What
This Is…
Issue #81- September 30,
2012
In this issue: Collective
Bargaining, If I Ran the Educational World
Madison
Educators, a True (Collective) Bargain…
I've
written a lot about the problems with the "reforms" that are being
forced on public educators. It seems
obvious to me that a vast majority of these are not actually designed to
improve educational opportunities for most of our students. However, it is also clear that there is
significant public support for the idea of reforming public education. This support is there for a number of
reasons.
Among
the most prominent of these is the fact that "reformers" have done a
great job of publicizing their arguments.
They have done this through a variety of methods, but have kept their
message clear and consistent. According
to them public schools are failing, public educators are not competent and we
must radically alter how we deliver instruction to our students. The solutions for "reformers" are
simple, assessment (to provide evidence of results and to hold educators
accountable) and choice (usually by offering private alternatives that receive
public funding).
Until
recently most public educators have been aware of the attacks on our schools,
but haven't seen any way to stand up for ourselves. We are busy and often overwhelmed with our
professional responsibilities. We make
connections with the families we serve, but we don't publicize our
efforts. As a result the debate over
public education has become increasingly one sided and educators have been on
the defensive.
The
wave of legislation that negatively impacts public education from many state
governments has given educators a vision of the future that many elected
officials have for public education. In
this future public education is not the pillar of our educational system, but
is the place of last resort for those who couldn't get in to one of the
charter, voucher or other privatized schools.
Funding and other support for public schools is reduced to minimal
levels and educators in these schools are ignored and/or vilified. Our federal government doesn't provide much,
if any, support for public education either as the debacle of NCLB is replaced
by an equally faulty system of RTTT.
The
result of the anti-education and anti-educator legislation, policy and rhetoric
has been devastating to public educator's morale, financial status and has
impacted our ability to serve our students.
It would certainly seem that the "reformers" are seeing the
potential for total victory and an opportunity to dominate the educational
landscape.
Something
funny happened on the way to their victory party, significant numbers of public
educators woke up and took action. Often
literally in the streets of places like Madison and Chicago. We began to see that we have the power to
fight back and to change the tone and tenor of the debate. We know that it is an uphill battle and that
the job of educating the public about what is really happening in education
isn't going to be easy. We will have to
face elected officials that are often already convinced about educational
issues or even hostile to public education.
We will have to get our message out, knowing that the mainstream press
doesn't understand the real stories behind the budget numbers and test scores. We will have to make connections with businesspeople
and taxpayers who see our schools as a strange combination of financial drain
and training ground for new employees.
The
opportunity is here and we must seize our chance to make our voices heard. The Chicago Teachers Union gives us an
example of how to form strong connections within the community so that our
resistance to false reforms isn't stifled.
Without the support of the communities we live and work in we lose our
ability to utilize tactics like strikes or work to contract. More importantly, we lose our power in
bargaining that occurs before these, last resort, tactics need to be
employed. If an administration or school
board doesn't see community support for educators then they have no reason to
negotiate with us for anything really meaningful.
http://www.otlcampaign.org/blog/2012/09/14/why-otl-advocates-walk-line-chicago
The message that the CTU shared and that we must continue to emphasize is that the battle for public education isn't about the money or the benefits. Despite what the media wants the general public to believe, educators are in many ways more concerned about improving educational opportunities for all students and improving the conditions students and educators work in than they are about significantly increasing our wages or benefits.
This isn't to say that we
don't want to see our wages and benefits increase. When you look at the salaries of other jobs
in America
it is obvious that educators are undervalued.
The recent controversies involving the NFL referees is a clear
demonstration that sports and entertainment are valued more than education is
in our country. At the same time many
people forget that our athletes are unionized and that their union works to
protect more than the salaries that their members are paid. Unions that represent players negotiate to
protect the players health and also work to represent players' interests on
many issues in addition to the financial ones.
In addition to the recent
successes of the CTU and the NFL Referees we are seeing other unions exert
their collective muscle to represent their members. Whether on the streets, in the courts or in
other venues, labor is reawakening and recognizing the need to be assertive and
even aggressive in the face of the ever increasing assault on worker's
rights. We are even seeing some business
owners recognize the need to change the tone of the debate and to work with,
not against, labor.
Conservatives would have
the public believe that the economic issues surrounding education, public
sector unions and worker's rights in general are the only aspect of collective
bargaining that matter. What they ignore
is that the money isn't the primary motivator for those of us who educate the
young people of our city. If we were
only concerned about the money we would more than likely have chosen a
different career path, but at the very least would be clamoring for bonuses and
merit pay. Instead, you find educators
voicing concern about the effect that these types of reforms would have on the
education that students are provided and the damaging effect on the school
communities we work in.
Madison's educators suddenly, as of last Friday, find
themselves with the opportunity to negotiate a new contract. An opportunity to buy more time to continue
to do the jobs that we love to do, with at least some of the protections we
need still in place. We know that the
negotiations will be difficult and that we hold few advantages in our efforts
to protect the working conditions and benefits that we have fought to earn over
the past decades. We also know that the
public discourse will feature some pretty unpleasant dialog about us and the work
that we do.
We also know that we have
a responsibility to our students, their families, our community and ourselves
to make a stand and do what is necessary to defend public education as a viable
resource for our society. We need to
reach out and educate our elected officials, the general public and every
citizen about the need for strong public schools and a educational workforce
that is committed and dedicated to serving our students.
We know that the citizens
of Madison and
our elected officials value public education and have strong opinions about
what it should look like here. We can't
allow other agendas to insert themselves and gain control of the debate. It is our vigilance and willingness to defend
public education that will decide the future of our school system and the educators
who work in it. We've proven our ability
to unite and mobilize against the forces that seek to undermine the values of
our local communities and stand ready to do so again.
edhughesschoolblog.wordpress.com
If
I Ran the World…
At the same time we are
struggling to try and extend the protections of our collective bargaining
agreement the Madison
Schools are also in the
process of searching for a new superintendent to lead our school system. I've attended input sessions regarding the
selection process and had numerous discussions about this topic with different
individuals. All of this got me thinking
about how I would "fix" education if I were given the chance.
My first reaction is that
this implies that our system of public education in Wisconsin
needs to be "fixed" or that it needs a massive overhaul and
significant reform. I've said many times that I recognize the
reality that our public education system isn't perfect and that we need to find
ways to address the problems that exist within the system. However, the idea that we have really given
our public schools a fair evaluation or the necessary support is simply untrue.
We have an educational
system that is the product of uneven and often undirected change over long
periods of time. This has created a lot
of inconsistencies and oddities that impact the educational experiences of our
young people. Our school calendar is one
example of this. The overall calendar
that most school systems use is one that hasn't changed, even as our society
has moved from an agrarian to an industrialized economy.
Technology is another area
where schools often lag behind society as a whole. I'm willing to bet that most business people
would be shocked to see the state of technology in many of our public
schools. I know that we often get
companies asking about donating their old technological tools to schools
because they are essentially obsolete for their business needs. Public schools struggle to provide the
technology that their students will need to be competitive in their future
activities.
Our buildings are old and
often laid out in ways that don't support our academic programs. We find ourselves struggling to provide
adequate space for the additional programs that our schools need to provide
students. Visit schools around your area
and you will often find students working in spaces not designed to be used as
classrooms. These students are often
among our most at-risk and deserve better environments to learn in.
Despite these, and many
other challenges, our public schools do pretty well in their efforts to educate
most of our students. In fact when you
control for different variables you see American schools near the top of many
evaluations. Public educators are for
the most part well trained, well educated and highly dedicated to educating the
students they serve. The cry that our
schools are failing comes primarily from those who have an interest in seeing
them fail. An entire industry has
developed that has a vested interest in destroying public education so that it
can be replaced with schools run for a profit.
Their primary weapon has
been the use of standardized testing to create an image of school failure. Students are tested and evaluated with the
intent of providing data that doesn't make educators accountable for teaching,
but instead makes them accountable for preparing students to test. The data that is collected is then used to
undermine public confidence in schools and educators. Our Achievement Gaps and other failures of
public schools are examples of this effort.
