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August 10, 2010

Seattle teachers are on the brink of adopting historic changes

Seattle teachers are on the brink of adopting historic changes that could increase student achievement, help close the

achievement gap and increase teacher accountability through a jointly developed evaluation system. But Seattle

District leaders are risking throwing all that away, publicly trying to goad teachers into a strike, all to achieve

reforms that don’t pass the common sense test. 

We’re focused on quality teaching and providing accountability

 Seattle educators want to ensure there is a great teacher in every classroom.

 Educators and district leaders have worked together to create a plan that increases teacher accountability

and focuses on student performance. Under the new plan, it will no longer be OK to just get by: teachers

will face specific measures unless they’re in the top two proficiency levels.

 Accountability also increases for administrators, who will now have standards on which to judge teachers.

The joint SEA/district agreement provides a standards-based, four-level rating system (Innovative,

Proficient, Basic, and Unsatisfactory).

 Any employee not in the top two proficiency tiers will get a plan of assistance. If they cannot improve and

become proficient, even employees with a “basic” rating would enter the probation process. That’s a new

and higher threshold that educators must meet.

 These changes, which were developed collaboratively, have been jointly proposed to the bargaining team

by SEA leaders and top district administrators. They could be implemented when school starts this fall. But

that agreement is now stalled because the district superintendent wants to unilaterally change the proposal.

 The collaborative plan uses methods that are tested, proven and research-based.

We don’t agree that tests results should be misused

 Students are more than test scores.

 The key difference between the superintendent’s plan and the joint agreement developed by the district and

educators is how to most effectively use test results to improve instruction.

 Tests are designed to understand how well a student understands a particular topic on a particular day, and

serve as a basis to guide instruction. Education professionals understand classroom tests are not designed to

rank teachers. Seattle’s superintendent proposes to misuse student test scores as a basis for employee

evaluation. The jointly developed plan by the district and Seattle’s educators would use student test scores,

but in an appropriate role as one of numerous indicators to help channel a teacher’s professional growth.

 You don’t have to decide who to believe on this issue: Even the testing companies state that the tests were

not designed to determine teacher performance.

 Placing an even greater emphasis on test scores is likely to have unintended consequences. If jobs depend

on tests, human nature will be to teach more to the test. That can only further narrow the curriculum at a

time when options are already disappearing because of budget cuts.

Educators believe students learn best in a professional setting that fosters trust and collaboration

 Seattle’s educators are ready to follow through with the plan jointly developed with the district, but the

superintendent is now obstructing that agreement.

 In contrast to the joint plan that was developed collaboratively, the superintendent deliberately waited until

Seattle’s educators left town for the summer before presenting her first comprehensive draft of the SERVE

proposal. Seattle educators and district negotiators already had met for nearly 15 bargaining sessions. The

superintendent would divert $4 million to create a computer system that spits out employee evaluations.

These millions would be better used to supply direct student services, instead of foolishly attempting to

automate a process as individualized as teacher evaluations.

August 19, 2010

Bargaining Update

Serious Conversation

Earlier this week, we noted that district negotiators said they would seriously consider the latest SEA proposal, which attempted to address our mutual interests in quality teaching while not misusing student test data to fire teachers.

District negotiators returned Thursday and did indeed engage in a serious conversation with SEA to explore our proposal. The session concluded without any tentative agreements being reached over adopting the jointly developed Professional Growth & Evaluation process, but the district did choose to add an extra day of negotiations on Monday. The bargaining teams had not planned to resume contract talks until Tuesday.

SEA supports moving forward with the historic progress already achieved through the jointly negotiated Professional Growth and Evaluation plan. SEA's proposal on Tuesday suggested carving out middle ground by recognizing the district's interest in using test data to help support teachers who may benefit from additional help, while not misusing students' scores as a part of the final evaluation or to fire teachers.

Negotiations continue and no contract agreement is in place. SEA will be contacting our building site reps to attend an organizing meeting scheduled for 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday.