Monday, April 5, 2010

Education Sector: Research and Reports: Understanding Teachers Contracts

Explainers

Understanding Teachers Contracts

Author:: Andrew J. Rotherham
Publication Date:: March 23, 2010
Read more about: Teacher Quality

Media and other inquires please contact Kristen Amundson, or 202-552-2849.

Whether it's the contentious multi-year negotiations over the teachers contract in Washington, D.C., or the debates in many states over competing for Race to the Top funds, teachers contracts are at the center of the education reform debate today. Once of interest only to education insiders, contract issues and calls for reform are now widespread. High profile editorial boards at major newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal regularly weigh-in on the topic. Articles in magazines like The New Yorker detail the effects of various contract provisions and processes.¹ National voices as diverse as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and current Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are calling for more flexibility in how teachers are hired, fired, evaluated, and paid.

Despite increasing attention to contract reform, the public often has no idea what a typical teachers contract looks like. Although they are public documents, most contracts are not easily found on the Web sites of school districts or teachers unions; newspapers and local media do not publish them (and often offer only cursory coverage of the issues being discussed during collective bargaining negotiations).² Meanwhile, those negotiations are often held out of public view, and the deals cut late at night. The documents themselves can be cumbersome, lawyerly, heavily influenced by side agreements and addendums, and generally hard for non-experts to figure out.

In 2007, the National Council on Teacher Quality launched the database "TR3" cataloging teachers contracts in the nation's

California Progress Report Lakoff’s Initiative: Don’t T- You, Don’t T- Me, T- The Man Behind The Tree

California Progress Report

Lakoff’s Initiative: Don’t T- You, Don’t T- Me, T- The Man Behind The Tree

By Peter Schrag

The chances that Berkeley linguistics expert George Lakoff will get his California Democracy Act initiative on the November ballot range between slim and slimmer. But in contending that Attorney General Jerry Brown’s title and ballot summary would destroy any chance of its passing even if it qualified, Lakoff starts an argument that goes well beyond semantics. It tells a lot about why California is stuck in the mess that it’s in.

In requiring two-thirds majorities to approve both the annual budget – and all other spending measures – and to raise taxes, California is the only state in the union that gives legislative minorities -- usually meaning Republicans – a veto on both budgeting and taxes. Lakoff, who’s been a guru on language to a lot of politicians, wants to end what is in effect minority rule.

Marcher Irene Gonzalez Revisits Childhood in Atwater & Livingston

By Willie Pelote

Los Angeles probation officer and Central Vally émigré Irene Gonzalez, who is participating in a 48-day trek from Bakersfield to Sacramento to highlight the need for quality public services and education in California, revisited parts of her childhood when the March for California’s Future reached Atwater and Livingston this past weekend.

As a child, Gonzalez cycled between various foster homes in the Central Valley before finding a permanent home in the town of Atwater.

Her foster parents also ran a flower shop in Livingston called Rose’s Flowers, which has long since disappeared, another casualty on the long list of small businesses that

Ed Sector’s “Interactive Explainer” Omits Important Variable | Intercepts

Ed Sector’s “Interactive Explainer” Omits Important Variable

by Mike Antonucci

I’m a great admirer of the work of Andrew Rotherham and the Education Sector, and their latest report,Understanding Teachers Contracts, is impressive. You’ll particularly want to click on the “Interactive Explainer” button, which lines up provisions from the teachers’ contract of the San Diego Unified School District against that of the Green Dot charter schools in Los Angeles. It’s illustrative of the differing approaches to collective bargaining the two organizations take.
But it’s not really a fair comparison. The Green Dot contract used, from 2006, is one of the first contracts

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence.

Bright and Early: The Education Newsblitz

The kiddos will not be happy with me for saying this, but thank goodness spring break is winding down. There's no break for school reporting:

The Union-Tribune reports that a judge said that no, Helix High can't stop Grossmont schools from trying to revoke its charter -- at least, not yet. Grossmont is still weighing what to do after a Helix official violated its code of conduct.
Also in the UT: Efforts to curb bullying seem to be working. And an editorial argues that the Obama Administration should focus reforms on more than just the worst schools.
School board member John de Beck writes in SDNN that schools should start offering tangible rewards like cash for good behavior and grades.
Poway schools may stop running buses to save money, the North County Times reports.
The Los Angeles Times writes that Chinese government programs to help U.S. kids learn Mandarin have raised suspicions around Los Angeles, although there are a handful already operating in San Diego.

Time is Already Running Out for ESEA - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Time is Already Running Out for ESEA

By Alyson Klein on April 5, 2010 12:34 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

It's only early April, but time is already running very short if lawmakers are going to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this year.

Lawmakers are back in their districts this week. When Congress returns later this month, they'll have less than four months of work time before the August recess. Not much, besides budget bills, happens in Washington after July, especially in an election year. Four months may seem like lots and lots of time to folks outside of Washington, but Congress tends to run on a very different schedule. You know that saying, " it would take an act of Congress... " Yeah, that's around for a reason.

Of course, congressional aides can and do spend their summer vacations working out the details of a bill, but that's only if their bosses have reached the broad outlines of an agreement. And it seems to me that folks have been very busy working on health care and student loans and haven't had a chance to think through some of the thornier issues in ESEA renewal.

