Investing in Great Teachers - A Union Leads the Way
Today the largest teachers’ union in the US, the National Education Association (NEA), announced an action plan to strengthen the teaching profession and invest in the development of teacher leaders whose advocacy for and support of effective classroom practitioners will result in improved student learning and stronger public schools. The recommendations made today are based on the work of an independent Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching made up of accomplished teachers and educational leaders that looked at best practices from effective teachers across the country. These recommendations will result in an increase in the quality of teacher candidates before they reach the classroom; ensure that teachers remain at the top of their game throughout their careers; and improve student achievement by improving the profession.
The NEA Action Agenda has three major components:
- Raising the Bar for Entry—advocating to strengthen and maintain strong and uniform standards for preparation and admission to teacher preparation programs
- Every teacher candidate should have one full year of residency under the supervision of a Master Teacher before earning a full license
- Every teacher candidate should pass a rigorous classroom-based performance assessment at the end of his or her candidacy
- Teachers Ensuring Teacher Quality—to promote and nurture effective teaching, the profession should offer quality training, well-designed career paths, time to work together on the best ways to help students, quality evaluations that help teachers in their development, and fair accountability processes
- Advancing a tiered system of achievement for career teachers—with a new career path that has different compensation and responsibilities for Novice, Professional, and Master Teachers.
- Establishing 100 high-quality Peer Assistance and Peer Assistance and Review programs over the next two years
- Union Leadership to Transform the Profession—As NEA President, Dennis Van Roekel stated at today’s announcement, “I did not get into education to be a member of NEA. I came to NEA because it helped me as a teacher…and gave me a voice.”
- Teachers must take on leadership roles—the union has committed to training thousands of educators in educational leadership using an innovative curriculum developed by the NEA Foundation’s Institute on Teaching and Learning
The commitment from NEA to work collaboratively with their state and local affiliates and their colleagues in the Learning First Alliance (LFA) to strengthen the profession they represent places front and center union leadership as part of the solution to the challenges facing our public schools today. And, because this action agenda is based on careful examination of what works in public school reform…..not what makes a good sound bite…..and relies on the wisdom and experience of its most effective members, the results can only be positive for all our children.
Watch this space for further developments as the NEA action plan moves forward……
photo by Gary Dwight Miller/NEA
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Union Leadership to Transform
Union Leadership to Transform the Profession-this is the weakest link in the chain. The leadership needed to transform the profession will not come from the leadership that has created the current situation. You ain't going to get where you want to go by following the people that you got you where you are. Joe Graba, said it best, "everybody wants better, nobody wants different."
NEA's "current assets have become its liabilities. An excellent organization needs well-developed processes to minimize variation, and has deeply ingrained values to guide individuals at all levels as they make decisions in support of the current processes and services. Those assets become liabilities when you try to bring fundamental change into the organization."
Actually, my experience
Actually, my experience working with education professionals at all levels has been quite different. The challenge of leadership for K-12 public education at the national level is that implementation takes place and is governed by local initiatives. My experience working with both teachers' unions is that leadership at the national level has been working incrementally for some time to support the profession and encourage growth and the development of new approaches that are research based to teaching and learning. The challenge has been the lack of respect for the profession at the local level (in some cases) and the difficulty in changing cultures that are firmly entrenched in local communities.
I suspect you don't have much respect for classroom practitioners and assume that all are motivated by the lowest common denominator which is what is most often portrayed in the popular press. The school district I live in has adopted the approach advocated at last week's NEA announcement, so I know it works and am confident the leadership of the NEA and the AFT want the best teachers in the classroom....just like the rest of us.
Where has the NEA been? For
Where has the NEA been? For the most part these action agenda items have been part of a national and state reform movement for about the last 5 years. In fact many times when the NEA waa asked to be part of the educational solution it refused. It has done nothing over the years other than obstruct the efforts and attempts of others and/or other organizations. The NEA needs to stop flying solo and learn how to collaborate. Perhaps the NEA president should ask Randi Weingarten for some advise. At least Weingarten gets it!
Perhaps you have just not
Perhaps you have just not kept up-to-date on the messages and actions from the NEA over the past decade. I've worked closely with leadership at the NEA for some time and they've been focused on not only improving working conditions for classroom teachers but also for supporting continued professional development to ensure teachers perform to meet the needs of all their students. I will agree that AFT has been better at amplifying their message while NEA has focused on internal communications to encourage and support local union activities that advocate for effective teaching. In LFA, the NEA has provided valuable leadership for collaboration in support of strong pubic schools.
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