Modern School: Why the Chicago Teachers Strike Should Matter to You

Modern School: Why the Chicago Teachers Strike Should Matter to You:

Why the Chicago Teachers Strike Should Matter to You

by Michael Dunn

 
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) wants to STEAL YOUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) were pretty close to agreement on salaries. CPS backed down on forcing teachers to work an additional 90 minutes without pay, agreeing to rehire laid off teachers to cover the extra time in the school day. The remaining big negotiable issue is evaluations, with CPS demanding that student standardized test scores be a significant factor.

This is terrible for both teachers and students. Student test scores depend far more on students’ socioeconomic backgrounds and other factors outside of school than on teacher skill. Furthermore, even the small influence teachers have on student test data is difficult to