Mutual trust and respect

It's a simple, honest message, "As long as there is mutual trust and respect, Unions representing teachers can work well with school administrators to improve schools while still honoring the principles of collective bargaining." ~ OEA spokeswoman Michele Prater.

As opposed to "Gov. Kasich Supports Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's Plan to Overhaul Schools Because it is Similar to SB 5".

Mayor Frank Jackson and the state legislature, having consistently failed to show trust and respect on this issue, should begin to do so before moving any further forward with this corporate education plan. If this sentiment has any substance, the Governor should ensure that happens.

How Bad Education Policies Demoralize Teachers

We often hear the term “teacher burnout” to describe how some educators feel overtaken by the pressures of the classroom. But are these really cases of burnout or have many educators become “demoralized”? These are similar but also distinct forces, says Doris Santoro, Assistant Professor of Education at Bowdoin College, and both are driving dedicated and talented teachers out of the profession.

In a recent article for the American Journal of Education, Santoro argues that demoralization at the hands of rigid education “reforms” is often misdiagnosed as burnout, a condition that has more to do with how an individual responds to everyday stress. Demoralization, according to Santoro, occurs when much of the value of teaching has been stripped away by rigid, ill-conceived education reforms, creating a high level of frustration and helplessness among teachers. “Burnout” is not the issue. As she explains to NEA Today, the work of teaching has changed and it is therefore up to school communities and policymakers to help restore the “moral rewards” of teaching.

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A Democrat's bold plan to force GOP to re-legislate SB5

Frank Jackson may actually be a political mastermind, even if his roots are firmly planted in the corporate education camp's garden. His education "reform" plan contains provisions ripped right out of the pages of SB5.

Part of Jackson's plan asks the legislature to eliminate seniority as the sole factor in employment decisions and to allow the district to institute a merit pay plan. The changes would apply only to Cleveland as the state's sole district under mayoral control.

Both provisions were part of Senate Bill 5, a controversial collective bargaining law that would have affected public employees statewide. The law, which was put to a referendum as Issue 2 on the November ballot by a labor coalition backed by Democrats, was stomped by Ohio voters.

Rep. Mike Foley and state Sen. Nina Turner, both Cleveland Democrats, said they weren't ready to endorse what Turner called "Senate Bill 5 Lite." But both said they were keeping an open mind.

Mayor Jackson is calling for provisions that voters overwhelmingly repealed to be re-legislated by Ohio's Republican controlled general assembly.

Public Policy Polling just released their latest poll results of Ohio and found

After a little over a year on the job, Ohioans appear to be having voter’s remorse over the election of Republican John Kasich as Governor. Kasich holds a 53% job disapproval rating compared to just 33% approval. Independents disapprove by a 38-47 rate, just 9% of Democrats approve compared to 80% who do not, and 25% of Republicans disapprove while only 58% approve.

25% of Republicans disapprove. A majority of that disapproval comes as a result of the bitter SB5 fight. Those workers regardless of party, seemingly have long memories and are not ready to forget their betrayal. The thought of re-legislating pieces of SB5 might not be so appealing once heads clear.

The picture is further complicated for a number of Republican incumbents. For example, Plunderbund reports on Republican candidate Eric Spicer who is running for the Ohio House's 73rd District against State Rep. Jerrod Martin.

Spicer was an early voice against SB 5. “We tried to shove through bad legislation,” Spicer said, “that was a fiasco.” Spicer argued, “Ronald Reagan believed the Republican Party was a big tent party,” so Spicer wants the district represented by someone who can work with all parties and help build consensus.
[...]
But equally upsetting to Spicer is votes Martin did vote with his party, such as with SB 5 (which was repealed when Issue 2 failed) and the state budget.

In talking about his opposition to SB 5, he added, “and 60% of the voters agree with me.” What particularly bothered Spicer about SB 5 was he believes it “had unintended consequences that would have created a windfall for trial lawyers by getting rid of binding arbitration.”

Spicer is not the only Republican challenging an incumbent, primarily over SB5. Craig Schweitzer a very conservative Republican running for the 67th District, had this to say in an email obtained by Join the Future

The Ohio legislature with our current State Representative chose to embark on a path that used professional educators, as well as other members of the public sector workforce and their collective bargaining units as a scapegoat for Ohio’s financial difficulties. It was a bad choice and in my view a disingenuous tactic that ultimately failed. No single group of, teachers, law enforcement officers, or firefighters is responsible for Ohio’s state budget shortfalls.

Democrat Frank Jackson, urging Republicans to re-legislate SB5 lite in an election year may be the boldest part of his plan.

Frank Jackson's factory of sadness

The city of Cleveland has long had a sporting factory of sadness, now Mayor Frank Jackson wants to construct an education factory of sadness too. The Mayor and his education "CEO" have rolled out their new plan to "transform public schools", mostly by privatization, outsourcing to charters and installing corporate education reform policies.

Jackson's plan and approach have the two characteristic traits of all corporate education plans.

