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What Should Teachers’ Unions Do?

By dianeravitch
September 11, 2012 //
13

The Chicago Teachers Union strike has encouraged many educators around the nation, who are fed up with the virulent attacks on them by people who couldn’t manage a classroom for ten minutes. Or five, maybe.

Judging by the comments I am getting, CTU has lifted the spirits of teachers who were feeling as though no one would stand up to the shellacking they were taking.

CTU has stood up.

And we can expect counter-attacks. They have started. I read one news story fired by about 50 comments saying, “Fire them, fire them all.” I wonder if the people who write such letters have ever taught. I know the answer. I read a conservative blogger who predicted that the CTU would fold because the public thinks they are paid too much already.

The strike raises issues for teachers everywhere and for union locals everywhere.

What is the best strategy to ward off the corporate reform attacks?

Confronted with ceaseless attacks on public education, on the teaching profession, and on the right of unions to exist, what should unions do?

Should they collaborate or should they fight?

This post launched a heated discussion.

I am not a union member. I have never belonged to a union. But growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, I learned that the right to belong to a union is one of the hallmarks of a democratic society. Supporting the right of working people to bargain collectively was not at all controversial.

Today it is. Today unions are under fire, even from Democratic leaders like the mayor of Chicago and the mayor of Los Angeles.

What should unions do?

This reader comments:

I am surprised that this post has accepted the “reformers” moving of the goal posts so readily and assumes that it is commonly accepted. The purpose of unions is to advocate for members’ working conditions and pay. The “reformers” have used slick rhetoric to convince gullible people that the purpose of the union should be to “reform” schools. I don’t buy that at all. As has so often been stated, my working conditions are your child’s learning conditions. We can also work for school improvement but that is not our primary mission and if we accept the “reformers” re-imagining of our mission then we are setting ourselves up for accepting blame for failures caused by them.

For the last 16 years I have been involved quite deeply in both the AFT and the NEA (we have a cooperative union in Florida) and I have been a building rep for 14 of my 16 years as a teacher. I’ve visited my state legislature, written letters, called, rallied fellow teachers and worked the phone banks for GOTV. The first half of my career was spent in NYC. The second half in Florida, a right to work state. Unionism is vastly different in the many states that have adopted right to work, with little opposition or pushback from the national unions that it decimates and destroys. Why is that?

I’ve never bought the idea that it is our responsibility to conform ourselves to whatever our opposition chooses for their own comfort level in the hopes of preventing them from being even more extreme. The positions advocated in this post are exactly why we are in the situation we are in: an adoption of the Clinton-era “triangulation” strategies that supposedly reach compromise by taking the position of your opponent and making it your own. Thus we have Dennis Van Roekel and Randi Weingarten agreeing to VAM junk science, echoing the rhetoric of the “reformers” that schools are mess and in need of saving, and the list goes on and on.

I look at our colleagues in Australia and around the world who rally to shut down the entire school system when they are threatened with harmful, ridiculous reforms and then I compare that to American teachers who are an endangered species as public education is brought to the brink of extinction and I ask why aren’t we out in the streets? If you really believe that being nicer, quieter, and more accommodating will win this war then I refer you to the great Frederick Douglas who taught us that power never accedes ground without a fight and those who decry the battle are asking for a storm of change without the thunder and lightning that accompany it.

We are teachers. If our membership and the public are unaware of union history and the important gains procured through the labor movement then we must teach them these things. If we truly believe that truth and knowledge are the keys to good citizenship then we need to use these tools to further our ends. Playing old-school political games that no longer work will do nothing but hasten our end.

Categories Chicago, Emanuel, Rahm, Los Angeles, Unions

A Hero for Public Education in Los Angeles

By dianeravitch
September 10, 2012 //
5

Steve Zimmer, a board member of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is a hero for public education. He joins the honor roll.

He has stood up to the powerful privatization lobby, which wants to hand more and more public schools over to private management.

