Hillary Clinton Says Exactly What Teachers Unions Want to Hear
The Democratic presidential front-runner already has secured key union endorsements.
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton so far is saying everything teachers unions want to hear – and a lot of that includes bashing the Obama administration's education agenda.
On Nov. 9 in Nashua, New Hampshire, Clinton met with 25 members of the 1.6 million-member American Federation of Teachers to talk charter schools, testing, ongoing congressional efforts torewrite No Child Left Behind, and the state of education after several years of major change to the K-12 landscape. The teachers union released excerpts of the session on Sunday.
"I think there's been too much contention and lack of cooperation when it comes to education," Clinton said, taking both a shot at the administration – which has embraced education policies that run counter to union priorities – and at GOP presidential hopefuls like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who said over the summer that "the national teachers union" deserves a punch in the face.
The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association are the two major national teachers unions. Both have endorsed Clinton, and both have called for current Education Secretary Arne Duncan's resignation.
In her remarks, Clinton drove home her eagerness to collaborate with teachers unions, a clear sign she understands how fractured the relationship has become with the Obama administration.
"What I think we have to do is really, starting today and moving through the election into the next administration, figure out what our priorities are, how I can be working with you … and create an atmosphere in which we're all on the same team," she said.
At one point, a teacher from Nashua lamented that the administration's signature competitive grant program – Race to the Top – placed a premium on adopting new education policies without taking into consideration whether they work, while at the same time overlooking effective policies already in place.
"There's increasing pressure to replace things because it's new … and it devalues our experience," said Deb Howes, a teacher at the Amherst Street School who has been a vocal critic of the Race to the Top competition. "It devalues our voice, and it's not good for us or our students because we're always learning something new – sometimes three or four or five new initiatives in the same school year."
In response, Clinton did not hold back in her critique of the corporate style of education that's swept over much of the country, in part due to the administration's K-12 agenda.
"Everybody feels so pressured to produce 'results,' but they then, I think, can be misled into adopting programs that are not particularly evidenced-based, that don't have a track record," she said. "I think we've been doing way too much of that. I think we've wasted a lot of time, and money, and energy, instead of taking this deep breath that I'm calling for and saying what works."
On the subject of testing, Clinton reiterated that students should take fewer but better tests, something President Barack Obama and Duncan have said recently as well.
But Clinton said something else very important that teachers unions wanted to hear: "I have for a very long time also been against the idea that you tie teacher evaluation and even teacher pay to test outcomes. There's no evidence."
Using student test scores in part to evaluate and compensate teachers has been a big priority for the administration, and one of the most difficult policies states have taken on over roughly the last seven years.
Clinton also talked charter schools, which have flourished under the Obama administration. Teachers unions have argued that their increased numbers are siphoning resources, as well as some of the top-performing students, from traditional public schools.
Clinton underscored that there are good and bad charter schools and that more needs to be done to hold them accountable. And, she added, if elected president, she would work to revive the original idea behind charter schools: that they are laboratories for testing new educational models and, if successful, those models can be replicated by all public schools.
"A lot of people show up and they want to do a charter, and they don't pay attention to the educational research," she said. "They have a pet idea. They may be, again, motivated to try to help kids, but they don't have the experience, and they don't necessarily know how to do it."
In addition, Clinton talked about the ongoing efforts in Congress to overhaul No Child Left Behind. Arewrite of the federal K-12 law is gaining steam toward the finish line and could be delivered to the president's desk before the new year.
"If that can get passed, then, in effect, my administration will be starting from a different base, and then we can figure out how we really build on some of the changes that are going to be made in that," she said.
She gave some passing hints at how she would build on the changes of a new law, saying she would want teachers unions to have input on the frequency of testing students and what those tests are used for.
She also noted that a Clinton administration would direct more federal dollars to programs for low-income students and students with disabilities.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act authorized Congress to contribute 40 percent of the national average per pupil expenditure for each special education student, but appropriations have historically ranged from 10 to 20 percent.
"The most we've ever paid is like 17 percent," Clinton said in answering a question from a special Hillary Clinton Says Exactly What Teachers Unions Want to Hear - US News:
