Blessed by perfect, sunny weather, delegates to the National Education Association鈥檚 annual meeting here had plenty of chances to sneak away and visit this city鈥檚 world-famous attractions.
Most chose not to. The day before official business began at the Representative Assembly, nearly 7,000 of the union鈥檚 delegates packed into the city鈥檚 convention center to listen to Arne Duncan, the U.S. secretary of education.
After Mr. Duncan had departed 鈥攁nd throughout the Fourth of July weekend鈥攄elegates proposed and debated resolution after resolution on elements of the Obama administration鈥檚 emerging education policy agenda.
In other words, this year鈥檚 convention, which ended last week, was marked by the NEA鈥檚 first major attempts at getting a handle on what the administration鈥檚 push into sensitive policy areas will mean for the union鈥檚 3.2-million members. Issues on the table for the union, which represents mostly teachers and education-support personnel, include the expansion of charter schools, the 鈥渢urning around鈥� of low-performing schools, and now with Mr. Duncan鈥檚 latest address, structural changes to the way teachers are compensated and evaluated.
In his July 2 speech, the fourth he has given on the 鈥渁ssurances鈥� states must meet in exchange for receiving funding through the economic-stimulus measure, the secretary called on teachers鈥� unions 鈥渢o become full partners and leaders in education reform鈥� and to be willing to collaborate with districts to create fair ways of incorporating student-achievement growth into evaluation and pay systems.
鈥淭est scores alone should never drive evaluation, compensation, or tenure decisions. That would never make sense,鈥� Mr. Duncan said. 鈥淏ut to remove student achievement entirely from evaluation is illogical and indefensible.鈥�
Moreover, he said teachers鈥� unions must be willing to reconsider seniority provisions and tenure processes, two hard-won rights unions have long defended.
鈥淲hen inflexible seniority and rigid tenure rules that we designed put adults ahead of children, then we are not only putting kids at risk, we鈥檙e putting the entire education system at risk,鈥� Mr. Duncan said.
Role of Test Scores
Delegates applauded Secretary Duncan鈥檚 calls for continued federal funding for education, better training for administrators, and improved teacher-mentoring experiences. But they booed and hissed when he mentioned tying pay and evaluation to test scores.
Mr. Duncan sought to reassure teachers that he would seek reforms to the teaching profession in collaboration with them. But he also appeared to acknowledge teachers鈥� hesitancy to engage on some of those issues, especially given the union鈥檚 poor relations with the prior administration.
鈥淵ou can boo; just don鈥檛 throw any
shoes, please,鈥� he quipped partway through his speech, to laughter and applause.
During a town hall-style meeting with Mr. Duncan following his remarks, delegates raised concerns about the use of test scores.
鈥淚n too many cases, our state boards of education, our local boards of education are not getting that message鈥� that pay programs should be based on multiple measures of teacher performance beyond test scores, one delegate said.
Others were more frank about their dislike for performance-based pay. 鈥淨uite frankly, merit pay is union-busting,鈥� said another delegate, to applause from her peers.
Officially, NEA policy allows for pay bonuses for teachers who hold advanced certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, for those who take on additional responsibilities such as mentoring less-experienced teachers, and for teachers serving in hard-to-staff schools. It does not endorse higher salaries for math and science teachers or for performance-based pay. And it eschews the use of test scores in pay and evaluation decisions.
State and local affiliates are free to experiment with other types of pay and evaluation plans, including those that incorporate student-achievement data. But they cannot receive support from the parent union to do so.
Clarification Needed
NEA President Dennis Van Roekel assured delegates that he would seek further clarification on the use of student-achievement data for pay and tenure decisions.
In an interview, Mr. Van Roekel said he hopes to clarify the administration鈥檚 purpose in urging states to use stimulus funds to build data systems to link individual teachersto their students鈥� test scores, a key requirement for including student-achievement information in teacher evaluations and pay decisions.
鈥淚 hope to create the engagement and the conversation [with the administration] so we don鈥檛 debate positions yet,鈥� Mr. Van Roekel said. 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 get agreement on the purpose of the systems, then the details will never work.鈥�
Data systems should be used for teacher improvement, not punitive purposes, and teachers have reason to be wary of them, he added.
鈥淲hat makes it hard is that teachers don鈥檛 have a blank [slate],鈥� Mr. Van Roekel said. 鈥淭hey have been subjected to the misuse of data systems for seven years under [the No Child Left Behind Act].The union鈥檚 sentiments about the administration鈥檚 other plans emerged as delegates debated a number of new proposals. They approved two on charter schools, including one proposal directing the union to oppose any initiative to 鈥済reatly expand鈥� their growth.
Delegates supporting that item spoke critically about the Obama administration鈥檚 use of discretionary 鈥淩ace to the Top鈥� fund grants under the stimulus program to pressure states to lift caps on charter schools, even though Mr. Duncan has also called on the charter community to better police its own schools.
Other delegates, especially those from Wisconsin, a state with unionized charters, voiced concerns that putting further restrictions on NEA鈥檚policy around the independent public schools would prevent the union from effectively representing teachers in them.
The Representative Assembly voted down a proposal to organize a campaign to inform teachers and the public about charter schools鈥� funding, operational costs, salaries, curriculum, and 鈥渋ntrinsic problems and corruption.鈥�
On school turnarounds, delegates agreed to allow the NEA to attempt to influence policy on the $5 billion, five-year school turnaround plan recently proposed by the Education Department.
As for compensation, the administration put an additional $200 million into the Teacher Incentive Fund, a federal performance-payinitiative, in the stimulus program. In addition, the administration is requesting $517 million for TIF in the fiscal 2010 budget. (鈥淥bama Budget Choices Scrutinized,鈥� May 20, 2009.) But several potentially controversial issues remain outstanding in that program, such as whether districts receiving the grants would have to bargain the pay programs collectively with their local unions.
NEA officials would prefer increased funding for Title II teacher-quality state grants rather than putting additional money into TIF.
Title II provides funds to every state and can be spent on initiatives such as class-size reduction or professional development, in comparison to the narrowly defined and discretionary TIF program.