Characteristic 1.
• A desperate need to avoid collaboration with educators
Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke objected to his union not being included in creating the plan. He said his union has agreed to many changes the district wanted the last few years and is willing to work on others.

"We are an instrument for change, not an obstacle to change," Quolke said after being briefed on the plan by Jackson and Gordon Monday evening.

Quolke worried that the law changes Jackson is seeking from the legislature will mirror the controversial and overturned Senate Bill 5.

"I've been in the district a lot of years, and for every superintendent, I've seen a reform plan come and go," he said. "Teachers will embrace change if they're a part of it."

In contract negotiations this summer, the district had sought a merit pay system but CTU would agree only to discussing that option further.

Mayor Jackson said he did not talk to the union before coming up with his latest plan because he wanted to avoid further delay.

"We need to get something done," he said. "We've been in perpetual discussion about a lot of things. Our sense of urgency is such that something has to happen in a systemic way and it has to happen now."

Indeed, who needs the help of those who are actually going to be implementing the policy?

Jackson did consult with the city's business community and has its backing for the plan.

Well of course he did. Where else would one find pedagogical experts, with over a million years of experience?

Characteristic 2.

• A pathological desire to fire teachers, preferably experienced ones
It also continues Jackson's push last year to develop a merit pay system for teachers and to wipe out rules that make seniority the deciding factor in teacher layoffs. Jackson said such "systemic changes" are needed to resolve the district's ongoing financial struggles and to give children a better education, something he considers key to the city's future.
[...]
The mayor's plan comes as the district faces a budget deficit of from $55 to $65 million next year, which would force cuts on top of school closings and massive budget and staff cutbacks over the last few years.

The desire to eliminate experience is clearly tied to budget cuts. But rather than try to defend the experience in his classrooms and ask the legislature for budget relief, instead Jackson simply plans to start firing the more costly teachers. This on-going approach in Washington DC has hollowed out their teaching profession experience pool, with most teachers heading for the door. Jackson's plan is going to make Cleveland public schools a far less attractive place for talented teachers to want to go. High stakes, low pay, lack of security will cause many to look elsewhere, in the same way charter school teachers spend their time trying to secure public school teaching positions.

Here's the plan released by the Mayor and his education "CEO"

CLEVELAND’S PLAN FOR TRANSFORMING SCHOOLS

Why Levy requests are down

Gongwer reports

Fewer than normal school and library issues will appear on the March primary ballot and advocates suspect the cause was confusion surrounding when Ohio would hold the election.

A partisan dispute over the drawing of new congressional district maps had Ohioans for a time scheduled to vote in two primary elections before a compromise map established a single Mar. 6 primary date. (See Gongwer Ohio Report, December 14, 2011)

Among the 465 issues appearing on the March 6 ballot are nine bond issues, 280 tax requests, 124 local liquor options, nine combination questions and 43 miscellaneous issues, according the secretary of state.

Schools as usual make up the brunt of issues with seven bond requests, 85 tax levies, seven combination bond-tax issues, two combination income tax-bond issues, and 11 tax changes, according to the SOS.

The number of school levies is down, however, from the last presidential primary election, Ohio School Boards Association Director of Legislative Services Damon Asbury said. Whereas Ohio's 2008 primary saw 191 issues, only 112 funding requests are up this year.

"I think the numbers this year at least for this March primary may be a little lower just because of the confusion that districts were experiencing back in November, December when it wasn't clear whether we were going to have a March primary or a May primary."

The more likely explanation is that fact that the Republican presidential primary is contested and will attract lots of conservative voters who typically do not support school funding issues.

We published a full list of the school levy issues that will appear on the March 6th primary ballots, here.

The Teacher Evaluation Juggernaut

Ed Week has a piece on the problems new teacher evaluation systems are going to have on resources, and issue we have discussed before.

Teacher evaluation--with all its multiple facets, blind alleys, disputed data models, technocratic hype and roll-out problems-- is on every principal's mind these days. It would be great to think that principals in states with new evaluation plans are eager to begin this work, now having permission to sink more deeply into their roles as instructional guides, to have productive two-way professional conversations with their teachers, thinking together about improving instruction to reach specific goals.

But no. They're worried about another time suck and avalanche of paperwork on top of an already-ridiculous workload. And--you can't blame them. Being a good principal, like being a good teacher, is impossible. There is no way one single human being can cover all the bases, from keeping the buses running on time to staying abreast of the new math curriculum in grades K through 6. Besides, the new evaluation plans have huge problems embedded, beyond the make-work element.

It was the closing comment of this article that caught our attention

In the end, this will be another issue where outcomes are determined by cost-effectiveness. If it's too expensive for principals to fairly evaluate teachers' instructional efficacy, a cheaper strategy--relying more heavily on test data and technology--will be found. In fact, I'm guessing that any number of education publishers and non-profits are working on it right now.

that seems about right, and likely. However, we wouldn't underestimate the significant costs that test and technology based solutions are going to bring either. However you try to dice it, you arrive at the "unfunded mandate" problem. There's simply too much work, and not enough people or money to do it properly.

Corporate education reformers need to step up to the plate and fully fund their projects.