Last week, UTLA members voted to approve a supplemental evaluation agreement created by the UTLA and the LAUSD in response to Judge James Chalfant’s ruling that students’ California Standards Test scores must be a part of teacher evaluations.

Out of 16,892 ballots cast, 66% of teachers voted for an evaluation system that:

• provides specific, actionable feedback ;

• includes reliable, timely student growth data;

• incorporates multiple measures of teacher impact in addition to student growth as measured by standardized assessments;

• identifies high-performing teachers who can share best practices with other teachers; and

• identifies teachers who are underperforming so that they can receive targeted professional development.

At the same time, the agreement reached by the UTLA and the LAUSD rejects the high-stakes use of value-added measures in evaluating teachers – a practice the LAUSD initially supported. Instead, multiple measures of student progress will be used in the evaluation process – a strategy that has been shown, most recently by the Gates Foundation, to be more effective in determining teacher quality.

The work is not over, however. Still left to negotiate are the use of other essential measures such as classroom observations and stakeholder feedback. As these elements are worked out, we hope that all parties will hold themselves to the same high standards for promoting teacher growth as teachers are held to for promoting student achievement.

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Following a career in international business, I began teaching Social Studies nine years ago in Los Angeles at Fairfax High School.  Located in the heart of the city, Fairfax is one of Los Angeles Unified’s better-known and better performing schools.

On my first day of teaching, the administrator literally threw me the classroom door key and said, “Good luck.  See ya around.”  I thought that “see ya around” was the administrator’s folksy way of saying that he’d be visiting my classroom frequently to ensure quality teaching and to provide constructive criticism.   After all, in the private sector, I had come to expect lots of accountability- from shareholders and of my employees that I managed.

Yet six months into the year, I began to realize that “see ya around” meant that he’d see me somewhere around school- outside of my classroom.  The administration observed me once during the year for a grand total of 10 minutes.  When I asked the administrator if he had any suggestions, he just said “No.  We’re good.”  And with that, I received a satisfactory evaluation for my first year of teaching- just like 99% of teachers who happen to be evaluated in any particular year in Los Angeles Unified.

Surely, I thought, that in my second year there would be a rigorous evaluation of my teaching- given that teachers in California receive permanent status at the end of their second year of teaching.  Again, I was mistaken.  The administrator came into my room once during the year, observed my students quietly taking a test, and deemed my performance “satisfactory,”- noting that the students were “quite focused in taking their test.”

Apparently, our administration used something I call the “burning couch” rule.  Basically, unless administrators hear about something extraordinarily bad (such as the burning couch that literally was thrown from a second floor window above my classroom), then the assumption is made that you must be doing a satisfactory job.

I bring up my experience with evaluation because, as a teacher, I believe that a rigorous, multiple measure evaluation system is critical to addressing the two major issues so carefully and thoroughly presented in the EdTrust report: the importance of teacher quality and the need for equitable access to effective teachers.

As the recent National Council on Teacher Quality Report on Evaluation discusses, in the last few years, many states have made tremendous progress in developing their own multiple measure evaluation system.  Individual districts, too, such as in New Haven Unified School District, have also done amazing things with evaluation in a short period of time.  Yet this progress remains incomplete.  26 states, including California, have yet to require its schools to use an evaluation system that includes objective measures of student learning.  In my view, all K-12 public schools in the U.S. must use some type of rigorous, multiple measure evaluation, specifically designed to meet the particular educational environment of their respective state or community.

I believe that a multiple measures evaluation system is the linchpin for needed educational reforms related to teacher quality.  A multiple measure evaluation system addresses teacher quality issues in at least several ways:

1)   It allows for determining which teachers are not suited to the profession.  The current binary system used in many districts, where an extraordinarily high percentage of teachers is deemed satisfactory, implicitly says that virtually all teachers should be retained on a yearly basis;

2)   A multiple measure evaluation system allows for differentiation of teachers’ performance- critical to offering multiple career pathways for teachers;

3)   A multiple measure evaluation system provides a basis for replacing our antiquated quality-blind layoff system, where layoffs are determined solely by date of hire

4)   A multiple measure evaluation system allows for identification of highly effective teachers and the sharing of the best practices of these teachers with colleagues

5)   And, most importantly, a multiple measure evaluation system provides teachers with a rigorous basis for better understanding the strengths and weakness of their own teaching while identifying areas needing improvement.

With the acute shortage of teachers that we will experience in the next 3-5 years, this last point is perhaps the most important reason for having multiple measure evaluation systems throughout the U.S.

