E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSTODAY's Natalie Morales reports on the latest in the teachers' strike in Chicago, where the union and school district say they're making progress as talks resume on the fourth day of the walk-out.
The week-long teachers’ strike in Chicago has drawn national attention because it affects 350,000 children and pits two Democratic forces -- a new generation of political leaders and teacher unions -- against each other.
But it also represents a broader struggle over education reform and union power, and the results could reverberate elsewhere.
If the Chicago Teachers Union wins enough concessions, then it’s a victory for the labor movement and a potential guide for similar battles underway in other parts of the country.
If Mayor Rahm Emanuel emerges with enough of his demands intact, then it’s another setback for labor and validates the push to impose stricter measures of teacher accountability.
More strike coverage from NBCChicago.com
“This is being looked at very carefully by school districts across the country,” said Kathleen Hirsman, who teaches education and labor law at the Loyola University School of Law. “There’s the issue of the diminishing strength of teachers unions and who is going to come out the winner. And how the Chicago Public Schools resolves this will be very instructive to other school districts now looking at implementation of state laws requiring teacher evaluation based on student performance.”
All over America, states and cities are trying to figure out how to respond to federal initiatives aimed at improving public schools. The initiatives employ a series of carrots and sticks: There’s money for districts that implement the Obama administration’s ideas on teacher evaluations and testing, and there’s the threat of closure or other sanctions for underperforming schools.
Scott Olson / Getty Images file
Mayor Rahm Emanuel could help decide the future of education reform across the U.S.
That challenge has resulted in elected officials trying to impose new standards for teachers, who resist having to give up control over their work.
“It comes down to who’s going to decide how kids are educated,” said James Wolfinger, an associate professor of history and education at DePaul University. “Who is the expert? Who should have the greatest voice?”
Chicago is just the latest of several big cities -- including New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Cleveland -- where that tension has come to a head.
Chicago strike talks on the brink of a deal
How do you measure teacher performance?
Illinois lawmakers have set a schedule to implement new teacher evaluation methods, and Chicago must start making those changes this year. Illinois also happens to be a state that allows teachers to strike.
That makes the five-day-old walkout, which has captivated the country and could impact the presidential election, an ideal opportunity for labor to show that it’s no pushover.
“This is a very important strike for the teachers union,” said Richard Kearney, a political scientist at North Carolina State University. “If they can come out of this thinking they’ve made up some ground, that should give some encouragement to teacher’s unions elsewhere who are facing similar situations.”
Then again, Emanuel could end up on top.
Or: each side will concede, ending the strike in a draw.
What then?
“Then the fight just goes on elsewhere,” Kearney said. “And none of this meant a great deal.”
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Family of 77-year-old dragged from car demand apology from Texas cop
- Ex-Navy SEAL killed in Libya attack a highly trained pilot, marksman
- 'I don't want to die': NJ supermarket shooting terror laid out in 911 calls
- Cops set up cameras to watch the cameras that watch you
- Video: Was cash-from-car chase 'Robin Hood' situation?
Leave a Comment:
Evaluating teachers and holding them accountable is long overdue. No person should be exempt from being fired for a poor performance.
I am so tired of hearing about teachers crying for more pay - get real! Get a real job where you actually work all 12 months first off and then people might actually listen to you. 2nd Unions are negotiating you right out of jobs - it's happening all over the country. Companies can NOT afford to keep paying these ridiculous salaries and benefits and then have an affordable product made for their customers. And you bitch about why so many things are made in China! Jesus, pull up your window shades people!
We need to clean house on education - have job performance reviews for teachers, senority means nothing from here on out (just like public sector jobs), kids will be tested after that subject is completed, and your possible pay increase will be based on your job review and how well the kids tested. Don't like it ? Find a new career then!
Your benefits will be like everyone elses in the private sector. And school administators will be and should be capped on income and no more golden parachutes! And lastly, the schools should have a 5 year budget so they are not pan handling every year with referrendums and asking for more and more!
effort:
Agree completely. Here in Oregon the teachers union is bankrupting us. They give themselves raises EVERY SINGLE CONTRACT, and in Portland Public Schools, the biggest district, they don't even graduate 60% of the students. They have zero accountability, lifetime job security and seniority rules. They can retire at age 55, and the retirements are multi-million dollar. Think I'm lying? Even though PERS filed a huge lawsuit to keep the huge pension payout secret, they lost and now we know how ridiculous they are; many receiving 200%- 300% of their final salaries; able to bank sick, vacation and load up on overtime, to boost those pension payouts by 30-40%. It's obscene.
Kids graduate from high school and they can barely read and write. Forget about math, science and technology. These teachers get "Education" MA's and they don;t even know how to do math themselves, so of course they can't teach it.
And the school year keeps getting shorter, WHILE WE PAY TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS HIGHER AND HIGHER SALARIES TO WORK PART-TIME. One school district now has a 4-day workweek- AND THE TEACHERS LOVE IT. They get to work only 80% of their already part-time job, and get paid even more.
Hey effort, okay. I quit! But now who will teach the kids? You? LOL! Are you highly qualified? Do you have a Master's degree in education? Are you willing to re-certify every five years? Are you ready to spend your day in a room with 27 9 and 10 year olds, many who look to you as the only reasonable adult in their life? Are you willing to feed them, provide them with the materials they need to learn, and most of all, teach them to be responsible, reasonable, and respectful? Good luck!
Could we just focus on how to come out of the strike with a win-win for both sides. Compromise. I know it is a filthy, dirty, obscene word in the American language today. Now that I think about it the fact that it is analagous to the f-word is probably why there are so many divorces. Compromise. It's just to dirty to use in a marriage too.
Compromise used to be the way things got done. Now people are so polarized along "party lines" that they are willing to cut off their nose to spite their face. However this ends in Chicago one thing is certain: each side will claim victory and say they did it for the children and our future. Each side will be fooling themselves with this claim as they try to fool the rest of us.
My wife is a teacher in Michigan where teachers are facing very similar pressures on pay, benefits and evaluations, cirriculum, etc. Never having been a union member myself, I find it hard to sympathize with the plight teachers are facing currently. They have some valid points, and some of the gripes have no basis in the real world and are remnants of a time gone by.
Though I cannot speak for teacher's nationally, teachers in Michigan enjoy what I believe to be incredibly generous pay and benefits. For the first time in history, they are required to contribute to thier health care, their pensions are incredible and a relic from better/different times. Perhaps, all the promises on pay and benefits should never have been made and were too generous to begin with. It is easy to sympathize with most working American on the issue of reduction in pay/benefits. It is hard on any family whose income is going in reverse.
However, a 10 year veteran teacher who makes $80k per year for 180 days of work at about 7 hours per day with Cadillac benefits, complaining about compensation is something they should never do in public. (that is in Michigan mind you) This of course is in addition to job security that is really second to none. Aside from committing a felony or molesting a student, you are pretty much set for life. So, I think the teachers know their number is up when it comes to concessions on pay/benefits (in Michigan) and bless their hearts, they are willing in most cases to reduce pay and benefits on new hires.
On the cirriculum/evaluation aspect though is where I have to side with the teachers for the most part. I think there has to be evaluations, not by your buddy or colleague working in the same building as it is typically done, but by an uninterested outside source, and it has to mean something. Currently with tenure, there is really nothing that can be done to underperforming teachers. Certainly, looking at certain districts, every teacher would have been fired long ago if that were the case. Which lead to the real problem here I believe, how can you create an objective evaluation process when dealing with teachers in affluent districts vs those in poverty stricken districts? Variations between student ability is huge depending on a number of socioeconomic factors. I dont believe there really is any objective standard that will work across the board.
Still, teachers do not want anyone looking behind the curtain, on an objective or subjective basis. It is about maintaining their fiefdom. That needs to change. There needs to be accountability, real accountability, like in a real job in the real world.
Extremely well said. I am in a similar position as you in WA State with my spouse being a teacher of ten years. I see the same things as you. The curriculum and evaluations are a point of contention where the teachers do have a valid point. As you mentioned with the many contributing factors that must be considered with each student and the factors other than school that effect their want or ability to learn or be taught. This issue is bigger than money and performance.