This isn't to imply that
certain groups fare better in our public schools, to the contrary there are
clearly groups that rise to the top of our achievement measurements. It is not surprising that these are the same
groups that we see at the top of most of the measurements of success in our
society as a whole as well. Our
educational achievement gaps are mirrors of our society's gaps and are deeply
entrenched in our society. Eliminating
public education won't eliminate the gaps, in fact the opposite will
occur. The gaps will widen and
stratification of our society in terms of social, economic and political power
will result.
So…If I were in a position
to implement my policies and direct the course of public education what would I
do? To be honest, most of my ideas would
involve less drastic change and more support for educator's existing endeavors. I truly believe in what educators are doing
and feel that our efforts need to be supported in real and meaningful
ways. Efforts to innovate and reform
education need to be done with positive intentions, not with the intent to
weaken public education, but rather to build on its strengths. We can't let profit or special interests
dominate our efforts to make our schools the best place for all students.
Keeping that in mind, here
is what I think is important to "reform" our schools. Please realize that these are general
thoughts and more specific proposals will follow once I'm elected "King of
Education":).
Fix School Financing- Our schools need more resources. Education is a very labor intensive venture
and relies on a highly trained workforce.
These employees deserve to be fairly compensated for their experience,
education and the demands placed on them in a highly stressful job. In addition schools need appropriate
spaces/buildings, specialized equipment and many other physical requirements
must be met to fulfill our obligations to the students we serve. Schools should also have access to technology
both for training students, as well as assisting students who have needs that
can be addressed through technological supports. None of these things are cheap and all are
necessary.
The current system of
school funding isn't equitable and creates issues in communities as school
systems try to meet the many needs of their students. Our state and federal governments
consistently underfund the mandates they create and the result is an unfair
burden on local governments. This burden
is then shifted to the schools and the students suffer the ultimate
consequences.
I'm no economist, but
there has to be a better way to fund our schools and remove our public
education system from the reliance on the goodwill of politicians. There are several proposals, such as Tony
Evers' idea of a 1% increase in the state sales tax, that need to be seriously
considered. Our inability to solve this
problem and to fund our schools isn't because of a lack of ideas or resources. Public schools are a political football that
is perpetually punted back and forth, our students deserve better and our
society needs an educated citizenry.
Implement Real School
Accountability- Actually this
would involve replacing the false perception that schools aren't accountable to
their students with the correct vision of a system that operates under
perpetual accountability. Too many
people think that educators simply show up for work and leave at the end of the
day without any care or concern about what their students have learned. The reality is that our educators are
extremely accountable and this accountability comes from several sources.
1- The educators
themselves- We are tough on ourselves and want to do our best. The process of getting a degree and getting
hired into a school district is one that forces an educator to assess their
abilities and their effectiveness on a regular basis. This doesn't simply stop when a person is
hired.
2-The families of our
students- This is a vitally important part of the accountability triangle. Families need to be involved and have a
responsibility to monitor their child's progress. Educators need to communicate effectively and
recognize the input of parents into the process.
3- Our administrators and
colleagues- Administrators need to be actively monitoring the efforts of
educators in their buildings. We also
are responsible to help our colleagues and listen to their opinions and ideas
as we work to improve our teaching.
Working together administrators and educators create a positive
educational atmosphere that encourages all those involved to improve their
practices and challenges us to be the best that we can be.
This triangle of
accountability is further reinforced by the students themselves. While our students may not always know
exactly where they are headed in life or what they want out of their
educational experience, a significant majority of them can accurately assess a
teacher's effectiveness. As students
mature they should begin to take more accountability for their education, but
as adults we must shoulder the primary responsibilities for the majority of a
student's K-12 education.
The community members who
have a vested interest in the schools in their area have a voice through their
elected school board representatives and in the ability to participate in the
open meetings held by the boards. Their
job is to be informed voters and not to become pawns in a game for political
control of our school systems. Citizens
can also help hold schools accountable by volunteering or getting involved in
the schools in other ways. By being
active participants in the schools they can increase their awareness of the
needs and challenges that their local schools face.
