Once allies, now in conflict: Teachers union and Obama
National Education Association president Dennis Van Roekel speaks on Capital Download with Susan Page about asking Education Secretary Arne Duncan to resign, teacher tenure, and what he calls corruption in privately-run schools. Shannon Rae Green, Erin Jensen, H. Darr Beiser
The National Education Association, the largest union in the nation and a heavyweight in Democratic politics, endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. But frustration with the administration's education policies prompted the 3.2 million-member group to call for Education Secretary Arne Duncan's resignation last month. As kids across the country head back to school, USA TODAY's Capital Download talked Tuesday with NEA President Dennis Van Roekel about teacher tenure, student testing and charter schools. Question and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: The NEA made waves at your convention last month by calling for Education Secretary Arne Duncan to resign. Why did you?
A: There's a lot of frustration out there with the testing, with the over-emphasis and the use of those test scores. ... There's just a lot of anger and frustration out there. ... As secretary of Education, they focused on him.
Q: In June, in Vergara vs. California, a California judge threw out California statutes that provided job protections to teachers. Duncan essentially welcomed the decision. Was that the final straw?
A: That first day when he said it was a solution to a problem, I think that did cause a lot of reaction. ... When they see in the Vergara case in California, that they believe that the solution to what's keeping kids from succeeding is due process for teachers — it's so misguided, and it's not going to change a bit for kids. There's not one piece of evidence or research that ties teacher tenure or due-process laws to student achievement. Why would you focus there?
Q: Former CNN correspondent Campbell Brown has formed a new group, the Partnership for Educational Justice, which supports a parental lawsuit challenging New York state's teacher tenure laws. She notes 91% of teachers are rated effective or highly effective but only 31% of kids are reading, writing and doing math at grade level. She asks, "How does that compute?"
A: She's assuming that there's a cause and effect. She believes that the percent of teachers who are competent is a direct correlation and a cause and effect of the students who achieve well. Teachers do make a huge difference in the classroom, but it's not the only thing. ... Her focus on that is so wrong-headed and misguided and not one student will benefit from that.
What we ought to focus on is, No. 1, school readiness. ... No. 2, we have to have high standards and a rich curriculum in every single school. We don't. No. 3, you have to focus on the learning conditions. We have schools that no politician or Campbell Once allies, now in conflict: Teachers union and Obama: