Danger: Educated Union Member

Dear America:

The release of a recent movie about education has inspired me to write you a letter.

First, know that I am a teacher, like my paternal grandfather and great-grandfather were before me. Education is imprinted in my genes. Teaching is not what I do; it is who I am. I have taught for 12 years at the same Columbus, Ohio high school, Brookhaven. I have only taught there, and cannot imagine ever teaching at another school.

According to the latest state report card, each class of 30 students at Brookhaven has 25 that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Seven of the 30 have transferred in from another school, district or state this year. Five students have an identified learning disability. Three students were learning how to read, write and speak English as they were being instructed in that language. Roughly one student in each class of 30 was homeless.

America, do you know what I have? I have 50 minutes each day with 150 students to find a way around those learning obstacles. I have the hardest job in the world and I love it.

Before we go any further, America, I need to come clean. I’m an active member of my national, state and local teacher’s union. I know, I know, you’ve probably heard that movie says teacher’s unions are evil, that they protect bad teachers. My union always stands up for my rights. Does that mean I’m a bad teacher?

America, that movie probably has you thinking that my local teachers union, the Columbus Education Association (CEA), is standing in the way of change, blocking reforms that could improve teaching and learning for my students. They’re not.

CEA speaks with the strength of my voice, and the more than 4,500 voices of my colleagues. We elect our leaders democratically and vote to approve the contract that has made many education reforms possible in our school district.

My union signed on to Race to the Top, applied for and received federal School Improvement Grants, negotiated a voluntary enhanced performance compensation system and has agreed to a stipend for teachers that work in a designated high-needs school. CEA is just one of a handful of unions in Ohio that successfully operate a Peer Assistance and Review evaluation program (PAR) for new and struggling veteran teachers. In operation for nearly a quarter-century, I am a graduate of PAR.

My Superintendent is a graduate of my school district. She joined my union while she taught at her alma mater, became an administrator and later, Superintendent. She has outlasted every other big urban district Superintendent in my state, several times over. To be honest, I don’t agree with everything she does.

Despite this, I know she would never be featured in that movie saying “The system is broken.” She and her administration willingly participate in a Joint Labor-Management Committee with my union to resolve our shared challenges.

I am sure she would never tell business and community leaders in my city that “Collaboration and consensus-building are…overrated…” She and I know that collaboration and consensus-building are at the heart of education at every level. Of course, my Superintendent still has a job.

America, you need to know that just because a school is a charter, that doesn’t make it a silver bullet. Nationally, less than one in five charter schools outperform traditional public schools. Just because a charter requires its students to wear uniforms or includes the word “Academy” in its name doesn’t make it any better than a traditional public school. Moreover, many charter schools in my state are run by for-profit management companies, some of which take more than 90 percent of the money they receive from the state and aren’t held accountable for how they spend it.

I have a simple request for you, America. Instead of spending your hard-earned money on popcorn, soda and a ticket to that movie, I have a better idea. Call the nearest non-charter school and set up a day where you can shadow a teacher. Take the money you would have spent on that movie, put a gallon or two of gas in your tank, buy a microwaveable meal and eat lunch in the teachers’ lounge. Then, when the students have left, before the endless meetings start, ask that teacher “How can we make a difference together?”

America, please don’t point your finger at my brothers, sisters and I and blame us for society’s ills. We’re doing everything we can. We have a heck of a job to do, and America, we can’t do it without your help.

Sincerely,

Philip Hayes
Master Teacher of Social Studies
Brookhaven High School
, Columbus, OH

Two recently published reports, Graduation by the Numbers: Putting Data to Work for Student Success, Diplomas Count, 2010 Edition, and Yes We Can: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males, 2010, should be read by everyone working in education and every parent of school age children. The first, published by Education Week using data from the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center, investigates how data and analysis are helping to identify school districts in crisis and looks at strategies that address high drop-out rates. The latter, a report by the Schott Foundation for Public Education, compares graduation rates of minority and white males. Both reports used data from 2007 and 2008.

Graduation by the Numbers reports that while graduation rates have climbed for all racial groups in the last 10 years, today, nearly 3 out of every 10 students in public schools, still, do not graduate. This amounts to 1.3 million children lost annually or 7,200 students that drop out every day. More importantly, 25 school districts out of 11,000 nationwide, account for 1 in 5 dropouts or about 250,000 students a year.

Yes We Can had similar findings: only 47 percent of black males graduated in 2008, while the rate for white males was 78 percent. Even more alarming were the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) statistics on reading proficiency with only 9 percent of African-American males being proficient by the eighth grade compared to 33 percent of white males, nationally.

Perhaps the most alarming numbers, for me, were the statistics from Ohio. In Graduation by the Numbers, only 47.5 percent of black males graduated. For Hispanics it was less. On average we lose 218 students daily. The Yes We Can report was worse. Just 41 percent of black males graduated, in comparison to 78 percent of white males, the gap being 37 percent. We made the top five states with the largest gap in graduation rates between black and white children. In Cleveland, only 27 percent of black males graduated; Cincinnati, only 33 percent; and Columbus, only 35 percent. Three of our cities made the top 25, worst cities in America for graduating children of color. Only Florida and Georgia had more.

