AFT EVENT: Duncan Goes "Unscreened"

If I weren't stuck in New York I would probably make it down to the AFT confab going on in DC this week, which will reportedly include charter school teachers who are unionizing (Civitas in Chicago, KIPP AMP in NYC, Accelerated in LA), as well as the usual suspects (Randi Weingarten, Arne Duncan, Hilda Solis, Steve Barr). 

Apparently Duncan is going to answer unscreened questions from attendees (as opposed to screened or scripted ones, I assume). How about asking Duncan why he touted Chicago's ever-increasing state test scores if he knew they were inflated? [There's a new USA Today story about this.] 

See the advance below.  I'm sure there's a Twitter hashtag, but I don't know what it is yet. 

REFORM: Cabinet Might Work Better With Performance Pay, Says WSJ

"Maybe Mr. Obama will turn next to measuring the performance of Washington officials so they, too, can be paid for quality."

White House Rethinks How to Pay Pros Wall Street Journal

SIC: "Similar To The Of A Lawyer Or Doctor."

"I told him that the best way to raise standards was to pay teachers more but require them to get a graduate degree similar to the of a lawyer or doctor." (Arne Duncan Really Does Listen PK12)

FB: Online Quiz Useful For Teacher Recruitment, Evaluation, & Pay

There are lots of goofy quizzes on Facebook these days, and this one is probably no better or worse.  Except it's about schools:  What kind of teacher are you?. I know!  I haven't taken it but 57,000 others have.  Give it a try and tell us what you find out.  Maybe this is something districts could use instead of all that pricey Haberman stuff.  Or, even better, maybe we can work it into someone's teacher evaluation or performance pay program. 

CHARTERS: Chicago Teachers Vote Union Again

It's happened -- again.  Teachers at three Chicago charter schools voted to unionize and will have a press conference Friday morning.  Or at least that's what the Thursday evening press release tells me. 

You may recall that the teachers' first efforts were invalidated when their employer, Civitas Charter Schools, got someone at the NLRB region 13 office to agree that they weren't a public employer.  Hence the re-vote. 

Rest of this post:  Superficial analysis.  Necessary exaggeration.  Barely hidden self-importance.  General hand-waving.

ARTS: Different Takes On The New NAEP Results

Here's what the MSM has to say about yesterday's arts NAEP results:

Study Finds Instruction in Art Lags in 8th Grade NYT
Music and art instruction in American eighth-grade classrooms has remained flat over the past decade, according to a survey by the Department of Education.

Picture is unclear on arts instruction in schools - USA Today USA Today
Gather up a group of eighth-graders, pop in a CD of George Gershwin's seminal Rhapsody in Blue and turn up the volume. Then ask: In those first few seconds, what keening, soaring, note-bending instrument do you hear?

NAEP Finds Schools' Offerings in Arts Hold Steady EdWeek
The report shows about half of 8th graders attended schools that offered classes—the same as in 1997 when the assessment was last given.

Student scores on music, arts released MSNBC
Results were issued Monday for music and art assessments last given to 8th graders in 1997. Yet the report raises more questions than it answers.

What does 'p' in music mean? Twenty percent of US students know. CSM
A report card on arts education released Monday shows room for improvement.

CARTOON: "Nice Job! Now Go Smell Mr. Stubbs."

From the May 18 edition of the New Yorker

CHARTERS: So Much For Charters Being Public Schools

 In what seems like a really strange turn of events, the NLRB has apparently declared that the teachers who want to be unionized in Chicago are private employees, not public ones as the teachers union (and the teachers) had assumed.  All I have so far is the IFT press release, but it seems to me that, legally and politically, this is a poison pill move for charters, who have been claiming to be public schools, accountable, etc. for the last five hundred years.  Now, all of sudden, thanks to the folks at CICS and Civitas, they're not public schools any more?

UPDATE:  Click here to see the filings pro and con that were submitted to the NLRB by Civitas and by the IFT.  This may have little practical effect, assuming the unionization vote proceeds, but has tremendous (negative) political implications.  Still trying to find out if there's any precedent.