Zimmer has the temerity to ask where the charter movement is going in Los Angeles. What is the end game? Who is looking out for the 86% of students who are not in charters? What are the consequences of “co-location” (i.e., giving charters free space in a public school, taking classrooms, facilities and resources away from the public school students)?

Zimmer has offered a resolution calling for greater oversight of charter schools in the city and requiring that the charters present the same data as public schools.

Zimmer points out that the 232 charters in the city of Los Angeles enroll 14.5% of the district’s students, yet the board approves charters without more than five minutes of deliberations.

Only 7 of the city’s 232 charters participate in the LAUSD data system, making it hard to know who they are serving and what they are doing.

He notes that charters are supposed to be incubators of innovation, yet they share nothing with public schools, and the board has no process by which to evaluate and share any best practices incubated in charters.

He notes that charters serve only 1/3 of the proportion of students with moderate-to-severe disabilities as compared to the public schools in the districts.

He wants the LAUSD superintendent to “issue a comprehensive report to the Board about the benefits, challenges andresponsibilities of being the largest charter authorizer in the world.”

He recommends a commission to “provide detailed recommendations to the Board about charter authorizations, renewals, amendments, Proposition 39 allocations, authorizing guidelines and issues of governance and oversight.”

Two charter chains object to his proposal. They want no constraints on their ability to continue expanding and drawing down public funding away from public schools without any oversight. It works for them. They claim Zimmerman wants to hamstring their growth. But in fact he is calling for responsible  oversight of public-funded institutions.

Categories Charter Schools, Honor Roll, Los Angeles

What and Who Is EdVoice?

By dianeravitch
August 17, 2012 //
12

A group called  EdVoice filed a lawsuit to compel the teachers of Los Angeles to comply with 40-year-old legislation (the Stull Act), requiring that student performance be part of teacher evaluation. The Los Angeles teachers’ union has opposed the suit, and they are currently in litigation.

The issues are supposed to be resolved in December. There are many ways to demonstrate pupil performance, not just standardized test scores.

There are so many of these “reform” groups that it is hard to keep track of them.

What and who is EdVoice?

Here is an answer from Sharon Higgins, an Oakland parent activist who is a relentless researcher, and who maintains two websites, one called “charterschoolscandals,” the other called “The Broad Report.” Higgins is an example of the power of one voice, devoted to facts:

Here are a few more specifics about EdVoice, the education lobbying group.

EdVoice was founded in 2001 by Reed Hastings (CEO of Netflix, Microsoft board member, Green Dot founding funder) and John Doerr (venture capitalist, investment banker), along with and former CA state Assembly members Ted Lempert and Steve Poizner. Eli Broad and Don Fisher (deceased CEO of The Gap and major KIPP supporter) once served on EdVoice’s board.

EdVoice has received a ton of money from all of the above as well as from Carrie Walton Penner and Fisher’s widow, Doris. Penner lives in the Bay Area and is a Walton Family Foundation trustee. She also sits on KIPP’s board, as does Reed Hastings, and the Fishers’ son, John.

Back in 1998, Hastings also co-founded Californians for Public School Excellence with Don Shalvey. This is the organization that pushed for the Charter Schools Act of 1998, the law that lifted the cap on the number of charter schools in the state.

Don Shalvey was involved with starting the first charter school in California, just after the passage of the California Charter School Act of 1992 (CA was the second state to pass a law). He is also founder and former CEO of Aspire Public Schools. Reed Hastings has been a major source of Aspire’s financial backing, including its launch. In 2009, Shalvey stepped down from his post at Aspire and went to work for the Gates Foundation, but for a while he stayed on Aspire’s board. The Gates Foundation has given generously to Aspire.

In 2011, Hastings and Doerr pumped $11M into DreamBox Learning, an online education company started by a former Microsoft executive and the CEO of a software company. It was acquired by Hastings with help from the Charter School Growth Fund.

