Marisa

=**Research Question:** Do teachers unions have any input on evaluations? = //Author: Marisa DeCollibus//

**Research Synthesis:**

**Annotated** **Bibliography**
** Clemmitt, M. (2011, April 29). School reform. //CQ Researcher//, //21//, 385-408.Retrieved from http://0-library.cqpress.com.helin.uri.edu/cqresearcher/ **

A report on education reform as a whole, this article asks the question, “Are teachers’ unions a major barrier to improving schools?” It details some of the claims that teachers unions are focused mainly on teacher salary. It also comments on the attempts by reformers to pin teachers unions as against all reform. It goes on to state that many teacher unions are working to develop teacher evaluations that utilize a diverse set of observations to determine teachers ability. Towards the end of this section of the report it discusses the absence of a correlation between student performance and union negotiation. In some of the leading education systems in the country they have stronger teacher unions. It is made clear in this text that there is support and misconception on both the teacher and reformer side.

Again this report shows a strong correlation between goals of teachers unions and those of reformers. It seems that to move policy along quickly, reformers are pinning teacher unions as the only opponent to their ideas. Yes, unions can put the breaks on some reform, but that can be seen as a positive instead of a negative. In government, new legislature moves slowly through many checks and balances and I would think education reform should be put under the same scrutiny. If both teachers unions and reformers truly want to improve education by having the best teachers stay in the field it would seem rather easy to work together towards a common goal.

** Loveless, Tom. //Conflicting Missions?: Teachers Unions and Educational Reform//. Brookings Institution Press, 2000. Print. **

This book is a collection of essays written by scholars of different backgrounds at a convention held by Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University to help answer the question of whether or not teacher’s unions are good or bad for school systems. Although not the most recent sources, the conference being held in September of 1998, it offers a diverse perspective to teacher’s union’s ability to affect change in the bureaucracy of school. Applicable to my research question is a specific focus by Dale Ballou of the University of Massachusetts and Michael Podgursky of the University of Missouri that questions the idea of “professional self-regulation” as being negative to U.S schools. It argues that stressing active teaching rather than testing outcome would be an inadequate measure of accrediting teachers.

The value of this resource offers a diverse understanding of teacher union’s authority in the education field. Specifically looking at the focus of Ballou and Podgusky as being the most directly related to teacher evaluations, I find that they discourage teachers evaluating themselves through groups like National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) as not being the best way to track teachers effectiveness. This would argue against some of the teacher-evaluating-teacher approaches we can see being introduced to Rhode Island schools. It also seems to make the point that teachers should not be taking part in the evaluation process as an evaluator but only as the subject. Arguing that teachers cannot adequately evaluate their peers shows a distrust in them as professionals. Whether teachers support or reject the idea of evaluating their peers is just as unclear as its effectiveness.

** The Power of Progressive Thinking: EBSCOhost  Simon, Mark, and Naomi Baden. “The Power of Progressive Thinking.” //Education Week// 30 Jan. 2008 : 26–27. Print. **

This article was written in 2008, right before NEA and AFT elected new leaders. It writes about how the industrial style union was beginning to be reconsidered by teacher unions. In the face of No Child Left Behind, some unions began to feel they needed a different strategy for advocacy. Tom Mooney, the president of AFT at the time, began to ask questions to redirect union’s focus. These are profiled in the editorial and include things like “What constitutes good teaching?” and “ How do we build powerful coalitions with families and students?” Some of these questions were beginning to be looked at by state teachers unions including UFT, which was headed by Andi Weingarten at the time.

It is interesting to see where teachers unions began to change their strategy and goals. Although the change came about as a response to education reform, a lot of the changes being looked at created goals similar to those of reformers. Teacher’s unions are giving themselves more say in the matter of reform by having their goals align with that of reformers. This being said, some of their actual two-sense may be lost in the balance. One of the most important pieces of this article is the point made about collaboration. Collaboration makes the most affective change and allows teachers to contribute to the unrelenting reform they are faced with.

