A report from a high-powered education task force that calls for states and school districts to overhaul how they recruit, prepare, evaluate, and compensate teachers has raised the hackles of the American Federation of Teachers, which dismissed many of its recommendations as 鈥渢op-down鈥� and disrespectful of the profession.
AFT President Randi Weingarten鈥檚 sharp criticism of , released Tuesday by , came despite the participation of Ms. Weingarten and two other AFT officers in the 30-member task force that helped shape a series of 20 policy recommendations to improve the teaching corps in the nation鈥檚 100 largest school districts. Some recommendations are aimed at improving the effectiveness of principals, but teachers are the overwhelming focus of the report.
鈥淭here weren鈥檛 many of us on the task force speaking for teachers, and I think the report reflects that, especially in the lack of emphasis on principal effectiveness,鈥� said Francine Lawrence, the president of the Toledo Federation of Teachers, an AFT affiliate, and a member of the panel. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 speak to the professionalization of teaching at all, which is a real disappointment.鈥�
The task force had a total of four teachers鈥� union representatives, including one from the National Education Association.
Strategic Management of Human Capital is a project of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education and is supported by funding from foundations. It is headed by Allan R. Odden, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and James A. Kelly, the founding president of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who chaired the task force over the course of the past year, said the panel had a 鈥渃onsensus on much of what鈥檚 in the report,鈥� but explained that there had been no formal vote of its members to endorse the report because of some disagreements.
鈥淲e wanted the recommendations we put forth to be significant and specific, so we did not water it down in order to get agreement from everyone,鈥� said Mr. Pawlenty, a Republican.
Other high-profile members of the task force included District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, who served as a vice chair of the panel, and New York City Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein.
The 鈥楶eople Side鈥�
In its recommendations to states, the task force calls for several sweeping changes in teacher policy.
It said raising the bar for who can enter undergraduate-level teacher education programs鈥攑erhaps by requiring a minimum score on the SAT or the ACT鈥攊s necessary to improve the talent that enters the profession. States also should require a rigorous content test before prospective teachers can earn an initial teaching license, it says. In addition, states should support, with policy and funding, more alternative pathways into teaching, such as Teach For America and the New Teacher Project, and should require all new teachers to go through an intensive induction or an internship experience that resembles a medical residency.
The report recommends that states adopt a multi-tiered licensing system; require evidence of effectiveness before granting tenure; and use performance-based evaluation systems to drive professional development and help reset teachers鈥� salary schedules. The task force鈥檚 final recommendation to states is to create performance-based evaluation and pay systems for principals.
In its recommendations for school districts, the report calls for local leaders to follow the lead of places like Chicago and Long Beach, Calif., to expand their pipelines for recruiting teachers, to eliminate decades-old practices of central-office-forced placements and seniority 鈥渂umping,鈥� to develop intensive induction and mentoring programs for new teachers, and to revamp district-level human-resources operations.
Though the Strategic Management for Human Capital effort predates the election of President Barack Obama and his appointment of Arne Duncan as the U.S. secretary of education, the group鈥檚 leaders said the administration鈥檚 emphasis on teacher effectiveness, especially in the $4 billion Race to the Top Fund grant competition, makes their strategies for the 鈥減eople side鈥� of public education even more urgent for states and districts to heed.
鈥淭hese recommendations are intended to be a framework for states, and we hope that they will use it, especially as they prepare their Race to the Top applications,鈥� said Mr. Odden.
鈥淭here is a high congruence of these issues with what Secretary Duncan has outlined for the Race to the Top,鈥� said Mr. Kelly. 鈥淚 think we are seeing widening acceptance among many education leaders on these issues.鈥�
鈥楴o Vision鈥�?
But union officials said the report ignored much of the input they offered. Chiefly, said Ms. Lawrence of the Toledo Federation of Teachers, the task force鈥檚 recommendations don鈥檛 reflect what she said is the need to treat teachers as professional partners in school improvement efforts. Without that, she said, keeping the best people in the profession and enticing them to work in the highest-need schools will remain an unfulfilled goal.
鈥淲e need to design a variety of roles for teachers, especially when it comes to making decisions about how we are going to turn around our lowest-performing schools,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no vision for that in this report.鈥�
While agreeing with the report鈥檚 call for radically changing the way teachers are evaluated, Ms. Lawrence said she was disappointed that the task force gave no nod to the peer-review system that鈥檚 been in use in Toledo since the early 1980s. That system, she said, has probably 鈥渄ismissed more teachers for incompetence鈥� than all of the traditional evaluation systems being used in most urban districts.
One superintendent took issue with what he saw as the report鈥檚 main thrust: recruiting 鈥渢he best and the brightest鈥� people to become teachers.
鈥淚n our profession, not everyone can teach regardless of how smart they may be,鈥� said David C. Ring Jr., the superintendent in Delmar, Del. 鈥淲e need people who can relate to children.鈥�
Gov. Pawlenty said that districts need to strike a better balance between teachers who are experts in their subject areas and those who are skilled in running their classrooms and relating to children.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we are in any danger at the moment of overemphasizing smart people going into teaching,鈥� he said.
