10/1/2008
GETTING THE FACTS STRAIGHT ABOUT D.C.'S "PLAN B"
The waiting game continues. Will D.C. Schools and the Washington Teachers' Union ever come to an agreement on a teacher contract, one which contains monumental salary raises in exchange for losing seniority and tenure rights? Latest word is that the two groups are headed to arbitration. In the meantime, the steely D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee has let it be known that she has an ace up her sleeve and will have her way with or without the union's acquiescence. She calls it "Plan B," the use of mechanisms other than the contract to identify and fire ineffective teachers.
Plan B consists primarily of two separate but complementary strategies, neither of which must be negotiated through collective bargaining. Rhee first intends to strengthen the teacher evaluation system, requiring student outcomes to take on a much bigger role in a teacher's rating. The second comes from a change independent of Rhee, made by the Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE)--D.C.'s state agency. OSSE has instituted an unprecedented set of new rules for any state that will require teachers to demonstrate their effectiveness in order to renew their licenses.
Media reports (not to mention blog and message board postings) have suggested that the licensure changes made by OSSE were orchestrated by Rhee. Not so. Deborah Gist, the state superintendent, had been publicly moving ahead with plans to revamp licensure requirements for both teachers and administrators long before Rhee's contract talks heated up. Gist hosted a teacher quality work group that brought together about two dozen organizations (including NCTQ) to supply suggestions. In addition, the proposed regulations shouldn't really be any surprise to anyone paying close attention: they've been at multiple state board of education meetings, including two special hearings held for the sole purpose of public comment.
Perhaps Rhee's referring to this as "Plan B" is stoking the fire of the school system's involvement, but the union is certainly fanning the flames. Despite having participated in Gist's work group that came up with the new regs, the union sent an email to its members condemning the new licensure rules and suggesting they protest to elected officials ? but only after Rhee began talking openly to the press about how she intended to take the new regs seriously.
The conclusion to draw is that the District of Columbia has at least two leaders focused on and determined to provide D.C.'s students with effective teachers, Rhee and Gist, a model that may well serve as a national model for what states can do to support district reform efforts.
SHAKE UP OVER DISPLACED TEACHERS IN THE BIG APPLE
With Wall Street in a panic and city tax revenues down, it's no surprise New York City Mayor Bloomberg has ordered city agencies to cut spending. For the school system that amounts to taking a big cut of $185 million, nearly 2.5 percent of the district's budget--with the prospect of the cuts being doubled next year.
The city is hoping to use the excuse of being broke to tackle an ongoing source of contention with the local teachers? union, brought to light last year by those troublemakers at The New Teacher Project (TNTP). The group quantified how much it was costing New York to fulfill its obligation to the teacher contract, requiring that the city pay ad infinitum the salaries and benefits for ?excessed? teachers (i.e., teachers whose jobs went away) no matter how long it might take to find another position. This year alone with over 1,400 teachers now in the reserve pool, the city paid out $74 million to teachers who were not working.
Chancellor Klein wants to limit the city's largesse, giving excessed teachers one year to find a new teaching job and, if they can't, the salary and benefits get cut off. The union has shot back, calling instead for a hiring freeze so that any vacancies can be filled by these reserves. Klein labeled the union's proposal "a discredited practice which harmed our schools for decades,? supported by some fairly persuasive evidence from the TNTP study that teachers in the pool are not among New York?s finest: they are six times more likely to have been rated unsatisfactory by their principals.
We continue to wonder if the UFT, the City's teachers' union, has hired any of these teachers to work in one of its charter schools.
PEER ASSISTANCE AND REVIEW: IS THE WHOLE LESS THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS?
"Peer assistance and review" programs are being pushed by the American Federation of Teachers as a very good approach to handling under-performing teachers. As we've said before, as much as we'd like to agree, we aren't so sure.
Peer review was invented by the AFT local in Toledo, Ohio and a version has been required since 1999 in all California districts. Such programs typically offer support and coaching to both new and tenured teachers, involving the latter when they receive unsatisfactory performance evaluations. Unacceptable progress in a program can lead to dismissal.