** Stephen Exley. “Educational Reform - ‘I Know I Had Lied to That Little Girl’.” //The Times Educational Supplement// 11 Oct. 2013 : 18. Print. **

This article explores the relationship between ex-president of Washington Teacher’s Union George Parker, and ex-chancellor of DC’s public schools Michelle Rhee. An advocate for drastic change Rhee was originally met with conflict from Parker. Rhee’s idea of reform included closing schools and firing teachers, actions to which Parker showed great pushback. This being said he eventually found himself on her side and after two and a half years of negotiations the teachers agreed to have their pay linked to performance. After this agreement Parker lost reelection to the WTU precedency and Rhee resigned from her position as Chancellor. Now as senior fellow of StudentFirst, a self funded reform group, Parker advocates that only good teachers should be kept in the classroom. His current focus is on eliminating bad teachers to give students what they deserve educationally.

This reading brought to light a lot of what is going on behind the scenes of education reform. Parker said that if the superintendent had wanted something and he as the WTU president didn’t like it, he would call politicians and get his way. Having all of his political power moved to Rhee, the chancellor of education, he had to figure out what was worth advocating for. It is in this transfer of power I see teachers loosing their voice in the current education reform. With power being given to chancellors and commissioners of education by the state, unions have to argue more actively for what they need and are often ignored. They are being questioned and told they are wrong by the new, state appointed, leaders of their field. Absolute power amongst any of the positions, whether it be teacher’s unions, superintendents, or commissioners, is alarming but to have some points of view being hushed politically is even more so. I find it catching that Parker eventually chose to work for StudentFirst and came to agree with Rhee on her reform ideals. I think this shows just how persuasive the world of reform can be and how easy it is for teachers voice in the matter to be ignored.

** Toch, Thomas. “The Teacher Unions’ Odysseus.” //Phi Delta Kappan// 93.1 (2011): 66–67. Print. Focusing on Randi Weingarten’s influence in the American Federation of Teachers it goes on to describe her as the nations most influential “teacher leader”. **

This article profiles Weingarten’s journey to president of the AFT and describes her influence now. Instead of fighting to save teachers jobs, Weingarten is working to change the nations perception of teacher’s unions. Making quality teachers the goal of AFT, she has encouraged many of its members to do the same. Instead of job protection, which has been the goal of teachers unions for a long time, Weingarten has reformed teachers unions main motivation to be that of quality education.

I had not realized that with the shift in education reform came a shift in teacher unions. Instead of allowing themselves to continually be pinned as selfish and solely job motived teachers unions, lead by Weingarten, are holding on to what influence they have left by making their goal similar to that of the reformers. Not only is education being reformed but so are teachers unions. It’s not the same labor union we saw during the industrial revolution, its focused on quality instead of keeping jobs. Weingarten is craftily playing the political system by making it hard to criticize teachers unions who have the same goal as reformers, good teachers. By doing this she may just give teachers a bigger say in how that is down.

Response to Reasearch:
My original question aims to understand how teachers voice their opinions on the reform they are subject to. I found their most affective way of doing this is through their unions. The problem seems to be that teachers unions are misunderstood as focused on employment instead of what is best for the schools they work in. I found that many teachers unions, especially under the leadership of Randi Weingarten in the AFT, are just as focused on givings schools the most qualified teachers possible as reformers. Teachers unions also seem to be more than willing to collaborate with reformers. The conflict between reformers and teachers unions is born from miscommunication and misunderstanding. If reformers could begin to see the value in working with teachers and vise versa, positive change could be made more affectively.

Relevance in Rhode Island Schools:
The support for collaboration deduced from my research is vital to what we see going on in Rhode Island. Deborah Gist, the commissioner of education, advertises her support for excellent teachers with recognition like "The Golden Apple Award" however, she has a difficult time working with teachers. It is clear teachers in Rhode Island are concerned with the rapid adaptation to reform created by the Race to the Top grant the state was given in 2010. If two-way communication became more common between the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) and Rhode Island teachers there would be less tension and more affective reform.