BTW, EdVoice co-founder Lempert is currently president of an Oakland-based org called Children Now; he occasionally teaches at Cal. Poizner, a conservative Republican and wealthy Silicon Valley high tech entrepreneur, was defeated by Meg Whitman in the June 2010 gubernatorial primary, and is now the State Insurance Commissioner. For several years he worked for Boston Consulting Group as a management consultant.

More conniving fun and games.

Categories Boston Consulting Group, California, Education Reform, Los Angeles, Teacher Evaluations, Testing

What Does “Progress” Mean?

By dianeravitch
August 16, 2012 //
2

In California, there is a battle going on between a “reformist” group called Edvoice and the United Teachers of Los Angeles. California has a forty-year-old law called the Stull Act, which says that a teacher’s evaluation will include evidence of student progress. But how is “progress” defined?

Some “reformers” will use any and all opportunities to make standardized test scores the measure of teacher quality, because that guarantees that 1/2 of all teachers will be below the mean and thus many will be “ineffective” by design. Knowingly or not, they seem eager to create evidence of failure.

This principal says that “progress” means far more than bubble-test scores:

To willingly comply with policy that one knows is heinous, is nothing short of injurious to both individual teachers, teachers’ unions, and students. I have been a teacher and principal in California for my entire educational career (30+ years) and can tell you with certainty that VAM based on California’s Stull Act (AB 293) is a complete perversion of that bill’s purpose, and most importantly, practice.
I am not a lawyer, but I do know that past practice and precedent count for a lot in legal circles and California’s Stull Act has never been interpreted to mean that teachers must be evaluated on a student’s standardized test scores. The bill simply states that teachers will be evaluated on “student progress”, but since when is a student’s progress limited to a standardized test score? To go along with VAM based on standardized test scores is to make an assumption that the sum and substance of a student’s school performance and experience is limited to the bubbles he or she is filling in on any given day: an absurdity. Since 1971 when the Stull Act went into effect, “student progress” was something that was interpreted by the teacher being evaluated and the school principal. Yes, the evaluation could include test scores, but just as valid were criterion referenced tests, publishers tests, student portfolios, teacher observations, principal observations and, as of late, even the observations of other teachers or bargaining unit members. The important thing was the agreement between the teacher and principal about what was appropriate considering the teacher’s stated goals.
To indicate that UTLA should “go along” with despicable policy is a symptom of exactly why teachers across the nation have found themselves in a predicament like they’ve never before experienced. Standing up against policy that is just plain wrong has nothing to do with hiding anything. Indeed, going along with such policy as VAM shows a willingness to comply with atrocious policy, even though you know that it is injurious to both students and teachers, an act that doesn’t garner the respect of anyone. It’s time to draw the “line in the sand” and do what we know as professionals is the right thing: resist VAM and encourage our unions to fight it at every opportunity.
Categories California, Los Angeles, Testing

Beware! Sneaky Reformer Trick in L.A.

By dianeravitch
July 30, 2012 //
46

On August 14, there will be a benefit concert in Los Angeles to “honor” teachers.

The concert is a promotion for a new “Superman”-style film that vilifies public schools and promotes privatization.

The film celebrates the “parent trigger” law, which gives parents the power to seize control of their school, fire the staff, and turn it over to a charter chain. The parent trigger was promoted by charter advocates and billionaire foundations Broad, Gates, and Walton.

Strange way to “honor” teachers–by firing them and giving the school to a non-union private entity to manage, which may hire only young teachers willing to work a 50-60 hour week at low wages. More “honors” like this and there won’t be a teaching profession in America, just teaching temps.

The concert is sponsored by Walmart (the Walton family) and Walden Media. The Walton Family Foundation gave out $159 million last year for charters and vouchers.

Walden Media was one of the producers of “Waiting for ‘Superman.'” Billionaire Philip Anschutz, who owns Walden Media, funds rightwing groups, is anti-environment and bankrolled anti-gay referenda.