Gavin:
Re: "However, a 10 year veteran teacher who makes $80k per year for 180 days of work at about 7 hours per day with Cadillac benefits, complaining about compensation is something they should never do in public. (that is in Michigan mind you) This of course is in addition to job security that is really second to none."
This IS what's wrong with public education. There are no consequences for a job done poorly and no raises based on a job done well. Seniority rules and it has decimated the public education system. We are more stupid than ever because we have allowed this zero accountability culture to thrive.
The unions are are the heart of the problem. The unions work for union members to secure higher pay and more benefits. Whether they are doing a good job has nothing to do with it. To think that we can ignor human nature is a completely foolish game plan that is costing us billions and getting us not only nowhere but we are falling seriously behind.
Here's an idea for evaluating teachers that seems like the right track to explore for a fair evaluation process that would potentially get rid of the bad and create incentives for teachers to put forth effort and committment to their job.
A grading scale were there are several modes of evaluating a teacher's performance on the Job.
25% for Classroom instruction skills (observed by an administrator, a peer selected by the teacher and a union rep. so it feels like a fair eval not just one opinion)
25% Continuing education requirements completed and professional development opportunities taken by the teacher.
20% Student pass/fail rate and student improvement over the year considered even if failing.
15% Based on attendance of the teacher to be on time and ready for duty on days that are not otherwise excused as vacation, sick leave or FMLA covered absence.
15% Yearly exam taken for testing the teachers ability to teach at their grade levels they are certified for. Similar to their certification tests but a more condensed and kinda dumbed down everyday teacher stuff not some massive comprehensive college exam.. pretty easy to pass sort of test unless you are just a brain dead teacher..
Okay I came up with this in 15 minutes or less.. what the F are the elected officials and the Dept of Education doing with our tax dollars.. These are basic corporate world ways of evaluating all employees for continued employment.. Come on people common sense and a little accountability and this is very solveable problem.The unions timed this strike to use the lack of educating the youth of Chicago as a blackmail opportunity. All of these so called solutions could have been worked out over the summer but this strike during the year turned up the intensity while using the children of Chicago and struggling parents and families as pawns in a political game. Shame on them
While I do not agree with all that you say, I do see your point. It does seem as though some are fighting so hard against anything performance based that they are failing to put forth any effort at finding a point from which to begin. Why must every point of contention be an all or nothing proposition?
again this was a 15 minute or less rant of how they could begin to compromise on a way to evaluating teachers fairly instead of scaring the hell out of teachers that an eval will equate to job loss..
I bet if you gave greater minds than mine all summer they could make this into a reasonable plan to evaluate teachers fairly and protect the profession and the students from dead beat and burnt out teachers
I have no issue with groups of employees getting together to create positive change and establish creative, outside the box approaches to achieving results. I do have issues with screaming noise makers that are more focused on their own comfort than the overal comfort of the greater good. I don't really find a whole lot of beneficial progress or beneficial goodness in public employee teachers' unions.
Teachers in san antonio were jumping up and down for a 2% increase to try to keep up with inflation and costs of living.. We are the 7th largest city in America.. Why is there such a disparity in salaries and increases?.. Chicago is the city where politics rule instead of mature choices.. But everyone is happy with the leaders that come from there ..Just weird to me
Can child protective service workers.. police.. fireman and all other city workers decide they don't have enough in their paycheck and they don't want to be evaluated on their work performance and take a week off to hold a sign in their hands on the corner instead of meeting the requirements of the job description they signed to even get their job in the first place..? Give into their demands and it only rewards bad behavior... Figure teachers would understand why their bad behavior at the command of the union should go un rewarded.. think they teach you that in classroom management 101.. Get back to work so the kids in your poor neighborhoods dont get dumber and more likely to end up in prison or gangs...
Maybe Rahm could "deal a blow" to the shooting war on Chicago's south side? Lotta bodies piling up as he ignores the conflageration......
The union just helped them practice their aim while all the kids got to be educated by the projects instead of the schools this week.
26,000 union teachers x $1,000 annual dues = 26 MILLION DOLLARS for the union bosses from TEACHERS ALONE - Show me the value the UNION adds for 26 MILLION a year
Sorry that money was spent on the Obama campaigns and staffing his campaign this year. wonder why he hasnt made a statement about this being such a big deal...? Oh yeah and his former chief of staff being appointed to this position.. I bet all these things are just coincidence :)
MIND BLOWING- The state of Illinois has 939,000 union members x annual dues of a $1,000
FOLKS the union bosses of ILLINOIS take in $939,000,000.00 in dues alone....
Would someone PLEASE explain where this 939 MILLION DOLLARS is going EVERY YEAR
well Obama raised 111 million last month.. might ask him where it came from
THANK YOU SO MUCH...... That explains it..... Obama gets a 12% cut and the remaining 88% or
$ 828,000,000 must go to the Karen Lewis "ALL YOU CAN EAT " fund
One Word.............. ACCOUNTABILITY
No you have to add in the 2008 campaign and the money other political networks they are into.. Like "mafia like" underground that still is very much alive and well in the Chicago area... At least the Italian mafiosos left women and children out of the equation.. Seems like the everyone is fair game to be a pawn that can be moved on or off the board in Liberal Chicago
What no one has mentioned in all of this is that most teachers only have 1-2 years of experience. This is a trend since the 1980s. All of those older teachers with the experience are long gone to greener pastures.
From a year old MSNBC article:
The odds that a child will be taught by a new teacher have increased dramatically over the past two decades. In 1987-'88, the most common level of experience among the nation's 3 million K-12 public school teachers was 14 years in the classroom. By 2007-'08, students were most likely to encounter a teacher with just one or two years of experience.
Experts attribute the experiential decline to numerous factors, including the widespread retirement of Baby Boomer teachers, added demands due to programs like “No Child Left Behind” and teachers leaving to pursue better-paying opportunities in other fields.
The nonprofit National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) estimates that 300,000 veteran teachers retired between 2004 and 2008 alone.
'The crisis is upon us'
But finding replacements for the departing educators only addresses part of the problem. Unlike their predecessors of a generation ago, nearly 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years, according to NCTAF.
Everyone says just fire them all. Ok, then who will replace them? No one with the education needed to teach will take a job with no pay and extreme stress.
Um... Chicago has a 40% graduation rate. They aren't being taught now as it is. Give some teachers straight out of college a shot at it. They simply can't do any worse than these overpaid union thugs are doing now.
You don't get it. Most teachers today are inexperienced kids straight out of school themselves.
All you are saying is fire them all and then hire some inexperienced kids. Guess what? That's what you have now.
Bring in the scabs. Its time to end the union stranglehold on education and bring some accountability to the system.
I think anyone who cares about their children in Chicago should consider pulling their kids out of the public school system there. Find some other way to get your kids an education, because it won't happen in CPS until the union is broken and the schools are capable of hiring teachers who actually care about educating kids instead of how fat their paychecks can get.
Orwelian states, here it comes. tick tock. the totalitarian tippy toe it is.
See the poster Social Revolution, this is the kind of nonsense the liberal progressive Dumbocrats subject our child to every day. Time to get rid of the vile and corrupt teachers union and their memebership. They should all be jailed for conspiracy to over throw the governement. And just look at this crew if you didn't know it you would think they just got out of a rap concert or jail.
Unions are history, and polticians used you Dem's and Pub's are corrupt and most working to one world dictatorship.
Rahm "destruction" Emmanuel = Rothchild Zionist. Of course he will. AND zionism is a political movement, NOT jewish. It is NOT antisemitic. Do your research sheeple, we've been taught the wrong things. Research and criss cross research, dont take my word for it. WAKE UP.
uh-oh leftard; time for a purge of your party to get rid of those nasty Zionist Jews again?
what are you going to do with them? who will be the brains behind the Left-wing then?
Emanuel shame on you . . . how Romney . . . esk!
When you are trying to save money do something about exceptionally height double dipping political pensions!!!
Instead you target teachers? Who is next the police? You half of them off! Now your "kill rate" in Chicago is more than Afghanistan! I guess you had to do it that way since you could not speed up your plans to deport low income families to the suburbs wasn't working fast enough to meet you scheduled run for governor.
You are a typical carrer politicaian. You can count on me to vote for the other guy no mater who runs against you!
Its Romney ESQ - You of all people, being poorly educated, should welcome change. When Unions took control of education America was a world leader. Now most public school graduates are so ill educated they couldn't spell CAT without a computer if you spotted them the C and the T.