UPDATE 2:  The folks at the AFT tell me that this issue has come up a dozen or so times in other regions and the decision is, while new to Chicago, not entirely unprecedented. It sounds like the NLRB decisions have gone both ways and aren’t numerous enough to declare a trend. And it seems like the IFT and AFT both want to keep the focus on moving forward, not on the public/private issue. (That’s apparently why the somewhat muted language is in the IFT press release, and why AFT president Randi Weingarten isn’t putting out a release.) 

It’s worth pointing out that the new charter law just passed by the state legislature clears this issue up going forward, declaring that charter school employers are public. Yes, Illinois raised the cap on charters and declared them to be public employers. But the legislation is not yet enacted and won’t be retroactive.

JOBS: "Tenured Teachers Have Little To Worry About"

"Tenured teachers have little to worry about in that regard [budget cuts], and there is a continued high demand for educators in high-growth communities, and just about everywhere for teachers in the fields of math and science, reports Salary.com." (10 Jobs for the Recession TIME)

FUTURE: Our Soon-To-Be Outdated Beliefs (About Education)

Jason Kottke links to a provocative discussion about how widespread beliefs (about race, sexuality, etc.) change over time, no matter how prevalent they may be during a certain period:  Our soon-to-be outdated beliefs. 

What current beliefs about schools and education do you think will no longer dominate, say a generation from now?  Education mandatory for 12 years. Student learning organized by chronological age. Government grants only for higher education. Schools organized and funded by obscure geographic entities (districts).

MARSHMALLOWS: Delayed Gratification = 210 SAT Points

"The children who rang the bell quickly seemed more likely to have behavioral problems, both in school and at home," according to this New Yorker article (Don’t!). 

"They got lower S.A.T. scores. They struggled in stressful situations, often had trouble paying attention, and found it difficult to maintain friendships.

"The child who could wait fifteen minutes had an S.A.T. score that was, on average, two hundred and ten points higher than that of the kid who could wait only thirty seconds."

Via Whitney Tilson, who it turns out has a personal connection to this whole thing. (see the rest of his latest fascinating and rambling email below).

REFORM: Union Overkill In Charter Schools?

"Calling in the union [at KIPP AMP] is like calling in the National Guard...when children throw sand in the sand box."

Unpublished letter to the editor by Harvard education professor Kay Merseth
Full text below.

UNIONS: Reading The Weingarten Tea Leaves

"Is it so crazy to think that, eventually, Weingarten will join Rhee in giving D.C. teachers a new and innovative contract...?"

Jay Mathews in the Washington Post: AFT Announces Innovation Fund 

ADMINS: Performance Pay Falling Out Of Favor - For District Supes

"Bonus pay for performance is also on its way out, at least for now," according to Scholastic Administrator's Salary Report 2009, which quotes AASA's Dan Domenech on the topic:   “It’s almost become counterproductive,” says Domenech. “It’s become increasingly difficult to evaluate performance. School boards are forced to question the intention of superintendents, asking them if the financial incentive had affected their decision-making.”

HOTSEAT: It's New Unionism Day!

On the HotSeat, Mark Simon of the reform-minded Mooney Institute talks about union-foundation collaboration (he's for it), progressive union leadership (there's more of it than you think), and debunks the myth that progressive union local presidents are usually defeated. Then he slams the Obama administration for not hiring enough progressive union types (yet). 

Simon tells us how the Mooney Institute grew out of TURN, and what unions (and reformers) can do to improve academic achievement. Then he predicts that KIPP will be unionized within a year and that "thin" contracts aren't all they're hyped up to be.  He's all over the place, this guy. 

Along the way I make him explain or apologize for everything union-related I can think of.

Thanks to TFA Michele for suggesting this interview.  If you've got ideas about who would be good -- innovative, counterintuitive, candid people who might not otherwise get the attention but have interesting things to say -- let me know.]

UNIONS: General Motors Vs. The United Teachers of LA

"At least with General Motors...there is the possibility of bankruptcy..."

Mickey Kaus last week, writing about the current budget impasse between LAUSD and the UTLA (here)

JOBS: More Aisle-Crossers

Turns out there is at least one more person who's braved a change from one side of the school reform divide to the other: 

Michele McLaughlin was the NCLB person at the AFT (and a key figure on the AFT's much-missed education blog).  Now she's doing state and federal policy for....TFA (AFT Blogger Gets Big TFA Job). 

My bad for not putting two and two together.  If that ain't crossing the aisle, I don't know what is. 

VIDEO: "I Love Charts," Says Sid The Science Kid

You'll either love or hate this sweet video from PBS Kids called "I Love Charts."


I loved it. Then I hated it. Then I sort of liked it again.  It's Wednesday afternoon -- come on. (Via FlowingData.)

UNIONS: Weingarten Supports Charter Unionization In Chicago Visit

 Earlier this month, Catalyst Magazine reported that teachers at three Chicago charters were seeking union recognition (Union organizes teachers at 3 charter schools). 

Distracted perhaps by the very similar and much more conveniently located KIPP AMP story in Brooklyn, no one seemed to care. 

Now we learn from Linda Lutton at WBEZ in Chicago that the unionization effort continues, and even includes a visit from Randi Weingarten (Chicago Charter School Teachers Fight for Union). 

The Weingarten visit could mean that the unionization effort is being rebuffed and is in some sort of trouble, or -- more likely -- that the issue is becoming important nationally to the AFT. 

TFA ET AL: The Fashion Models Of The Education World

TFAers and charter school teachers are the fashion models of the education world. 

They are both envied and despised. They're energetic, disposable, and cheap.  They are often too young and inexperienced to know what they're really doing.  They are over-praised (or harshly criticized). They live -- often in groups or as roommates -- high on the perceived importance of their job. They are the subject of endless media speculation. 

Far as I know, there aren't any real-life TFAers or charter teachers with real-life modeling careers.  But I wouldn't be surprised if it's happened.  Meantime on Gossip Girl, the beautiful teacher Rachel Carr is supposed to be...you guessed it...a TFA alum. 

CHARTER ORGANIZER: "It Was Now Or Never."

Curious about how teachers at three Chicago charter schools decided that unionization was the way to go -- and got all those cards signed? 

Check out this Catalyst Chicago story: Organizing charter teachers, Chicago style. 

You'll also find out what kind of contract the teachers are looking for, and what happens in other charters where teachers join the AFT's charter network (ACTS).

Yes, it's true:  Catalyst sponsors my Chicago blog.

AIRLINES: Where A Captain's Seniority Doesn't Travel

Imagine almost having to start from the beginning if you changed jobs.  It's a far cry from what happens to teachers, who take much of their seniority with them, but according to Salon's "Ask The Pilot" column, it's apparently how the world works for airline pilots: 

"You certainly will not be bringing in anything close to your most recent salary. A third of that is more like it, if you're lucky. You take your place at the bottom of the seniority list, and the long, slow climb begins again." (The only thing that matters is seniority)

Does this represent a stronger adherence to seniority than you'd find in education, or a weaker one?  Weaker for those who are switching companies.  Stronger for those who stay put. 

CARTOON: Snake Eats Everything.

From this week's New Yorker.

REFORM: Making Changes When Replacement Won't Work

 No one's entirely comfortable with the people we've been using.  They cost so much.  Sometimes they've been arrogant and refused to change their ways.  (They've even been accused of doing some really bad things.)

But you can't just get rid of them all.  There are too many to replace.  Not to speak of the whole learning curve that would be involved with bringing in new people, no matter how well trained they were.

So what you're probably going to do is to end up using the same people again, perhaps just under a new title. 

This is just as true for classroom teachers as it is for Blackwater security personnel (NYT).

Full-scale replacement is out of the question.  What can be done to make things better at scale?

TEACHERS: Teachers Vote To Organize Three Radioactive Charters

The KIPP AMP teachers aren't the only ones chafing at how they're being treated.  Catalyst Chicago has the scoop:

  "About three-quarters of the 115 teachers at the Chicago International Northtown Academy, Wrightwood and Ralph Ellison campuses [operated by Civitas] have filed for representation rights with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board." 