Advocates tout this hybrid combination of peer coaching and review as holding teachers' feet to at least some warm coals, if not a fire.
A little while back we argued in Kumbaya in Toledo? that peer review's potential to reduce the numbers of probationary and tenured teachers with egregious instructional deficiencies is unrealized, if not minimal. Now a court decision raises questions as to whether this method of teacher evaluation can be conducted without placing on the peer review panels the same high burden of documentation--and paperwork--that principals must adhere to when they evaluate teachers.
A California appellate district court just ruled that even if peer review referrals are aimed at shoring up teachers' deficiencies and finding diamonds in the rough, the fact that these referrals are tied to a review process means that courts may view them as punitive. While the appellate court upheld a lower court?s decision that a terminated teacher?s claims be dismissed, and the judges agreed that employers must be able to manage employees without fear that coaching would lead to litigation, they also found that a referral to the peer review program "materially and adversely affected the terms, conditions, and privileges of employment." As such, courts may indeed uphold referrals, but documentation on the basis for referrals can?t be taken lightly.
Remind us again ... what's there to recommend peer review for either remediation of potentially good teachers or removal of dismal ones?
THE LONG WAIT: HOW THE TRADITIONAL SALARY SCHEDULE HARMS TEACHING
Why become a teacher and wait 30 years to earn a decent salary when you can become a lawyer and do it in a third of the time? That's the gist of a new article in the current edition of Education Next by Duke University economist Jacob Vigdor. Vigdor compares the structure of teacher pay with that of other professions and finds that it takes teachers much longer than other professions to reach maximum earnings. "Doctors and lawyers reap the full rewards of competence in their profession within 10 years of entrance. Teachers must wait three times that long, even though evidence suggests that they become fully competent in their profession just as quickly."
We looked in NCTQ?s own database, TR3, where we track the salaries of 100 districts to see just how long it actually takes teachers to reach maximum earnings. In North Carolina, where Vigdor focuses his research, it takes teachers more than 30 years to reach their max pay. The national picture is quite varied as this table shows. Some teachers in Seattle reach their maximum pay in five years, while it takes teachers in Cypress- Fairbanks (outside of Houston) 40 years.
MONTANA TEACHERS LEAVING FOR HIGHER SALARIES IN WYOMING
Losing teachers to other states with higher salaries is nothing new in Montana, but the drain of teachers is increasingly happening right over its border with Wyoming. That state has been pumping money into its education system over the past few years ever since a federal tax on minerals helped to boost its economy. From 2005 to 2007, Wyoming increased its education spending by 30 percent and now spends $14,000 per pupil, a sure sight better than Montana?s $5,000 per pupil.
Understandably, Montana teachers are finding it hard to resist the higher salaries in a neighboring state that offers the same lifestyle. Melissa Rocchio is one teacher who has made the move after she was offered a fifth-grade teaching position in Gillette, Wyoming with starting pay at $43,500, at least $10,000 more than what she could get in Montana. Another teacher was able to find better pay as a half-time teacher in Wyoming than as a full-time teacher in Montana.
A higher salary is not the only benefit to Montana teachers of changing states. Wyoming has been building so many spanking new schools it can't find enough construction crews. The Big Sky surroundings aren't lost either. As one transplanted school administrator said, "the only difference is that the wind [does not] blow quite as much" in Wyoming.
AFT LAUNCHES MILLION DOLLAR FUND FOR TEACHER DEVELOPED REFORM
The AFT has announced that it is investing $1 million to prove its bona fides as an education reformer, making it possible for teachers in the union to "leverage 'top-down' support for 'bottom-up' reforms." In addition to its pledge, the union plans to ask philanthropic organizations to chip in.
The fund will focus on three major reform areas: programs designed to increase teacher quality, programs that occur out of school, and programs designed to increase collaboration between the local union and the community. Both "proven reforms"--ideas that AFT believes already work-- and "new (unproven) ventures" will be eligible for funding
The AFT is counting as proven reforms such ideas as school improvement zones, as have been tried in Miami-Dade and New York City and Toledo-esque teacher mentoring programs. Union-partnered charter schools, like the UFT schools in New York City, community schools, school-based teacher contracts and differentiated pay programs similar to Denver's ProComp are listed as examples of potential new ventures.
