NEA delegates slam Obama Administration policy

Delegates to the National Education Association voted on Sunday to take a position of "no confidence" in the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top guidelines and in the use of competitive grants as a basis for the reauthorization of ESEA -the Elementary and Secondary Education Act formerly known as No Child Left Behind.

It was a  notable slam on the Obama administration.  "Arne Duncan was not on the ballot. The policies of the Department of Education are the policies of the Obama administration," one  delegate said. "We have to step up and say that the policies of the Obama administration, we do not agree with those."

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel,  was quoted in the New York Times as saying, “Today our members face the most anti-educator, anti-union, anti-student environment I have ever experienced,”  No one from the Obama Administration was scheduled to speak at the convention.

Meanwhile over 100,000 teachers nation wide face lay offs as Senate Democrats fail to overcome a filibuster to pass a new stimulus package.

In California the NEA is represented by the California Teachers Association.
See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/education/05teachers.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Teachers%20Union%20+%20Obama&st=cse

NEA Slams Obama's School Reform Plan

From Class Struggle: by Jay Mahews. Here's a dispatch from my colleague Nick Anderson on the national education beat:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/?hpid=news-col-blog

The nation's largest teachers union sharply attacked President Obama's most significant school improvement initiative on Friday evening, saying that it puts too much emphasis on a "narrow agenda" centered on charter schools and echoes the Bush administration's "top-down approach" to reform.
The National Education Association's criticism of Obama's $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" initiative came nearly a month after the president unveiled the competitive grant program, meant to spur states to move toward teacher performance pay; lift caps on independently operated, publicly funded charter schools; and take other steps to shake up school systems.

Excerpts selected by James Crawford. ELL Advocates.

"Achievement is much more than a test score, but if test scores are still the primary means of assessing student learning, they will continue to get undue weight. ...

"[T]he most prominent research organizations in the United States have confirmed that test-based measures of teacher “effects” are too unstable and too dependent on a range of factors that cannot be adequately disentangled to be used for teacher evaluation, much less for teacher preparation program evaluation. ...

"The use of these measures can also create disincentives for teachers to work with the neediest students—such as special education students and English language learners—whose learning might not validly be assessed on traditional grade-level tests. ...

"We need to offer incentives so that our best teachers teach the students most in need of assistance, not necessarily teach the students most likely to score highest on a standardized test."

To download the 26-page document, go to: http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/NEA_documents_082109.doc

NEA President calls for cooperation on school reform

NEA President: Dennis Van Roekel. July 3,2009.

In a stirring call to action on the first day of the annual NEA Representative Assembly, President Dennis Van Roekel exhorted his colleagues to lead the efforts to transform public education in America, restore stability and respect to this country's middle class, and make sure the world knows that NEA is a swift-moving powerhouse with vision and strength.
"We have the history. We have the skills and knowledge. We have the power and we have the courage. Now we must seize the opportunity," Van Roekel exclaimed.
When half of all poor and minority children face a future without a high school diploma, a future with "no hope, no opportunity, no possibility of realizing the American dream," and millions of American jobs lost and homes foreclosed on, it's critical that educators take action now.
"Our members - the people on the front lines - know what it takes to increase student learning to transform the system," Van Roekel said. "But we have to do more than define a vision for transforming public education -- we must lead the nation in making this transformation happen."
For the first time in this century, NEA has a partner in the White House who "understand(s) that transformation is something you do with educators, not to them." And NEA welcomes this opportunity to transform education. Better ways to measure student learning - not by a single test scores but through multiple measures - and also to improve teaching are welcome, he said. The Association also is open to new ways of paying teachers - but "we understand compensation systems are bargained and negotiated not imposed!"
We won't agree with President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on everything, Van Roekel promised. "But what is most important to me is that even though we may disagree on strategies or tactics.they share our mission to fulfill the promise of public education for every student." He called on federal policy-makers to reform NCLB so that the new law helps students, not labels and punished them.
Of particular concern to Van Roekel are America's lowest-performing school -- and he asked every delegate to get personally involved in turning them around. Teach there if you can, he asked. Mentor another teacher if possible. "It is important you do something - because these kids deserve better - and we are the ones who can make a difference."
But NEA can't close achievement gaps when the families of our students don't have jobs or health care, or living wages and benefits. So Van Roekel called on members to be political activists as well - to fight for decent salaries and health benefits for all. Every congressional district needs at least 50 NEA activists by January 1, 2010, he said. He also noted that all delegates should sign up for an NEA web site specifically for them - a site where Van Roekel will continue speaking to them post-RA.

And, an opposing viewpoint:

Arne Duncan attacks teachers as NEA convention cheers... The Day of Duncan

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=773§ion=Articlet