The idea that educator
accountability and effectiveness can be determined by standardized testing is
misguided at best. After watching
students take standardized assessments for the past 15+ years, I feel qualified
to say that there are many variables beyond student knowledge that factor in to
any test result. While standardized
tests can give us some information about a student, they can't replace the
knowledge that professional educators gather over extended time periods of
working with that student. To have our
schools judged in the community because of a series of relatively meaningless
numbers is harmful to all parties involved.
Improve the Physical Conditions of Schools and More-
Our schools need constant upkeep
and maintenance in order to be safe and healthy places for education to
occur. We also need to be aware of new
needs, for example air conditioning. It
is unacceptable for students to be forced to learn in classrooms that are so
hot that they become unsafe. We all know
that maintenance and necessary improvements aren't cheap and schools shouldn't
be forced to choose between physical needs and educational needs.
The same holds true for technology
needs in schools as well.
Make Sure Leadership/Administration is Grounded in
Real Classroom Experience- Too
many of the policy and other decision makers involved in public education are
distanced from the classroom. They may
have past experience and want the best for education, but their absence from
the place where there policies are implemented means that they don't see the
real effects of their decisions. This
means that we see policies implemented that actually are detrimental to student
learning at times.
I think that all
individuals who make education policy should be required to spend significant
time in schools working with educators so that they can recognize the impacts
that their decisions have on educators and students.
Demonstrate Respect for All Employees and Programs-
Leaders in education often seem to
forget that the employees in their schools are educated, dedicated and
talented. We need to be listened to and
respected. This applies to all educators
and school employees. Too often
decisions come from administration and input from staff isn't heard until after
the fact.
By working with employees
(through unions and collective bargaining in the best of scenarios) in
solidarity school administrations will find that educators are very willing to
compromise and that most of the disagreements and conflicts can be
resolved. It is a matter of employees
knowing that their leadership "has our backs" and supports our
efforts. As educators we are all in this
together for the students.
Policy makers also need to
demonstrate respect for their employees by advocating for public
education. These individuals have a
voice that the common educator doesn't have.
They have access to other decision makers and to the media and should be
strong voices in shaping the debate over public education. Too many of our administrators and other
leaders are willing to accept the premise that assessment and other
"reforms" are a necessary part of our educational landscape without
also offering support for alternatives and defending education.
Administrators and policy
makers also need to recognize the importance of all programs in their school
systems. Not every child is on track for
a four year college or finds their passion in academic endeavors. We need strong programs in technology, the
arts, physical education and other areas to make sure that all students have
the opportunity to develop skills that they can use in the course of their
lives. We also need to provide a broad
based education for every student to help them become well rounded and complete
citizens. With the increased emphasis on
testing and "core" knowledge the arts, social sciences, sciences, PE,
music, etc. are facing cuts and being pushed out in many places. This shouldn't happen.
Increase Access for All Families and Citizens- It is very disappointing that our schools are
becoming more and more segregated. As
segregation increases we are seeing a return to the days of "separate and
unequal" in terms of educational opportunities for all students. Segregation of our public schools reflects a
deepening racial, cultural and economic divide in our nation.
Public schools need to
have the resources and flexibility to address the needs of the students and
families we serve. This may mean extra
staff is needed to provide communication and instruction in different
languages. We may need to compensate
educators more for working extended hours when we meet with families who have
work schedules that don't fit the traditional school day. There are many ways that public educators are
reaching out and working to develop connections with all families and all parts
of their school communities. These
efforts would be even more effective if there was consistent support and
additional resources provided by the districts we work for.
Our public schools are a
tremendous resource and have the potential to unite and strengthen our
nation. Many of the problems that our
public education systems face now are of our own creation. This country has the resources and the
abilities to really make our public schools strong and viable providers of
equal opportunity for all. There are
those who don't want to see this happen and it is our job as public educators
to stand up to them and "Not Back Down" in the face of their attacks.
