9486 in the collection
California Teacher Takes Criticism of Race to the Top to the Union
Such teacher activism is certainly good news. And rare. Kudos to Virginia Tibbetts.
by Virginia Tibbetts
I requested an emergency meeting of my local teachers’ association executive board, of which I am an elected member, to discuss Race to the Top. At this meeting I explained the 4 program goals of this project and what I thought they would mean to students and teachers. Our California Teachers Association staff members were very lackadaisical. These staff members are saying that CTA is not concerned, so why should we be? Not concerned? I find this outrageous. Here is CTA President David Sanchez's mention of Arne Duncan's announcement as presented at CTA's Summer Institute in LA:
"There will be other issues that will need our attention in the coming year. The reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act is expected to start in January. CTA will again lead efforts to erase, rewrite and then reauthorize this punitive law. President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have promised to work with educators on this reauthorization, but we also know they support merit pay and charter school proposals that we will be watching very carefully. Paying and evaluating teachers based on a single test score does not improve student learning and does not help attract and retain quality teachers in lower performing schools. And we will not stand for it. Secretary Duncan is also a little confused about California's law for tracking student and teacher data. You may have read something about this as Secretary Duncan has been threatening to prevent California from qualifying for some federal education grants. What Secretary Duncan doesn't understand is that California law doesn't prohibit linking student and teacher data. In fact, it already is linked at the local level. California law also doesn't prohibit the use of student assessments in evaluating teachers, but if and how that is done is bargained at a local level. The CTA Board of Directors has already appointed a member and staff workgroup to guide our efforts throughout the reauthorization. CTA will also be making sure NEA holds strong and does what's right around NCLB."
I am a California Teachers Association elected representative and am a voting member at the 4 state councils, so I wrote my CTA Board member and asked what response CTA will be making regarding the Race to the Top on their public comments web site. I have not heard anything from him.
I am trying to get people to understand the severity of the Obama administration's philosophy of education, but as you can see I am hitting some roadblocks.
— Virginia Tibbetts
Stop National Standards
2009-08-10
http://stopnationalstandards.org/activism_9.html
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