Folks have said privately that if the House education committee can't get a bill together by the end of March, there isn't going to be a reauthorization this year. And we haven't yet seen legislation. Remember, the 2002 version of the law, the No Child Left Behind Act, was on the floor of the Senate for roughly a month and

Weaker Teachers Leave Tough Schools, Analysis Finds - Teacher Beat - Education Week

Weaker Teachers Leave Tough Schools, Analysis Finds

by Stephen Sawchuk

It's long been known that high-poverty, high-minority schools have higher rates of teacher turnover than other schools. But is turnover in such schools always a bad thing? In a new paper out from the National Bureau of Economic Research, economists Eric Hanushek and Steven Rivkin take on the issue and provide some fresh food for thought.
The researchers looked at data from an urban district in Texas from 1995-96 and from 2000-2001 in grades 4 and 8, using a matched teacher-student data set. The district has a whopping 30 percent annual "exit rate" among new teachers and 18 percent among veterans.
The researchers found that, of the "exiting" teachers, those leaving Texas schools entirely and those that sought out another school in the district were on average less effective relative to teachers who stayed in their schools in raising mathematics scores.
But when they sliced and diced the data, they found a much more complex set of factors. When the data were correlated by school type, for instance, the researchers found that the teachers who left low-achieving schools and schools with a higher concentration of black students were less effective, compared with "stayers," than teachers who left higher-achieving schools or those with fewer black students.
The one exception seems to be for novices with but a year of experience under their belts. First-year teachers

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URGENT:: Oak Ridge Elementary School � jimae

URGENT:: Oak Ridge Elementary School

by jimae

Dear friends and family,

I haven’t yet had a chance to divulge just how much Oak Ridge Elementary School means to both my husband and I, but I will do so shortly. I want to introduce you to more of our beliefs with Equal Start and Be Change in a new post soon, and share my experiences with my sweet sixth grader, Julieanna. For today, as it is incredibly urgent, please take a moment to read this message from my good friend, Jason Haper. Nick and I will be at the meeting Monday night (cameras in hand …) – if you can join us, I promise you – you will not regret it!

Thank you for taking the time to support the families of Oak Park, and the plight of our inner-city children.

So much love,

Jimae

ALL EQUAL START AND BE CHANGE SUPPORTERS
A message from Equal Start’s Jason Harper

URGENT: UPDATE ON OAK RIDGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN OAK PARK

WE NEED YOUR VOICE OF INFLUENCE
Consider the inner-city child as your child. This injustice can’t be ignored. Recently, the Department of Education released a list of the lowest performing schools in California. None were surprised that Oak Ridge was on that list.

In 2005, “Low Performing” was the barometer that led former Sacramento City Board Member Rick Jennings to

Students plan tuition protest at State Board of Education meeting this morning | Politics | Idaho Statesman

Students plan tuition protest at State Board of Education meeting this morning

Idaho college students say they will protest rising fees and tuition on Monday with a sit-in at the State Board of Education meeting.

In a news release sent Sunday, Jason Denizac of the Idaho Student Association says the protest will begin at the Capitol at 8 a.m. The board is scheduled to convene at 8:30 a.m. to set fees and tuition for the 2010-11 academic year in a meeting in the House & Senate Auditorium in the building’s new garden level.

Denizac said students will protest proposed increases, including Boise State University’s asking request for an 8.9% increase in overall tuition and fees, including a 14.7% increase in general tuition. This will cost full-time resident undergraduates an additional $457.50 per year, Denizac said in the release. Idaho State University is asking for a 9.9% increase.

The sit-in is being organized by the Idaho Student Association, a new state-wide, student-run grassroots organization. The Idaho Student Association was started this year by students from BSU and ISU in reaction to record tuition increases.

"The decision to raise fees was made with a considerable lack of deference to student opinion. We need to make sure that student voice is loud and present from now on so such decisions will not be made again

Quote of the Day � Student Activism

Quote of the Day

by Angus Johnston

“The first demonstrations we had were just a handful of people. In fact when Dr. King himself went to jail, only fifty-five people would go with him. So, when young people today ask me, ‘When are we going to be able to get together like you all were in the sixties?’ — nobody was ‘together’ in the sixties! It was a small group of dedicated people who got it started…
“And then the kids took it over.”

–Andrew Young, interviewed by Spike Lee for the documentary 4 Little Girls, discussing the Birmingham campaign.

Turning a blind eye is costing our kids | California Progress Report

Turning a blind eye is costing our kids

Posted on 02 April 2010

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By Eric Wooten

Everyday, millions of responsible Americans sit down, log on and break the law.

Despite being banned by federal law, online poker is an immensely popular American pastime that shows no signs of waning. It is estimated that up to 15 million Americans play internet poker with some regularity.

Our country’s schizophrenic approach to online gaming has created a virtual Wild West boomtown, where a handful of crooks and thieves can easily hide among the many reputable gambling establishments.

Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) is carrying legislation that would heavily regulate and tax online gaming. But most importantly, his legislation would provide vital safeguards to prevent underage gambling and help those with self-destructive gambling habits.

With these regulations, each and every bet made online could be tracked and analyzed. That means federal authorities could shutdown online establishments catering to minors with a flick of a switch.

If you really want to stop stores from illegally selling cigarettes to kids, require the store owners to produce a valid name, address and credit card number for every pack of cigarettes they sold. That’s the level of scrutiny online poker establishments will be

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