If the education system remains as it is. The US economy would never recover, because the real reason of out sourcing is the failing of our education system to produce qualified labors.
Unions are killing this country. Especially the ones for public servants.
I would think drinking and driving, and cigarette smoking is doing the real killing.
Put your arguments in perspective- unions are small potatoes compared to serious problems.
The extreme terms don't help solve the issue practically.
I'm super liberal and a union member...
But seriously, the teachers' unions need to be put in their place. We NEED to be able to fire the bad ones.
Pay them fair, provide them with benefits, but please, FIRE THE BAD ONES.
My mother is a retired teacher, and I know many teachers. The solution - pay teachers a FAIR wage, BUST the unions, reward good teachers with more pay and cashier or demote the lousy teachers to the remedial classes. Make teaching a profession that people aspire to, not one that they do because they can't do anything else.
I have PERSONALLY known science teachers who didn't know basic science, English teachers who couldn't spell and had lousy grammar, and had a high school physics teacher who actually thought he had lived in Atlantis in a previous life and could travel out of body with his mind.
If there are classes that need baby sitters, put those losers in there to baby sit, put the good teachers in with the good students, and PAY THE GOOD TEACHERS A LOT MORE. That will at least give the loser teachers something to work for. Hey English teacher who can't write - fix your grammar and we'll promote you... WHAT A CONCEPT!
That is the way business works - produce, and you prosper. Do badly, and you can get fired or demoted. Teaching is way to important a job to not reward the smart, innovative, dedicated instructors. Treating them all crappy because some bottom-feeder teachers suck is offensive to me.
All the unions are doing now is diluting the pool of teachers. It raises the idiots up and protects their jobs, and beats the innovators down so they are all at the same level, and that is just wrong.
Raum the 'Midget' needs to be Bee-otch slapped!
We spend the most per student of any country in the world for K-12 education. However, we have a 20% dropout rate, and rank 25th in math and science.
This is not ONLY the teachers fault, but it is a sign of a failing school system.
When private businesses fail they go out of business, and some other company doesnt the work. If they dont fail, but do poorly they stay in business, but no one gets raises.
When the public school system fails, administrators and teachers get raises.
That is the difference between public and private institutions.
80% of Chicago Public School students can't read at grade level. The HS graduation rate is less than 60%. Does anyone wonder what good the teachers union does? Then you can look at a Catholic high school in the inner city, basically 100% minority. They have a 100% college acceptance rate. If Democrats had brains they would ask what is the difference.
As a person who attended Catholic school my assessment of what the difference is, is this: Catholic schools are private and the students pay to attend which translates to there is more of a want to be there, there is a lot of discipline in Catholic schools where the teachers are allowed to remove kids, Catholic schools are allowed to hold kids back or fail them for a grade level, Catholic schools do not try to accommodate every single religion/lifestyle/ideology, you conform or you go elsewhere. This allows them to teach and allows students to learn.
Rahm should give them another week and if they still are out do as Reagan did and fire them all and replace them. There are many teachers across this country that would love to take their place. It is finally time they are held accountable for their work, or lack thereof.
Reagan replaced controllers who walked out on an existing contract. These people have none. Will YOU be lining up to teach? Are you even qualified? (As in licensed by the state. I'm betting you're not.)
For all you haters, this has a lot less to do with teachers than it does Richard M. Daley. In his drive to control everything, he got the state to end the elected school board to one he could appoint and control. Along with jobs and MONEY. Chicago schools have been left in a shambles and you can't lay that at the feet of teachers.
His use of TIF districts to fund his grand plans has robbed the schools of upwards of a BILLION dollars for infrastructure. He appointed cronies to run this mess into the ground, with little actual accountability.
Toilets don't flush. Classes with 40 or more students at a time. No air conditioning on 100 degree days, to the point the city health department makes them close the schools. Music is gone. Most art. Many athletics. Student who have to wait as long as 6 weeks to get a book!
No, I'm not a teacher. But you all need to start focusing on leadership instead of the rank and file who have to endure this mess and these parent-less kids day in and day out. Most of YOU wouldn't last the first hour.