My father (the most loving conservative I know) visited me recently and asked me my thoughts on the Chicago strike, so I shared that this was an important moment in the history of our country for education. It didn't seem that this strike had ANYTHING to do with wanting more money or to not be accountable (as he believed based on his heavily based Fox news input) but it had to do with being a stand for being paid fairly for longer days and to have a COLA increase-see actual raise below, it's laughable- while refusing to further endanger the lives of their already at risk children by risking high teacher turnover engaging in a faulty evaluation system. My father shared that he had heard starting salaries were at almost $80,000 per year and that teachers were ultimately getting a 16% raise. I informed him that this was the propaganda machine hard at work to continue to make teachers seem evil. Putting aside my personal belief that starting salary SHOULD be at $100,000 per year, the reality is that the median salary for Chicago teachers (INCLUDING VETERANS!!) is about 56k per year. How news stations/propaganda machines can ethically report a starting salary of 80k is appalling. In addition, the average COLA increase for social security recipients (government regulated) is 3.6% per year. Over 4 years...this would be close to 14.5%. When asking conservatives if this seems fair for social security benefits, I'm certain this COLA would be fine...UNLESS you're asking this to count for teachers.
What did the teachers get?
Straight from the contract: Year 1: 3% Year 2: 2% Year 3: 2% OPTIONAL Year 4: 3% (CTU may decide to take the additional year under the existing terms or begin bargaining new Agreement).
A WHOPPING 10% OVER 4 YEARS! This includes an extra week of work per year for elementary and two weeks per year for high school teachers (basic math tells us the increase in hours is actually about 2.8% for elementary and 5% for secondary, meaning high school teachers are working MORE their first two years for free). So, they are UNDER average COLA and have added hours of work time per year. Can someone tell me ANY profession where fighting for this would be the atrocity conservatives are making this?!
In addition, the really big argument was how to implement the state law that requires state testing as part of the evaluation. There are MAJOR, MAJOR issues with this philosophy and method of implementation. First off, state tests have been proven highly ineffective at assessing learning. In addition, there are so many other factors to consider in how/why children learn or don't learn AND how they show that learning. These factors include poverty, hunger, quality of the teachers in years past, safety and climate of the school and the neighborhood and THE PIECE WE CAN AND SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR, the quality of the tests. Given that there is so much controversy and movement to create effective tests, what profession in THEIR RIGHT MIND would agree to be evaluated by results on an ineffective testing system?! Teachers have stated over and over that they are fine to be accountable to results, but to commit professional suicide by allowing the current system that has massive flaws to play a major role in evaluating teacher effectiveness simply tells us what we've always known.....that teachers are smart. And, that they care enough about the kids and the profession to ensure they fight for their low paying, never glorifying jobs to support having consistency and experience in the classrooms that need it the most.
Diane Ravitch in The Death and Life of the Great American School System breaks down a few important elements of the tests, how they are regularly ineffective at measuring progress and often "dumbed down" by states who are afraid of the repercussions of NCLB. Linda Darling Hammond tells us repeatedly how testing in Finland and Australia puts our testing to shame. Given that the latest reform movement (Race to the Top) has states looking to completely revamp their testing AND that in 2014 we will be rolling out new common core standards, thus rolling out new assessments that will likely require several years to work out the kinks, WHY IN ANY COMMON SENSE THINKING does it exist NOW to incorporate state assessments as part of teacher evaluation?
Since my daddy taught me never to complain without a few solutions, I offer an answer.....include teachers heavily in the development and piloting of highly effective tests like authentic assessment and open ended questions that ask students to evaluate, predict and synthesize. Get rid of multiple choice assessments and invest in our young people's creativity and multiple intelligences. When we do that, we will see the creative juices of teachers begin to flow as they shed fears of mandates and bubble test results. We will see classrooms full of lively debate and engaging critical thinking as multiple intelligences are honored and allow for a variety of ways to demonstrate proficiency in skills. And, take time to implement this thoughtfully. When we have it right (which really doesn't have to be that hard since several countries are ALREADY doing this well by having authentic assessment and amazing conditions and pay for teachers), then we can talk about using effective measures to increase accountability.
But for now, failing schools, systems and policy making is where we should be directing our anger. The kids are not failing, and for the most part, the teachers are not failing. They are being asked to do brain surgery (often with limited training and support) on the fly, in a war zone and being asked for high rates of survival. It's a joke.
Should teachers be accountable? Absolutely.....but first, let's get real about the blatant irresponsibility and gall of policy makers, systems leaders and testing corporations and how they are blowing smoke and mirrors movements that are PROVEN to be ineffective; charter schools, merit pay and our testing linked to evaluations. Reform of our compensation and preparation for teachers coupled with creating an effective assessment system would DRAMATICALLY increase our society's critical thinking, entrepreneurship, and shift the positional power in our nation. For us to ALLOW these same people in power to run a propaganda machine that seeks out teachers as the bad guys for simply demanding fair conditions to continue to attempt to engage in a system designed for failure, and the incredible amount of people who buy it, is further proof of how effective our current school system is. WE ARE DUMBED DOWN. Until we, as a nation, are willing to stand up to those with historic positional power and wealth (which the CTU did this month), we should be clear that we are getting EXACTLY what the system is designed to create; workers that don't ask hard questions, don't fight and do what they're told. We're not a nation that has an education system designed to create powerful contributors in a democratic society, because those with the wealth and power are perfectly happy with things the way they are. It works for them and the movement to demonize teachers is clear evidence of the fight to keep it the way it is.
Wake up, shake it off and get mad! We are smarter than this, our kids deserve to have their brilliance shine and blossom, and we are being fooled into believing that an appalling minimum effort is actual reform. TO END, I want you all to really know what the CTU members won this month.....and ask yourself, are THESE the bad guys?
Their new contract has provisions such as adding $1.5 million dollars for more special education teachers, a promise to hire more social workers, nurses, and counselors, a guarantee to have textbooks on the first day of class, an increase from $100 to $250 given to teachers for supplies, new clauses about including parents on class size monitoring committees, $.5 million dollars for class size reductions, allowing teachers to follow their own lesson plan formats instead of using the top-down mandated one, an anti-bullying clause against workplace bullying by poor administrators, and 600 new music, art, and gym teachers. The CTU also stopped the collaborative-culture-crushing idea of merit pay, preserved steps and lanes in the salary schedule to ensure we value experience and education in our teaching workforce, and kept the use of student test scores in teacher evaluation to the legal minimum. (http://mskatiesramblings.blogspot.com/2012/09/dear-mrmayor-there-is-hope-for-chicagos.html?spref=tw&m=1)
What jerks.
Occupyyourbrain people....if not for you, for the brilliant minds of our children who are inheriting this disaster.
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