We cannot significantly improve teacher quality in the U.S. through just removing “ineffective teachers” or through upgrading our new teacher training programs.  Rather, we must use a combination of multiple measure evaluation systems and linked-in, supportive professional development to help achieve the quality of teachers that all students in the U.S. deserve. Professional growth of teachers depends on a multiple measure evaluation system.- where effective professional development is provided to teachers in areas identified by a strong evaluation system.

I urge you to consider legislation that ties federal funding of professional development, such as Title II funds, to implementation by states of a rigorous, multiple measure evaluation systems. States should have substantial latitude in the design and implementation of evaluation systems.  And Districts, through collaboration and/or collective bargaining, should be able to tailor evaluation programs to their particular environment.  But, I am convinced that we need to move forward boldly in this area that is so critical to teacher quality and access to effective teachers.

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 Why not? First and foremost, they lack time. Second, and related is teachers’ sense that unions don’t currently focus on the issues central to education. For those who do have issues they’d like to speak out on, they are uncertain how to get involved with the union –and understandably harbor fears that their voice won’t matter.

But each of these issues can be successfully addressed. Here’s what we’re working on in Los Angeles:

Creating a range of opportunities that allow teachers to participate in the union with varying time commitments (1 hr./week, 5 hr./week, 15 hr./week) and, to the extent possible, try to provide asynchronous opportunities (i.e., activities that can be done at any time of the day).  Teachers can choose from a range of opportunities to participate in the union- from becoming elected to the governing bodies to participating on committees or working groups.

Providing information directly to all members about how exactly teachers can run for elected union positions and become more involved in union policy-making.  All too often, access to this information is not provided or is made difficult to access by the school site representative.  Members must be clear that participation in the union does not generally require a certain level of experience or other prerequisites.

Developing systems and programs that allow a critical mass of strong teachers to become involved in the union- thereby increasing the likelihood of their impact.  In Los Angeles, by electing 85 teachers to the UTLA official governing body (the UTLA House of Reps), this critical mass was achieved.  As a result, these teachers (all new to union governance) saw the possibility of playing a meaningful role in the union.

Creating “safe spaces” within the union where teachers new to union participation can freely exchange ideas- without the risk of being shouted down.  In Los Angeles, there are monthly meetings of NewTLA, the pro-reform UTLA caucus.  While the meetings are open to anyone, they provided a safe environment for teachers to explore key issues- without the fear of opposition or scorn in a large, public forum.

Publicizing meetings of union working groups in order to allow strong teachers to work on key educational issues.  For example, in Los Angeles, there is a workgroup focused on evaluation called “Teacher Effectiveness and Quality Working Group.”  By having the union publicize the work of this group and by opening up meetings to all teachers, strong teachers can participate in the union on issues that are clearly highly relevant to education;

The protection of traditional unionism (pay, benefits) depends heavily on adequate funding of education.  At the same time, funding for public education hinges on the public’s perception of teacher quality and educational outcomes. Those seeking transformational changes must recognize and honor the key principles upon which teacher unions were formed (e.g., protection against arbitrary dismissal). And teacher unions must lead the way toward having an effective teacher in every classroom – and great schools for all American children.

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It is as critical a time as ever to get involved in the union this year. You are the union. Come hear how your participation is essential in ensuring that the union represents all teacher voices.

Event Details 

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street Los Angeles, CA 90013

Happy Hour Networking Reception: 4:30-5:30pm Program: 5:30-7:00pm

To RSVP: go to http://www.teachplus.org/page/t-network-50.html 

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Teachers for a New Unionism’s goal is to re-align teacher unions with the vast majority of their members who are dedicated to pursuing the reforms necessary to ensure student success. Teachers for a New Unionism (TNU) maintains a deep respect for the original intent of teachers unions: to develop teaching as a highly-skilled, critically important profession while protecting its practitioners in good standing.

The past decade of highly publicized battles between pro-reform charter supporters and old-school union voices has done little to move the country closer to educational excellence. The irony has not been lost on the legions of union member teachers who are putting in long hours in the classroom without any time in the limelight – or any control of their profession. As TNU works to identify, train and elect the best of these teachers to union roles, the national conversation about education reform will undergo a radical change: practicing teachers will be leading it.

Working with Future Is Now Schools over the past year and a half, TNU has played a critical role in a series of events in Los Angeles and elsewhere that signal a sea change: greater numbers of high-performing teachers taking leadership roles in education reform.

