Back to School

Teachers unions have been taking a lot of heat recently. They’ve been called obstructionists, the guardians of the status quo. But actually, they’ve been leading a good deal of education reform. They’ve been working with districts to launch innovative new schools, to extend learning time, to develop professional development.

They’ve also been working to develop new teachers contracts. Contracts that include new systems of evaluation. That downgrade “glacial process” to “due process.” That create new steps on a teaching career ladder. That, on occasion, include pay for performance. And more.

One revolutionary evaluation system is that of Hillsborough County (which includes Tampa) in Florida. Teachers there voted for an evaluation system that includes three main components: peer evaluation (and mentoring), principal evaluation and student performance. Evaluations based on these multiple measures will guide decisions on tenure, promotion, demotion and termination. Eventually, they will also place new teachers on a merit-based pay schedule. 

To honor the collaboration between the union and district that lead to this new contract, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten chose the district to set the stage for an announcement of an upcoming summit that will highlight examples of progressive collective bargaining agreements across the country. The summit will also promote opportunities for management and labor to work together on reforms at the state and district level.

This summit is great news for a profession that has been taking a beating in the public eye. It is recognition by the Department of Education of the important role that teachers (and the unions that represent them) play in developing education policies and in leading education reform. And by the time the summit occurs, hopefully there will be a number of new examples w can point to as ways in which district/union collaboration has had a major impact on kids.

But we must not assume that just because unions and districts work together, reform will happen. Collaboration alone does not lead to great results. Case in point: Yesterday Baltimore teachers voted against what some had called a revolutionary teachers contract, one developed through collaboration between the district and the teachers union. It included pay tied to “effectiveness” (which was not defined in detail) and professional development.

The reasons individual teachers voted against the plan vary, but as Marietta English, president of the AFT-affiliated Baltimore Teachers Union, told The Baltimore Sun, “We negotiated a very new and different agreement at a time when fear, frustration and distrust are at an all-time high.”

Given how much teachers have been hearing recently about how they are the main problem with American education, I understand their hesitation to accept new proposals on how they will be compensated, especially ones that are not clearly defined. After all, once trust is lost (and who would trust a nation that has been bad-mouthing them?), it is hard to regain.

Perhaps if the rhetoric against teachers had not been so virulent–if teachers had not been conditioned by the popular media to think about some of the reforms featured in this contract as “anti-teacher”–they might have been more willing to accept the proposal at face value. But that is another debate for another day.

What is particularly encouraging about Baltimore is that after this vote, schools Chief Executive Officer Andres Alonso issued a statement stressing that he would keep working with the union. He said: “Many teachers wanted more information about all the dimensions of the contract and more time to digest what it would mean. I respect the seriousness with which teachers approached the vote and the importance of the questions they have raised.”

Alonso seems to get it. He is working to regain the trust of his teachers, knowing how important they are to the goals of his district. Secretary Duncan seems to get it now, too, holding a summit to highlight those places where collaboration is working. Perhaps slowly and surely we will turn the page, regain the trust of those on the ground, and actually get things done.

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