Anti-Union Front Group Attacks AFT
Posted: 12/16/2013 1:07 pm
On December 10, 2013, the Center for Union Facts (CUF) (don't believe the name) sponsored a full-page ad in the New York Times attributing the "high school slip in global rankings" to a single issue: The failure of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten to promote merit pay for teachers.
The ad reads:
We have fallen behind Latvia, Estonia, and Vietnam in science and math. The teachers union continues to protect incompetent teachers and refuses to reward outstanding teachers with merit-based pay. Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, fights against reforms that would help fix our failing schools.
The test on which "we have fallen behind" is the recently released Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The results of this test have been discussed extensively on Diane Ravitch's blog. For the sake of length, I will not discuss PISA in detail. I will only advise readers that comparing student experiences across cultures (and governments) is a complex matter. Furthermore, nations obsessed with high international test scores (and other test scores, as well) have earned the name "examination hell"countries.
I will also note that high international student test rankings "do not a global power make."
Nevertheless, CUF would have Americans think otherwise. CUF has mapped out a convenient, simplistic course of events in order to place fault for those "slipping" PISA scores.
Let us consider the proffered chronology in reverse.
On its blog, CUF implies that some incredible, terrible consequence will befall these United States for our having PISA scores ranking behind Latvia, Estonia, and Vietnam in math and science. Now, keep in mind that I am proceeding with the CUF assertion and not analyzing