can achieve maximum success for students without the commitment of everyone – school boards, community members, administrators, parents and the students themselves.

The teachers of Illinois have again stepped up and done our part for the students of this state.  It’s time now for everyone else to rise to the challenge.

NEA Executive Committee Member Christy Levings recently wrote an editorial for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Concerned about recent discussions among “education reformers” about ignoring experience as a factor in retaining teachers, Levings related the argument to the medical profession. “No one would question that years of successful practice make a more desirable physician. I firmly agree that the same is true of teachers,” Levings wrote.

Noting the value of having opportunities for educators to advance their knowledge, including the achievement of National Board Certified Teachers, Levings also wrote that the public discourse should be shifted to what we can do to keep the best educators, rather than focus on dismissing others:

The discussion should not be about the picking and choosing of whom to keep and discard. Instead, the conversation should be about what the entire community of policy and education leaders should do to keep talented professionals on the job and schools funded to the level to support every student.

Read the entire editorial on the NBPTS website.

By Len Paolillo, NEA Executive Committee

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of going back to Belmont High School in Dayton, Ohio. I first visited Belmont back in November and was instantly struck by the excitement and change evident at the school. The collaboration and cooperation between Principal David White, the staff and the Dayton Education Association that was initially so impressive has been maintained through two school years now.

Belmont Principal David White and NEA Executive Committee member Len Paolillo prepare to "sweep the alley."

On this visit I spent some time with Principal White to learn more about his leadership philosophy. He believes in looking carefully at every aspect of the school day and creating a strategic plan on how to handle each aspect. As he explained to me, “What is the first thing that happens in a school day? The kids show up. You need to welcome them.”

One of those plans involved “sweeping the alley.”

Prior to White’s arrival, Belmont was notorious for fights and chaos. One of the most dangerous areas for students was the half-mile alley leading from the school to the bus stops. Dayton doesn’t offer public school busing, so students ride on city buses. At parts, the alley is fenced in on both sides, making it impossible for a victim of an attack to escape, leading to brutal fights. read more »

A new report out today highlights how strong labor-management partnerships between teachers’ unions and administrators are transforming schools in communities from coast to coast. The report, from American Rights at Work Education Fund, presents nine case studies demonstrating how “collective bargaining has provided a path for teachers and administrators to work together to find solutions and create opportunities” for their students.

At a time when some governors are trying to strip educators and workers of their collective bargaining rights, unions like the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers have stood strong in their knowledge that collective bargaining can be an asset in helping achieve education reform. “Partnerships between schools, school districts and educators may be surprising to many people exposed to a steady diet of attacks on unions,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “But across the country, in community after community, collective bargaining and other forms of consensus and collaboration are transforming public education.”

NEA’s Priority Schools Campaign has featured several of the success stories included in the “Partnerships in Education: How Labor-Management Collaboration Is Transforming Public Schools” report:

• In Evansville Indiana, union members and management jointly redeveloped Delaware Elementary School into an equity school, where teachers and the administration maintain consistent communication with parents.
• At John Muir Elementary in Merced, California, the administration and the union refocused reform efforts based on a strategy of “meeting students where they’re at.” The school has created targeted professional development programs, reduced class sizes, and provided intervention assistance for kids who are struggling.
• In Columbus, Ohio, the discussion surrounding Linden McKinley STEM Academy’s ability to close the achievement gaps was community-wide, involving more than 300 parents, business leaders, teachers, administrators, and faith and political leaders in community meetings.
• At Putnam City West High School in Oklahoma, an energetic partnership between educators and community members has helped close achievement gaps.

Learn more about the report and download it at the American Rights at Work website.

By Kathy Wiebke, PhD, Executive Director of the Arizona K12 Center and National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT)

“In every school and in every classroom, every student deserves to be taught by an accomplished teacher. In ‘those schools’ they deserve to be the same as any other school around the Valley and we must demonstrate equity and acknowledge that excellence is not attributed to a zip code; that knowledge is not linked to the color of a teacher’s skin; that excellence is everywhere and it’s at Mitchell Elementary School.”  – Daniela Robles

Daniela Robles works with a student at Mitchell Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizona.

“If one-fourth of my staff display the growth I observed in Daniela, then this will all be worth it.” These were the words of Linda Crawford, the principal at Mitchell Elementary School, as she explained why she was supporting 20 teachers at her school as they pursued National Board Certification or its single entry alternative, Take One. This was the first time I had seen a principal devote a significant portion of Title I funds and school time to a professional development endeavor. More importantly, I had never seen one teacher recruit 20 teachers at her school to engage in what she called the “Pathways to Accomplished Teaching.” She told the teachers, “You select your path and I will support you.”

This all happened in a very unlikely locale. Mitchell Elementary School is in one of the poorest communities in downtown Phoenix. It has one of the highest crime rates in the city of Phoenix. Most of their students come to school speaking a language other than English. Most of the teachers grew up in communities similar to Mitchell. They understand the challenges that come from growing up Latino and poor. Couple this with new state laws around how children who are not proficient in English are taught, an economy that is in a downwards spiral, a district in corrective action, and immigration raids that are splitting up families and one wonders why teachers would voluntarily take on either pathway for professional improvement when it appears that their plates were already full.

It turns out that the answer was a fairly simple one. The person asking them to do it was a much admired and respected colleague. Secondly, and one suspects equally important, it was their choice whether to embark on this journey. This was not a district mandate but rather their choice alone. In fact, when one teacher inquired if they “had to do it” the minute she was told no, she said, “sign me up.” It was almost as if there was a hunger for something they could call their own. There are so many mandates that fill the lives of these educators it is mind-numbing to fully comprehend that the decisions most teachers take for granted are not within their grasp. Every response is analyzed, and daily routines are questioned to such a degree that these teachers found themselves throwing their hands up and doing as they were told. read more »

By Brenda Alvarez

For public schools in Romulus, Michigan, the third time was the charm recently as voters renewed an existing business tax to support education that was rejected twice before.

The Detroit Free Press said the school funding was “desperately needed” and the measure passed earlier this month had the support of both the Romulus Education Association and the school district. Officials said that without the critical funding, Romulus Middle School, an NEA Priority Schools site, would have been forced to close.

School Board member Robert McLaughlin told Detroit’s WXYZ-TV, “If we’re not able to get it renewed, basically, with the other cuts the state has imposed on us, within 18 months, we’d close.”

The odds were against passage. The community had twice rejected the assessment in 2010 and local leaders faced opposing messaging calling the measure “ a new tax” without having effective messaging of their own.

Working locally with the Priority Schools Campaign, supporters developed and distributed fact sheets and other materials, including video messaging, newspaper ads and a phone bank designed to change the focus of the community conversation to center on “community” and “students” and show that the revenue was not a new tax and cost homeowners nothing. See an excerpt of the flyer below. read more »