It’s sad to see Viola Davis involved in this sneaky push for privatization. I remember when she won the Academy Award in 2010 and announced that she was proud to be a graduate of Central Falls High School, right at the time that all the corporate reformers were gloating about the threat to shut it down.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Education Reform, Los Angeles, Parent trigger, Privatization

Los Angeles Court Battle: What Is Pupil Performance?

By dianeravitch
July 27, 2012 //
5

As we have discussed in the past few days, the judge will expect teachers in Los Angeles to agree to incorporate measures of student performance into teacher evaluations. This is in response to a lawsuit initiated by EdVoice on behalf of anonymous parents, citing the Stull Act, passed many years ago before today’s era of high-stakes testing. Look through the comments in earlier posts to learn more about EdVoice.

Here is the judge’s writ, as promised: http://www.scribd.com/doc/101233092/Doe-v-Deasy-Writ-All-Counsel-Edits

The definition of pupil performance, how to measure it, and how it relates to teachers’ evaluations, will be subject to collective bargaining.

A reader comments:

Realistically, there were many acceptable ways under the Stull Act that California teachers could show pupil performance. Yes, standardized test scores could be used if that is what the teacher chose to use to demonstrate student performance but there were many others: teacher observation, principal observation, student work samples and portfolios, criterion referenced tests, and text book publishers tests were all very acceptable ways to demonstrate pupil performance. No teacher or principal in California ever thought that standardized tests were the only way to demonstrate student performance – when did that change? I don’t believe it has.

 
Categories Accountability, Los Angeles, Teacher Evaluations

UTLA Lawyer: The Scoop

By dianeravitch
July 27, 2012 //
8

I have a copy of the judge’s writ and will try to post it (it is in a pdf file and I don’t know how to copy that).

Background: UTLA has resisted the imposition of value-added-assessments to evaluate teachers, knowing that research shows these measures to be highly unstable and inaccurate. UTLA was burned two years ago when the Los Angeles Times created its own rating system and used test scores to publish its ratings of thousands of teachers.

Subsequently a California group called EdVoice, funded by billionaire foundations (Broad and Walton), discovered a 40-year-old law called the Stull Act, which says that pupil performance should factor into the evaluations of teachers and administrators. EdVoice filed suit on behalf of anonymous parents to demand that the LAUSD school board start using test scores to evaluate teachers.

An interesting thing about the billionaire foundations: They want charters (and in Walton’s case, vouchers). They want teachers to be evaluated by test scores. But typically, when the law is written (as in Louisiana), teachers in charter schools are exempt from evaluation by test scores. What does that mean?

One critic wrote me to say that this is “Deasy v. Deasy,” since LA superintendent Deasey is known to support such measures. I am willing to give John Deasey the benefit of the doubt, as he has a chance to show that he stands against junk science (VAM).

And the law says both teachers and administrators so presumably the leadership of the district will be evaluated by test scores as the decision moves forward.

Meanwhile, here is the UTLA lawyer’s summary of the decision:

PLEASE DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ IN THE TIMES OR DAILY NEWS. THE ONLY ITEM BEFORE THE JUDGE YESTERDAY WAS THE TIME FRAME WITHIN WHICH THE DISTRICT MUST COMPLY WITH THE DECISION REGARDING THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE STULL ACT. THE PLAINTIFFS WERE TRYING TO IMPOSE AN EARLY SEPTEMBER DEADLINE, WHICH WAS REJECTED BY UTLA, AND THE COURT. THE ONLY OUTCOME FROM YESTERDAY IS THAT THE DISTRICT HAS UNTIL DECEMBER 4 TO RETURN TO COURT TO SHOW COMPLIANCE, WHICH ALLOWS TIME FOR MEANINGFUL, GOOD FAITH BARGAINING. (IF THERE IS NOT MEANINGFUL, GOOD FAITH BARGAINING BY THE DISTRICT, UTLA CAN SEEK APPROPRIATE RELIEF FROM PERB.)

