Wednesday afternoon the Seattle teachers' union (SEA) achieved a huge victory over the proponents of what is popularly (and erroneously) known as "education reform."
After many, many hours of hard negotiations, the SEA negotiators achieved a tentative contract with the district. What is remarkable about this contract is that:
* Teachers' final evaluations
will not depend on student test scores.
* Teachers' jobs
will not depend on student test scores.
* Teachers' pay
will not depend on student test scores.
This tentative agreement was reached despite intensive efforts by the Broad-Foundation-connected superintendent to insert test scores into all three of the above areas.
The contract will not be final unless it is ratified by the SEA general membership Thursday evening, but the SEA Board and the Representative Assembly (building reps) have voted to recommend ratification. For more about the tentative agreement and its background and significance, follow me below the fold.
IMHO, Seattle is the epitome of a live-and-let-live, can't-we-all-just-get-along kind of city. In this vein, there is a well-established historical tradition of amicable dealings between the Seattle Public Schools administration and the union (in fact, the late superintendent John Stanford has all but been canonized as a saint in this city).
That is, until the current superintendent came on board.
Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson is Seattle's version of Michelle Rhee. I'm sure she would consider that comparison quite a compliment.
Since she came to Seattle 3 years ago from the non-unionized Charleston County, SC, school district, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson's actions have come under fire by educators, parents, and the community at large. Her hard-line tactics and refusal to accept input from anyone but the "reform"-movement consultants she brought with her have increasingly raised the city's hackles. Parent-initiated lawsuits and recall efforts have been followed by votes of no-confidence from several school staffs. In this context, Dr. Goodloe-Johnson made what may turn out to be the fatal mistake for her leadership here.
:: ::
Over the past two years, a joint union and district task force developed a new, research-based evaluation plan designed to identify, cultivate and support exellence in teaching, provide for meaningful ongoing improvement in teaching skills, and set a high standard for teachers to meet. (For those familiar with the work of Charlotte Danielson, the task force's plan was based on her evaluation rubric, but it incorporated more expectations involving cultural relevance in teaching practices.)
Ignoring this new plan, which both union and district negotiators thought had been settled, the superintendent waited until after the school year had ended and the teachers had left for the summer, to lob a bombshell into the contract negotiations.
Her "SERVE Seattle" proposal, unlike the jointly negotiated plan that she sought to replace, would have used student test scores as a major component in teacher evaluations, pay, and ability to keep their jobs. This was completely consistent with her record of clear alignment with the the "experts" of education "reform" and their rich backers, who are trying to destroy public education as we know it.
:: ::
All over the country, school districts in which contracts are up for negotiation have been adopting provisions like those in "SERVE Seattle." The tide has been so overwhelming, it has become almost accepted wisdom that there is nothing the unions can do to prevent this tidal wave from washing over everything that might try to get in its way.
But Seattle teachers had three advantages coming into this battle, which put them in a uniquely advantageous position to try to fight back.
First, as noted above, there was already a well-designed plan that had been jointly negotiated by representatives of both sides.
Second, Seattle is a well-educated, very blue city that largely supports public education and public school teachers. That support is not universal; there is a substantial portion of public commentary that focuses on the red herring of how important it is to be able to fire all the horrible, terrible, very bad teachers who are sitting in their classrooms eating bon-bons while our children drown in ignorance. Still, those comments are countered by many articulate, well-informed and thoughtful responses by the supporters of public education.
But the Seattle teachers' third advantage was the one that was really unique: a very specific set of facts that undermined the superintendent's ability to insist upon using test scores to evaluate teachers. Months after she spent a considerable chunk of district money to bring in a new computerized testing program -- part of what she advocated using to evaluate teachers -- it was disclosed that Dr. Goodloe-Johnson sits on the Board of Directors of the company that produces the test. The company that was awarded a no-bid contract to supply testing services to the Seattle Public Schools.
Oops.
The union took these gifts and ran with them. The strength of the national "reform" tide is such that despite all these advantages, success was not easy to come by. The bargaining team has worked into the late night/early morning hours for several nights in a row. Armed with the results of teacher surveys and focus groups, they kept pushing back, bit by bit, until they were able to eliminate all of the most heinous provisions of SERVE Seattle. While low test scores can trigger additional evaluations, that is the only mandated use of the test scores. The evaluations themselves will be done using the jointly-developed skill-based rubric.
I am so proud of my union tonight. Not only has it successfully fought back against the vicious stupidity in ascendance nationally, but if the contract is ratified the fruits of the union's labors will give us the opportunity to demonstrate that using intelligent and meaningful tools to measure and support teacher performance does indeed raise students' academic performance.
Link to Seattle Times story.
Update:
YIKES! I slept for 3 hours, and woke to discover my diary's on the Rec List. Wasn't expecting that, and I am not going to be able to tend to it in a way appropriate for a Rec List diary. I've responded to a few comments, but have to stop now. I will be in meetings all day at work, and then to the union meeting :) to vote on the contract. I can't even get to the computer at lunch because I will be tied up. If I have a few minutes' spare time in the early afternoon I'll check in, but beyond that I probably can't get back here till after the union meeting. If the Representative Assembly meeting Wed night was any indication, the meeting could go pretty late. I will do my best to respond to any comments, but it may take a while.
Thanks to everyone who is expressing support for public education.