In Los Angeles, TNU actively supports efforts by a diverse group of teachers to increase their voice in the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) House of Reps, the official governing body of the teachers’ union.  TNU is building on the initial efforts of Mike Stryer and Jordan Henry, founders of NewTLA (the reform caucus in UTLA).  TNU is encouraging strong, dedicated teachers to nominate themselves (and run for) the House of Reps for the 2013-14 term.  TNU strongly believes that broadened teacher voice in key elected union positions will help align the leadership with the aspirations and priorities of the classroom teachers.

At the same time, TNU believes that higher levels of direct engagement by all classroom teachers will result in stronger teacher unions that both advance the profession and improve student outcomes.  This past February, TNU spearheaded a Direct Union Initiative among the UTLA membership here in Los Angeles . The initiative capitalized on a provision in the UTLA Constitution allowing teacher-members to propose and vote on union policy.  Teachers collected more than 600 signatures from nearly 130 LAUSD schools to force a vote on an initiative that called for a moratorium on teacher layoffs and the implementation of a teacher-led, multi-measure evaluation system.  The initiative passed with a substantial majority of the vote- engaging over 11,000 voting classroom teachers around key issues.  The effort in Los Angeles has spurred similar efforts around the country, including in Boston where teachers used the direct union initiative to make voting more accessible to all teachers.

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Los Angeles teachers have approved a much-watched initiative that calls for a moratorium on layoffs as well as a new teacher-evaluation system.

Organizers of the initiative, which passed with 56% of the vote, immediately hailed the results as suggesting that teachers were willing to accept student test scores as part of a new evaluation system.

“Teachers will now take the lead on ending the destructive cycle of layoffs and developing a rigorous evaluation system based on multiple measures, including the careful use of student test data,” according to statement released Saturday by the group Teachers for a New Unionism.

The initiative itself does not mention using test data at all.

United Teachers Los Angeles president Warren Fletcher decided to endorse the initiative. No ballot opposition statement was submitted. Fletcher has consistently opposed using student standardized test scores as a portion of a teacher’s evaluation.  At the same time, the union leadership has supported using such data to help teachers improve instruction.

L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy has pushed for a teacher-evaluation system that incorporates standardized tests, among other measures. He also has insisted that the Los Angeles Unified School District has the legal authority to impose a new system without union approval.

For the original story, click here.

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TNU Director Mike Stryer, guest blogging at Mass Insight’s Turnaround Zone, says progressive teachers’ unions are making huge strides while the media focuses on the tired debate between old school unions and their ed reform foes:

Obscured beneath the unproductive, polarized hostilities between the “pro-reform” and “teacher union” camps is one of the most promising developments in American K-12 education today: the rise of teachers unions genuinely supportive of meaningful educational reform and teacher quality. This development is of critical importance in creating the policy environment – Mass Insight’s “turnaround zone” – in which turnarounds can succeed.

Admittedly, the transformation of teachers unions remains in its infancy. But, through democratization of union practices and increased participation by high-quality teachers in union-backed reform, it is unmistakable. Prominent examples include:

New Haven, where dedicated teachers and their union played an integral role in devising and implementing a rigorous, multiple-measure evaluation system that provides stronger teacher quality control.

And Los Angeles, where teachers overwhelmingly approved a teacher-driven referendum that compels the UTLA (United Teachers Los Angeles) union leadership to negotiate a new, multiple measure teacher evaluation system.

Here and elsewhere teachers are stepping forward to both elevate our profession and raise student achievement. They are rejecting the false dichotomy between “traditional unionism” and transformational change.  Both can and must be promoted.  The ability to secure and retain competitive, fair working conditions (“traditional unionism”) hinges on our collective ability to meet the educational needs of students, parents, and community.

So, what’s the connection to turnaround? Systemic, scalable school-based reform and school turnarounds in most major urban districts depend on collaboration with local teachers unions. It’s not collaboration for collaboration’s sake, but rather for a shared accountability and commitment to student achievement outcomes.

In Los Angeles, the district and union recently agreed to a Local Schools Initiative plan.  The plan allows local schools, with the agreement of a majority of teachers, to adopt important reforms, including extended learning time, mutual consent hiring, and flexible methods for determining class assignment, among others.  Success in the “early adopter” schools could pave the way for large-scale, teacher-driven (and union-backed) reform throughout Los Angeles – changes that will power successful turnarounds.

The time has come to put aside destructive polarization in favor of a more collaborative relationship that can make school turnarounds successful – and scalable. In cities across the country, our most effective teachers – and their increasingly progressive unions – are starting to lead the way.

Mike can be reached at mstryer@finschools.org.

http://turnaroundzone.org/2012/05/31/unions-and-turnaround-promising-signs/

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