Union organizes teachers at 3 charter schools

CICS is an outfit that's been authorized to open charter schools in Chicago but often subcontracts the actual operation of the schools to folks like Edison, Victory, and AQS.  However, the CMO for the three schools involved -- Civitas -- is a wholly owned subsidiary of CICS. The logo looks like the old sign warning against radioactivity, no? 

CARTOON: "Just Because You Work At A Bad ________ ..."

These days, it's not just educators (and politicians and journalists) who know how it feels to work in a discredited industry. 

TEACHER U: Charter Folks Get Hands Dirty On Teacher Prep (Finally)

 

By and large, it seems, charter folks have tried to work around teacher preparation rather than take it on directly.  Easier to do alt cert and keep complaining about traditional prep than putting anything into changing the existing system.  Pretty typical charter school stuff.

But now, reports Andy Smarick, Teacher U is finally taking shape in New York -- a creation of the leaders of Uncommon Schools and Achievement First and KIPP -- along with Hunter College. 

It's too soon to tell whether it's going to work, but it's a positive development that these charter-oriented folks are digging into one of education's core issues.  Other notable teacher prep efforts include the Boston Teacher Residency Program, AUSL in Chicago. 

Wouldn't it be cool if TFA got into the mix, too?  They've got the best brand recognition, and some subset of candidates who would actually like to be prepared for the job before they start doing it. 

KIPP: Different Unionization Paths For KIPP NYC Schools [updated]

Things are heating up on the KIPP unionization front:

At the KIPP AMP school, where a majority of teachers initially voted to join the union, a couple more teachers have joined Kashi Nelson in changing their minds -- but not enough to change the outcome of the vote.  (Others may follow.) The PERB meeting that was supposed to happen yesterday has been rescheduled.

Meanwhile, the teachers at the two already-unionized KIPP schools want to get out from under their UFT affiliation.  Click below for the announcement (and some additional background from Elizabeth Green).  

This is not apparently something that's coordinated or linked to KIPP AMP, though the timing is notable. No word yet from the UFT about these latest developments.

UPDATE:  Here's a feisty statement from Randi Weingarten, who sounds more than a little annoyed:  "Given that we have represented KIPP Academy since 1995 without any issues that would remotely rise to the level of dissatisfaction, much less disaffiliation, today’s announcement is surprising. Regardless, I welcome the opportunity to meet with the staffs at both Academy and Infinity, and find out what is going on." "What is interesting is this move comes after the KIPP AMP teachers started their organizing drive and on the eve of the PERB hearing on recognizing the union at KIPP AMP. KIPP management is obviously fighting hard because it doesn't want their schools to be unionized."

KIPP UNIONIZATION: A Teacher Changes Her Mind

Last week, Kashi Nelson realized that she’d made a mistake supporting unionization for herself and the other teachers at KIPP AMP.

On Thursday, she formally notified the union that she was withdrawing her support.

“I just don’t see how having the union be a part of our everyday life will help,” she said in a telephone interview on Sunday afternoon.

A veteran teacher who is new to charter education, Nelson had been one of those who had gone along with the unionization effort (A Veteran Educator's Charter School Experience).

Nelson’s reversal raises the possibility that the much-publicized effort to organize the Brooklyn charter school may fizzle.

Whether the school will rebound, with or without unionization, remains unknown.

Click below to read the rest.

VIDEO: Former Justice Pitches Civics Ed.

Last week, none other than former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor showed up on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart to pitch her effort to return civics education to US schools:

IndecisionAn Indecision Exclusive!

Sandra Day O'Connor Pt. 1

Funny Political Video
Political Games

Joe Biden Jokes
Barack Obama Jokes

It didn't go great, but it didn't go horribly, either.
Sandra Day O'Connor

OSCARS: Remembering What "Milk" Is About

Sean Penn's big win on Sunday night is a reminder that the film he won for -- MILK -- is about among other things the effort to fight against discrimination against gay teachers in San Francisco. 

There's nothing quite as obvious going on now, though I feel like there's still a lot of discrimination against gay educators (and can't believe that there are only two openly gay big-city school superintendents).