SUBS SUB ROSA IN CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA
The Clark County School District, Nevada?s largest, started the school year not having filled about 4 percent of its teaching positions and was forced to hire nearly 700 long-term substitutes. As is the case for most subs, they?re unlikely to be qualified for the jobs that they are filling. Generally parents don't respond all that well to the news, if they're ever told.
Under the highly qualified teacher rules of the No Child Left Behind Act, however, school districts are required to notify parents of long-term substitutes if their children attend a school that receives federal anti-poverty money. A Clark County school board member last month objected to limiting notification in that way, arguing that any parents who don't know about a sub are less likely to monitor their child?s progress. The board agreed to revisit the policy limiting notification to Title I schools.
Clark County is unusual in that its proportion of Title I schools appears to have dropped rather substantially between the 2001-02 school year and this year, even though the proportion of students in poverty did not drop overall during those years. It's largely the district's call how Title 1 money will be distributed among schools, but absent a dramatic redistribution of poor children among schools, the incongruent numbers certainly raise some questions.
According to figures from the National Center for Education Statistics, almost 38 percent of the schools in the district were designated Title I in 2001. The district disputes that number and says it was in error. This year, according to district figures, the Title I rate is down to about a quarter of all schools.
NO BOYS ALLOWED: MOTHERLY BIAS AGAINST MALE TEACHERS
While the teaching profession struggles with a lack of male teachers, there are some who want to keep it that way. According to blog discussions cited by ABC News, many moms would prefer that men stay out of their young children?s classroom, especially if those men happen to be young and single.
For these pedagogical misandrists, there?s not too much to worry about. Men represent only a small fraction of all elementary teachers; according to the U.S. government, about 16 percent. When you include secondary teachers, men represent only about 25 percent of teachers nationwide. The percentage has remained virtually unchanged for the last 20 years.
Even Teach For America, which Business Week has acclaimed as the 11th place finisher in "2008 Best Places to Launch A Career," recruits only about 30 percent of its corps members from the male population, just 5 percent higher than the national average.
BUT IS SHE SMARTER THAN A SOPHOMORE?
You might think that an elected state official whose predecessor is serving eight years for embezzling money for a face lift (among other things) might shy away from unnecessary public scrutiny. But you'd be wrong if that elected state official is Kathy Cox, Georgia's state superintendent of schools.
Cox risked making herself a national punch line by appearing on the game show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?". In fact she demonstrated that she is perfectly capable of going toe to toe with elementary schoolers, and became the first-ever contestant to win the top prize of $1 million.
Cox said she went on the show to show kids that it's "cool to be smart." It's also pretty cool that Cox said she'll donate her winnings to state schools for the deaf and blind, ironically the very schools from which her incarcerated but unwrinkled predecessor stole.
POTENTIAL MID-CAREER TEACHERS NOT ORIENTED TOWARD CITY SCHOOLS
A new survey of college graduates suggests that many more of them would become teachers if the
job paid better, and that's especially true for people with backgrounds in subjects like math and science. If not exactly startling, this finding from a survey conducted for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation does hold out hope for teaching as an attractive career for people who are ready to move on to other jobs. Call it qualified good news. The new salary money will not be easy to find, but some could reasonably argue that it is already there, locked into salary schedules that could be redesigned to help get and keep the best and hardest-to-find teachers.
It takes some digging to get at some of the more disturbing findings of the survey. Less than half of those expressing an interest in teaching would want to teach in an urban school, where good teachers are most needed. Just 11 percent indicated a preference for a school in a city district, while three times as many said they wanted to teach in the suburbs.
Whether these views reflect an aversion to urban schools or not, they are certainly a reflection of what we know to be true for most teachers. Teachers want to teach close to home, with "home" defined as near where they went to high school. And for most Americans with a college degree, home also means the suburbs. (To read about this issue in teacher labor markets more generally, go here.)