Yet some states with large urban, poor students, like New Jersey are making huge strides where nearly 65 percent of African-American boys are graduating. Some districts like Harlem Children’s Zone, Urban Prep in Chicago, and Eagle Academy in New York, prove all children can learn. Yes We Can says the formulae for success must have an equitable distribution of funds for all school districts; high quality preschool programs; intensive early literacy programs for the poor; small class sizes; after school and summer educational programs; improved social and health services; newer schools; and state accountability. This is not about improving methods of accountability for teachers, as some politicians would like the public to believe. This is about finding funding and education solutions, increasing parent involvement, and breaking the cycle of poverty.

By Susan Ridgeway, Streetsboro Education Association

Recently, the LA Times ran a series of reports on the Los Angeles Unified School District and how effective its third through fifth grade teachers have been in improving students test scores over a period of 7 years, from 2002-03 through 2008-09, using an evaluation method called  “value-added.” In a nutshell, the value added approach measures a student’s improvement on test scores over a period of time. The Times went on to post the names of nearly 6000 educators and where they ranked from effective to ineffective, based on the results of the students’ math and English test scores.

Wow, is all I have to say. First of all, administrators in the district never gave teachers the results before their names were to be published by the L.A. Times. When they finally received their standings before the articles were made public, many who were ranked highly in the results had no idea what they were doing right, just as those who ranked poorly, had no idea what they were doing wrong.

By September 3rd, there were around 230,000 hits on the L.A Times website. Of all the districts the Times could have reported on, they picked one of the most populous districts in the country, 740,000 students, second largest in the nation, which garner their own set of unique problems and circumstances.

More than 530,000 students in LAUSD qualify to receive free or reduced-price meals during the school year, but many do not get enough to eat when school is out, so there is the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) to ensure that all children between the ages of one and 18 have food to eat during the summer months. Nearly half of all students speak another language, other than English, at home. According to Professor Vyacheslav Ivanov, of UCLA, there are at least 92 languages spoken by students in the LAUSD.

LAUSD is one of the few districts in the country that has its own police department. Several high schools with student populations over 1000, have hosted racial brawls, gang fights, sex offenses, robberies, batteries and assaults with deadly weapons. A recently enacted state law, Assembly Bill 1291, forces parents and guardians of Los Angeles Unified students convicted of gang-related crimes to attend parenting classes.

In 2008-2009 the LAUSD was faced with a $460 million budget shortfall. In April of this year, teachers agreed to shorten the school year by five days and take an unpaid Friday off, to save $140 million. My suspicions are that there is little money for professional development.

In 2007-2008 The LAUSD spent about $10,000 per pupil while California spent around $9500 per pupil, 23rd in the country. On average in 2008, the LAUSD spent $63,000 on teacher salaries, but sunshine is expensive in California, much higher than any other state, bringing the average teacher salary to about $35,000 per year when adjusted for the cost of living. Let’s also mention that California ranked last among states on the ratio of total school staff to students in 2005-06, according to the NCES. California also ranked 51st—dead last—on the number of guidance counselors and librarians employed by school districts. Obviously the LAUSD has monumental problems, but the L.A. Times is going to use one measurement that looks only at English and math scores as a basis to determine that only teachers are responsible, and are effective or ineffective? They don’t mention teacher attrition. How closely are administrators mentoring their teachers? Surely, there must be a better way to determine the worth of a teacher.

By Susan Ridgeway, Streetsboro Education Association

As a former elected official of my local city government, I can tell you that there is nothing more important than voting in the upcoming elections. We are all at the mercy of our politicians who, more often than not, work full time at other jobs, and do not have the time, or expertise, to research issues that come up for a vote.  They often vote on legislation based on what they think, not what they know, but sometimes they do listen to their constituents opinions. As teachers we need to set the example for our students because, often, their parents do not.

In federal elections, I am afraid that Americans are about to lose ground as the elections approach. Before you believe any political adds that you may see on TV, or from campaign literature in the mail, take time to check their validity by going to fact checking web sites like FactCheck.org, PolitiFact.com, and The Fact-Checker.com.

FactCheck.org has been around the longest and is sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Browse the “Articles” tab, or “The Wire”. They also have The FactCheck Wire, a newsfeed, a mobile version at http://www.factcheck.org/mobile/, and most recently an education website for students: FactChecked.

PolitiFact, is a product of the St. Petersburg (FL) Times and CQ, or CQ Roll Call Group who has been tracking the American Congress and its legislation for 50 years. Look at the Truth-o-Meter, or the Flip-O-Meter, which monitors candidates’ flip-flopping position statements. You can also look at chain emails. It’s amazing how many political rumors are started and perpetuated on the Internet through emails.

Fact-Checker looks at the other fact checking websites for information and solicits information from its readers as well. They encourage readers who may have documents, or proof of someone lying about something, to send it in. Michael Dobbs, who runs this kind of blog, wants to know and see information first hand.  Some sites have videos embedded to view. There are a variety of other sites that do the same thing, such as OnTheIssues.org, RealClearPolitics, or OpenSecrets.org. You will be amazed at how many past and present candidates have made up the facts as they go along, Type in search terms like “death squads,” or the names of political candidates. I assure you, it is pure entertainment to see what some people will claim, to get elected, or to discredit their opponents. Unfortunately, all political parties have been caught lying or stretching the truth about themselves or the issues. They call it “spin.” I call it a sad state of affairs.

As educators of children, especially those who are old enough to vote, it is the responsibility of all of us, not just social studies teachers or librarians, to help them sort out the truth. We need to be actively involved in our voting decisions, or we will all be the victims of bad government. Being an uninformed voter is as bad as not voting at all.

By Susan Ridgeway, Streetsboro Education Association