Sure, lots of schools have LBGT clubs, and perhaps a few openly gay students.  But where are the gay teacher, administrators, and principals? 

They're still closeted, I fear, understandably thinking that schools, like the military, still work on a "don't ask, don't tell" mentality. 

TEAM & FAMILY: A Veteran Educator's Charter School Experience

When two teachers came up to Kashi Nelson earlier this year and invited her to a meeting, Nelson was not at all enthused.

After all, it was all the extra meetings at the KIPP school in Brooklyn that the veteran educator felt were making the school year so hard. 

But this wasn't just another hastily-scheduled, superfluous-seeming meeting where administrators would lecture teachers.  This was a meeting for teachers to talk about whether to join the union or not. 

Knowing that, the 7th and 8th grade social studies teacher decided to go. 

"If something's going on around me, I want to know," says Nelson."Let me just see what's up."

Nelson's experience at KIPP AMP sheds light on how teachers at the small charter school came to believe that union representation was the best way to go, and illustrates some of the challenges that charter networks like KIPP face when their numbers increase and their faculties become more diverse.

TEACHING: The Anti-TFAer

There's some great writing in Jesse Katz's award-winning story, The Test Of Their Lives -- especially the profile of teacher Jim Moore, a strange mix of ambivalence and ambition:

"He is not a miracle worker, the white savior from an after-school special. He is not one of the cool young teachers, the kind eager to show off their rapport with inner-city kids. Moore is a Gen Xer lurching toward middle age, trying to pay the rent, hoping to win the girl, struggling to live his life without being a fake. “Up to now, I haven’t exactly been a do-gooder,” he says. “Some teachers, they’re like, ‘Oh, the children…’ I’m not sure if I have that driving, crazy love. I’m kind of a half-assed crusader.”

STATISTICS: Measuring What's Important -- Or What's Easily Measured

Critics of the more simplistic uses of standardized testing and performance pay will find much to love in this Times Magazine article on how basketball (and other pro sports) often use statistics that focus their attention on the wrong things and this miss out on what's most important: 

"For most of its history basketball has measured not so much what is important as what is easy to measure — points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots — and these measurements have warped perceptions of the game."

UNIONS: The AFT Side Of The Story

 Curious about what the AFT thinks about the DC teachers contract negotiations and unionized charter schools?  Sure you are.

Rob Weil is the deputy director of the ed issues division at the AFT, and he was filling in at last week's education conference at the Yale School of Management for Randi Weingarten (who had a death in the family and couldn't be there). 

A former teacher and local president from Douglass County Colorado, Weil works on the real-world, practical side of things, rather than developing policy or working the Hill.  He says he's worked with 100s of districts where they're trying to redo the contract or implement some reforms that have been bargained. 

Below are my notes on some of the most interesting things that Weil said about KIPP AMP and the DC contract negotiations, as well as the link to an MP3 recording of the entire conversation.

VIDEO: Public School House Rock

This is mean and unfair but sorta funny, too, if you're in a union- and school-bashing mood.  School House Rock meets anger and frustration at public education.  Good for a Friday afternoon in February.  Via the Ed Intelligence Agency, natch.  (Intercepts)

KIPP AMP: Peril And Power Of Negotiating In Public

I can't help but wonder whether the teachers at KIPP AMP in Brooklyn who are talking to the union and the press are doing themselves any good.  The union obviously wants to tout itself as the protector of the teachers.  That's what they do.  And the press -- Jenny Medina and Elizabeth Green -- want to get a juicy story.  Nothing wrong with that.

But I'm not sure whether the things that have been described so far -- basically attempts by the principal and the head of KIPP to talk the teachers out of pursuing a union path -- have reached the point where they qualify as anything particularly untoward.

Until then, I wonder if the KIPP AMP teachers are serving themselves and their kids by doing this all in public.  [And, it should be noted, I don't know whether the UFT and AFT do themselves much good, either, by letting this get turned into a David vs. Goliath story.]

Previous Post:
What Does The UFT Want? What Can KIPP Tolerate?
Would Unions Ruin Charter Schools -- Or Vice Versa?

