Steven Brill and Diane Ravitch sat down to debate what needs to happen in order to reform education. The one striking quote from the article that keeps rolling around in my head is this: Unions Must Be on the Side of Reform. What does that look like?
Here’s what it looks like to me:
- The teacher’s unions need to protect what’s BEST in our field – those teachers who have habitually produced students performing at benchmark
- The teacher’s unions need to define what successful teaching look like – not allow others to define it for us and then fight against their definitions
- The teacher’s unions need to rally around the successful models and focus on what works and not what doesn’t work
- The teacher’s unions need to address and acknowledge the fact that reform begins and ends with teachers, not with politics
- The teacher’s unions need to be a part of the conversation with leadership in order to be able to truly represent teachers, not just be the naysayers on the side
What do you think? Do you belong to a union? If so, what is the benefit to you? Are you pleased with the representatives from your union? If not, have you chosen not to be a part of the union or is there no union?
Leave your comments below – our readers would love to hear what you think!