NEA Has Had Enough

[Dinger]

From LBN:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4026786&mesg_id=4026786

"Source: Washington Post

The nation's largest teachers union sharply attacked President Obama's most significant school improvement initiative on Friday evening, saying that it puts too much emphasis on a "narrow agenda" centered on charter schools and echoes the Bush administration's "top-down approach" to reform.

The National Education Association's criticism of Obama's $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" initiative came nearly a month after the president unveiled the competitive grant program, meant to spur states to move toward teacher performance pay; lift caps on independently operated, publicly funded charter schools; and take other steps to shake up school systems.

The NEA's statement to the Department of Education came a week before the end of the public-comment period on the administration's proposal, and it reflected deep divisions over the White House's education agenda within a constituency largely loyal to the Democratic Party.

The union, which boasts 3.2 million members, charged that Race to the Top contradicted administration pledges to give states more flexibility in how they improve schools. "We find this top-down approach disturbing; we have been down that road before with the failures of No Child Left Behind," the union wrote in its comments, "and we cannot support yet another layer of federal mandates that have little or no research base of success and that usurp state and local government's responsibilities for public education."

Chime in folks!

[Deja Q]

1. I can't argue against; a lot of it does reflect idiot*-era policies.

Teachers are not the whole problem, as many of us have said before.

Teachers should not be scapegoated as being such.

Parenting, student interest, quality of materials, competence of the principal and his staff for running the school...

With luck the union will mention some of those aspects too, because it's not just about them...

[Tansy_Gold]

4. It's not just the schools.

I'm not a teacher. Some people say I should have been one because I would have been a good one, but that's neither here nor there.

The real point is that great schools can only do so much. And the greatest schools are generally in areas that already have the elements that support good schools: stable families, homes with amenities that make learning at home an extension of the classroom, reasonably educated families that value and can nurture children in the education process, etc., etc., etc.

I don't care how much money is put into a school, charter or public (and yes, I know charter schools are "public" schools), or how great the teachers are or how many computers they have, if the kids go home to dysfunctional families that can't put adequate meals on the table, can't afford routine health care, can't guarantee that the electricity will be on when the kid comes home from school, etc., etc., etc., much of the classroom effort is going to be wasted.

It's about so much more than just the schools; it's about the whole society. Just as we have a horrendous disparity in incomes and wealth, with the top 1% holding an obscenely disproportionate share of the wealth, we will have disparity in education and educational outcomes.

It's the big picture, folks. We have to address it all. And that's not easy.



Tansy Gold, who never said it would be

[la la]

2. already chimed in, but....

seems like this came a bit late. I talked with someone who attended the NEA Conv. in San Diego, and he didn't feel as though much would happen----having been involved in my local and in NEA, i should remember that it takes a while to get things done, just as it does in other organizations.

Arne Duncan needs a good kick in the rear--or a referral written on him!

[Dinger]

3. I'll Be Happy To Give Arne Merit Pay, Because

if I did pay him based on his merit, he'd end up owing me!

[madfloridian]

5. Duncan made a mistake when he became rather hostile to unions and state laws

on education. He is not exactly friendly to teachers either.

He has riled at least two big states... New York and California already

Legislatures in New York, California and some other states have enacted laws that limit, to one degree or another, use of student achievement data in teacher performance evaluations. Both national teachers’ unions oppose the use of student testing data to evaluate individual teachers, arguing in part that students are often taught by several teachers and that teacher evaluations should be based on several measures of performance, not just test scores.

“This is poking teachers’ unions straight in the eye,” Mike Petrilli, a vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a research group that studies education policy, said of the proposed fund eligibility requirement dealing with student data.

..."U.S. education secretary is expected to withhold millions of dollars in education stimulus money if the state doesn't comply with his demand.
By Jason Felch and Jason Song
July 24, 2009

California could lose out on millions of federal education dollars unless legislators change a law that prevents it from using student test scores to measure teachers' performance, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is expected to announce in a speech today."

Disrespecting teachers' unions....not a good idea.

[Dinger]

6. Wisconsin Needs To Follow Their Lead

For sure.

[Riley18]

14. I hate to be negative, but all this crap about bipartisanship is getting old.

If he wanted to be a Republican, he should've just asked. Even though I knew he wasn't an advocate of public education, I naively thought he would want to do what is best for the kids.

[Reader Rabbit]

7. 'Bout friggin' time!

It would be nice to see NEA play some serious hardball, like the teachers' and nurses' unions in California did with Arnie a couple years back.

[Riley18]

8. Obama knew what Arne was about when he picked him.

Teachers voted for change and all we got was more of the same. It is worse now because the wingnuts are screeching that Bush was right all along.

[Riley18]

9. I called the comment line at the White House - 202-456-1111. They take

calls during the week 9 to 5. Sent an email, but don't think they are read because all you get back is stuff about health care.

[LWolf]

10. Finally. Better late than never.

Not that they were ever that warm to Obama to begin with, since he promoted merit pay and charter schools during the primaries. They did endorse him in the end, though.

This is a good move.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[barbtries]

11. i'm with the teachers.

[LWolf]

12. dupe

[progressoid]

13. He should have ditched NCLB.

Now he's actually making it worse. WTF is going on?

[Hannah Bell]

22. pretty obvious, isn't it? punked again. no child left behind is designed to make every school

a "failing" school, then cut their budgets so they "fail" more, & parents move to charters & private schools.

it's a multi-administration game plan.

[YvonneCa]

15. California governor has called for special session on education...

...to address California and 'Race to the Top' funds. http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/13028/

I'm glad the NEA is speaking up. Duncan has set up a confrontation between California and Ed. Reform people. I hope teachers...not just union leaders...are ready to speak out LOUDLY.

[donco6]

16. We're getting a lot of pressure.

Very low-income, low performing district. Basically, the state wants to turn us over to the private corps - Kipp, etc. We've been able to hold them off with rising test scores after our major reform to small schools. But with 50% monolingual Spanish and 80% free lunch - change comes hard and slow. So they're still howling at the gate.

[YvonneCa]

17. My district in faces similar hurdles. We DO need to reform...

...education. It's just that this may be our ne chance to get it right after YEARS of wrong moves. We have to get it right...and that will take teachers' input and support.

[donco6]

18. And that's just it.

Our teachers are totally on board with our current plan - we moved to small schools of no more than 400. We chose all different models - Montessori, Expeditionary Learning, IB, another International school, Arts, CES, Big Picture, New Tech. The kids are now settled and enthusiastic about their school. Parents are calmed down and happy with what's going on. Performance is up. We had almost 100% accepted to college last year (yes, I know, not everyone should go to college, but everyone should be ABLE to go.) And yet, because we're not meeting AYP in all areas, we face a takeover - after all that. It's depressing. Like KIPP is a magic bullet or something.

[YvonneCa]

19. You and your district deserve a medal for what you are doing. It takes...

...dedication to children, hard work and long hours, and great commitment to the importance of education to make that kind of significant, positive change in a district. You should be commended for that, not punished.

This is what the general public is missing. And, unfortunately, this happening all over the country.

You have my admiration and sincere thanks.

[donco6]

20. Thanks!

Obama came and spoke at one of our schools. It was pretty thrilling. We have a book coming out in December.

[YvonneCa]

21. Excellent. That would be very exciting! I'll bet the kids...

...LOVED it. :)

[Hannah Bell]

24. yeah! obama came to speak! but he didn't overturn the piece of crap legislation that will

ultimately privatize the poster's school.

[Hannah Bell]

23. "right" to the ptb = privatization. teachers should support this? why?