TEACHERS: Would Unions Ruin Charter Schools -- Or Vice Versa?

 Couple of weeks ago, there was news that a KIPP school in NYC had voted to organize, and we all wondered whether KIPP might end up being organized like Green Dot already is.

Now there's a mini-flurry union-charter news to consider:

Late last week, the LA Times reported that UTLA had successfully organized the widely admired Accelerated School in Los Angeles. 

In Chicago, Medill Reports wrote up news of an effort to organize one or more of the Chicago International Charter Schools, a network of schools in the city. The effort there is just beginning.

There's also an SEIU-affiliated school being started up for next year, which I'm told will use the thin contract model. 

Back in NYC, Jenny Medina has the story in Friday's Times that the process isn't going smoothly for the teachers or their principal at KIPP AMP:  Teachers Say Union Faces Resistance.

Remember that this isn't just a challenge for KIPP.  Union leaders have to move very carefully here lest they appear to be "ruining" effective charters, or undermining the contracts they've already negotiated for regular district schools, or going off in a reformy direction when members want them to focus on wages and working conditions.  Going after charter schools is just as much risk as opportunity. 

WORK HARD, BE NICE: Brooklyn KIPP Votes To Join UFT

I guess this is what happens when your teachers get past the starry-eyed hero worship stage, or when your network of schools gets beyond a certain size:  

"KIPP AMP Academy Charter School in Brooklyn today informed the school’s administration that they are organizing themselves into a union and are seeking official recognition from the state Public Employees Relations Board," says a UFT press release just out today. 

Some of the key issues include teacher turnover and the creation of a PTA.  This makes three of four NYC KIPP schools that will be unionized. There are also three other UFT-represented charter schools including Green Dot in the Bronx.

CLASSROOMS: The Benefits Of Teasing

Schools have banned teasing?  Really?

"Today teasing has been all but banished from the lives of many children," according to this recent New York Times article (In Defense of Teasing).  "Accused teasers are now made to utter their teases in front of the class, under the stern eye of teachers. Children are given detention for sarcastic comments on the playground. Schools are decreed “teasing free.”

"The reason teasing is viewed as inherently damaging is that it is too often confused with bullying. But bullying is something different; it’s aggression, pure and simple. Bullies steal, punch, kick, harass and humiliate...By contrast, teasing is a mode of play, no doubt with a sharp edge, in which we provoke to negotiate life’s ambiguities and conflicts. And it is essential to making us fully human...In rejecting teasing, we may be losing something vital and necessary to our identity as the most playful of species."

TEACHING: I Predict Malcolm Gladwell's Article Won't Change Much

UPDATE:  Pondiscio and TQATE weigh in at bottom

"After years of worrying about issues like school funding levels, class size, and curriculum design, many reformers have come to the conclusion that nothing matters more than finding people with the potential to be great teachers. But there’s a hitch: no one knows what a person with the potential to be a great teacher looks like."

Most Likely to Succeed New Yorker

In his latest article, Malcolm Gladwell examines the way that schools -- and pro football scouts -- try and predict which candidates are going to be great at their jobs. Most agree that current methods -- degrees and certification -- aren't very good. 

But those who think that such a thing is easily done well will be disappointed to find that newer screening methods -- detailed examinations of practice teaching, withitness -- only really work after a the job has started. 

More important, Gladwell has no real way of getting us out of the current system of certification and tenure. At this point, solutions that don't stand much chance of being implemented leave me cold.    Could someone please explain how changes to the current certification and tenure system are going to happen "at scale"?

Too much football, notes TCKB:  Teachers and Quarterbacks.

More football at TQATE:  Link: The Quick and the Ed.

CLASSROOM: No Safety, No Homework

The New York Times is again publishing blog posts from a frontline teacher in Chicago.  His name is Victor Harbison, and his most recent post is about the hard-to-imagine impact of fear on urban students (No Safety, No Homework).

"People wonder why test scores are so low in urban schools. I’m not looking for an excuse, but it’s hard for me to stop thinking about the violence children experience every day in this city."