 

Jesus E. Quiñonez

Holguin, Garfield, Martinez & Quiñonez, APLC

 
Categories Accountability, Broad Foundation, Los Angeles, Teacher Evaluations, Walton Foundation

Teachers at Green Dot Charter Schools OK Merit Pay

By dianeravitch
July 11, 2012 //
6

In a close vote, teachers at the Green Dot charter school chain endorsed a merit pay plan tied to test scores.

Although test score-based evaluation is highly unstable, the teachers decided to go along in hopes of qualifying for a bonus.

A teacher rated effective one year may be rated ineffective the next year, because there are so many factors beyond the teacher’s control that affect student scores.

The National Council on Teacher Quality thought this was a good move. So did Green Dot CEO, Marco Petruzzi, who previously worked as a management consultant at McKinsey and Bain Capital.

Some teachers were not happy with the decision. Some were suspended or fired for fighting it. Students joined with teachers to protest, and the administration said the whole thing was blown out of proportion.

Scholars have warned that this method of evaluating teachers encourages teaching to the test, narrowing the curriculum, and other negative behaviors. Teachers who teach special education or English language learners will see the smallest gains. If these groups are underrepresented at Green Dot, as they are in many charter schools, that won’t be a problem.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Los Angeles, National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), Teacher Evaluations

LAUSD Balks at Giving Public School Space to Charters

By dianeravitch
July 10, 2012 //
2

We have reached such a low point that it is a news story if a school district resists turning its space over to charter operators.

In the past, one might have expected district leaders to fight for the students in their care, not to support privatized entities that want public space at no charge.

Surprise of surprises, the pushback now comes from Los Angeles Superintendent John Deasey and the board of LAUSD. They are opposing:

” a judge’s order to comply with a state law that requires districts to share space equally among public school students, including those in charters, saying that it would bring “catastrophic” results, lopsided class sizes, and may force busing of students.”

“But calling the order impossible, district officials have promised to fight the ruling, saying that it would require L.A. Unified to displace students from their neighborhood schools, forcing them to be bused elsewhere, and would dramatically skew class-size ratios in favor of charter students.

“Under the order, the ratio of elementary school students to class size would be 24 to 1 on the district side of the school but 15 to 1 on the charter school side, said LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy. Facilities such as computer labs, parent centers and specially designated classrooms would have to be removed to create space for charter students, Deasy said.

“I want to be very, very clear, this is not possible to carry out,” Deasy told the L.A. Unified school board at its meeting last Thursday.”

The law is the law. The judge is unlikely to back down, no matter what the harm to the hundreds of thousands of LAUSD students.

Still, one is surprised to see the charter-friendly LAUSD supporting its own students.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Los Angeles

Lawyers Garnish Teacher’s Wages to Pay Off Student Debt

By dianeravitch
July 2, 2012 //
11

John Hechinger of Bloomberg News is the best education journalist at work these days.

His latest story is chilling: It tells of a determined effort by the federal government and lawyers to collect a student loan debt owed by  a teacher in Los Angeles.

The teacher had a debt left from the 1970s. The aggressive lawyers emptied her bank account and grabbed a quarter of her earnings. A court intervened.

What’s the moral of the story?

Some might see it as evidence that people should pay their debts. There’s no free lunch. etc.

I’d say it shows that our nation is hypocritical about the importance of  higher education, that we say we want to have the highest college going rate in the world but we shrug our shoulders at the rising cost of higher education.

My view is that the federal government and state governments should reduce the cost to the student of getting a college degree. The nations where college-going is increasing have done that. Meanwhile we pursue student loan debt with a SWAT team vengeance.

This is no way to out-educate the rest of the world.

Diane

Categories Education Reform, Los Angeles
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