OF NCLB AND PRESIDENTIAL PLATFORMS
As the presidential campaign draws to a close, No Child Left Behind still remains a political dirty word. Education blogger Alexander Russo offers an insightful explanation, with his theory that the law's bad fortune with the media is a result of reporters talking too much to principals and teachers and not enough to parents, community advocates and ... education historians (in a neighborhood near you!).
Just for fun, we've compiled a wallet-sized chart of where J. McC. and B.O come down on key education issues.
NCTQ WELCOMES NEW ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
NCTQ is more than happy to welcome these accomplished individuals to our Advisory Board:
- Sir Michael Barber, a partner in the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and the former senior education adviser in the U.K. to Prime Minister Tony Blair
- Andrew Chen, the president of EduTron Corp., who spearheaded Massachusetts? pioneering work to reform PK-12 mathematics education; also a former physics professor and research scientist at MIT
- Jo Lynne DeMary, now an education professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, a former Virginia state superintendent of schools
- Paula S. Dominguez, the staff vice chair for the National Conference of State Legislatures' education standing committee
- Michael Johnston, the founder and principal of the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts, a co-founder of New Leaders for New Schools and an education advisor for the Obama campaign.
NCTQ's Advisory Board stirs our creative juices and keeps us straight . We thank our new members and old for their service.
TQ Bulletin Volume 9, Number 9
| TQBulletin is a monthly publication of the National Council on Teacher Quality, nonpartisan research and advocacy group committed to restructuring the teaching profession, led by our vision that every child deserves effective teachers. |
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Cartoons by David Flanagan
To subscribe to or unsubscribe from TQ Bulletin, or to send questions, comments, or suggestions, please e-mail TQBulletin@nctq.org.
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2009 State Teacher Policy Yearbook |
| NCTQ's annual 52-volume report on state policies that impact the teaching profession. This year's edition is a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of states' teacher policies including key policy areas such as teacher preparation, evaluation, tenure and dismissal, alternative certification and compensation. |
| + Visit the website |
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+ Visit the 2008 website |
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+ Visit the 2007 website |
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Tackling the STEM crisis: Five steps your state can take to improve the quality and quantity of its K-12 math and science teachers, June 2009 |
| Strong K-12 math and science preparation ensures that college freshmen are capable of diving into demanding STEM* majors rather than treading water in remedial courses. That's better for them and for our nation's future. State laws and regulations can help to build a bigger and better pipeline of K-12 teachers who will savor, not skirt, rigorous math and science instruction.
*Science, technology, engineering and mathematics |
| + Download the report |
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No Common Denominator: The Preparation of Elementary Teachers in Mathematics by America's Education Schools, June 2008 |
| American students' chronically poor performance in mathematics on international tests may begin in the earliest grades, handicapped by the weak knowledge of mathematics of their own elementary teachers. NCTQ looks at the quality of preparation provided by a representative sampling of institutions in nearly every state. We also provide a test developed by leading mathematicians which assesses for the knowledge that elementary teachers should acquire during their preparation. Imagine the implications of an elementary teaching force being able to pass this test. |
| + Download the Executive Summary |
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Teacher Rules, Roles and Rights |
| Explore the intricacies of collective bargaining agreements, board policies, and teacher handbooks. TR3 has data from 100 school districts and all 50 states. These 100 districts represent 20 percent of public school students in the United States. |
| + Visit the website |
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Alternative Certification Isn't Alternative, September 2007 |
| A new report from NCTQ and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, examines the current realities of alternate routes, originally intended as a fast track way to get talented individuals into teaching. |
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What Education Schools Aren't Teaching About Reading and What Elementary Teachers Aren't Learning |
| In this groundbreaking report, NCTQ studied a large representative sampling of ed schools to find out what future elementary teachers are--and are not--learning about reading instruction. The report, the most comprehensive of its kind, determined that education schools are ignoring the principles of good reading instruction that would prepare prospective teachers how to better teach reading. |
| + Download the Executive Summary |
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