Youth violence has been a particular problem in Chicago, but may be an issue in many other cities.  The post has kicked off a slew of comments from other teachers on the Times site and on my Chicago education blog. 

SEX: Teacher Dates Model Student, Challenges Dismissal

Usually, it's the teacher who's the hottie and there's no doubt about the crime that's been committed. 

This time, it's the student who is a model -- literally -- and the 37 year old teacher is claiming that her 16 year old lover's prolonged absences from school make their affair not a dismissable offense

Teacher sues city after being fired for affair with runway model student (NYDN via New York Magazine).

WEB2.0: Scorned By Teachers, Wikipedia Gains Journo Users

"Dismissed by traditional journalism as a gimmicky source of faux information almost since it debuted in 2001, Wikipedia may be gaining some cautious converts as it works its way into the mainstream, albeit more as a road map to information than as a source to cite."

American Journalism Review: Wikipedia in the Newsroom

AFT: Who Wrote The Weingarten Announcement Best?

Union open to Obama teacher pay plan The Associated Press
Bush's first education secretary, Rod Paige, once labeled the NEA "a terrorist organization." As Obama seeks education reform, "no issue should be off the ... (MSNBC Version: Union backs Obama teacher pay plan)

Teachers union talks of big goals in Washington USA Today
The head of the American Federation of Teachers signaled the union's willingness Monday to work broadly on education .

AFT President Signals Openness to Reforms EdWeek
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten signaled her union is willing to discussing performance pay, charter schools and teacher tenure.

Head of Teachers’ Union Offers to Talk on Tenure and Merit Pay NYT
A frail economy prompted a gesture of compromise from Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

GRADES: On The Internet, Anything Below 74 Is An F

The Washington Post describes the spread of online grading systems that allow parents and students to track their grades (No More Changing D's to B's) but doesn't mention that the systems create new issues for educators, too. 

In Chicago, for example, educators are chafing at the tight grading scale that's pre-loaded into the district's new "IMPACT" Gradebook application.  Anything below a 74 is considered an F. 

Here's an article about one school's experience:  Taft High returns to old grade scale. Or click here to read various accounts of what the new grading system does and how teachers are responding. 

Hint:  Students better watch their online grades carefully.  Teachers are adjusting scales and changing grades as they get to know the online systems. 

MOVIES: Dead Poets Society "O Captain! My Captain!"

Here's a clip from what seemed like a great school-based movie at the time -- the Dead Poets Society -- taken from the end of the movie when the charismatic teacher (Robin Williams) is being fired:

When I first saw the movie, I got that the lines of the poem expressed admiration, though for some reason I didn't (spoiler alert) realize the captain is dead. 

"O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won...O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills."

Via Videogum:  O Captain, My Captain.

 

CLASSROOM: Teacher Robbed Of Marathon Win

A 5th grade teacher named Arien O'Connell of New York City didn't win the marathon she raced even though she completed the course in the fastest time. 

Why not? 

Well, she didn't register and run with the "elite" runners, so none of the other frontrunners had any idea that she was beating them. 

At Women's Marathon, fastest time didn't win SF Gate

PERFORMANCE PAY: Just A Fancy Kind Of Tip Jar

While everyone (including Barack Obama) wants to change the current pay structure for teachers to bring in some sort of performance/ accountability element, a few folks in an entirely different industry are headed the other direction:

Concerned about fairness, efficiency, and teamwork, a few American restaurants have attempted get their customers to stop the now-traditional practice of tipping waitstaff after meals, according to this recent New York Times Magazine article (Why Tip?).  Instead of tips, which apparently don't really do what they're supposed to do, these restaurants either pay their workers more or add a standard gratuity (usually 18 percent).

Pay for performance is just a fancy, government-run form of tipping.  If that's the case, maybe it would be simpler just to put tipjars on teachers' desks. 

TECH: Social Classroom 2.0

There's lots of ed tech stuff out there to choose from -- too much, some would say.  But here's an interesting-looking gathering point for folks who want to take their tech to another level, Classroom 2.0.

Accessible enough for newbies, but sophisticated enough to satisfy folks who are on the cutting edge when it comes to using social media for instructional purposes. 

Check it out.