Providence Journal: Teacher unions challenged in unprecedented face-off

[Bluebear]

...It was (Gist's) order that prompted a rare statement of support from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the very night the Central Falls school Board of Trustees voted 5 to 2 to terminate 93 teachers, support staff and administrators at the city’s only high school.

“I applaud Commissioner Gist and Superintendent Gallo for showing courage and doing the right thing for kids,” Duncan said.

And it was her order that drew an immediate response from the American Federation of Teachers, the union that represents Central Falls teachers.

On Friday, a team of national union leaders and the presidents of Rhode Island’s AFT locals met at the University of Rhode Island’s Alton Jones Campus in West Greenwich to discuss their strategy.

“No one anticipated this. I’m not sure even the Obama administration anticipated that as a result of their regulations, there would be mass firings,” said Marcia Reback, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers. “I think this resonates with teachers across the country. Everyone looks at this as establishing a national precedent.”...

“We don’t make excuses , but we do have to talk about reality,” union president Sessums said to the cheers of the crowd. “Children in poverty come to school with a lot of issues.”

http://www.projo.com/news/content/central_falls_turmoil_02-28-10_TQHGS9N_v292.38b0e26.html

[LWolf]

1. How Central falls compares:

http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/some-statistical-context-for-central-falls/

<snips>





"Yes, Central Falls is in tough shape – very high poverty and relatively low performing. But, not really off the trendline (above it, if anything) for performance given its poverty level and better than other high schools of similar poverty."


<snips>

"Here’s the “relative efficiency” of Rhode Island High Schools with respect to cost, from lower to higher poverty high schools:"



"As it turns out, the relative efficiency of Central Falls HS stacks up pretty well with other Rhode Island High Schools. That is, the actual spending per pupil in Central Falls is not far off from the predicted amount to achieve their current outcomes, with their current population."

And <snips>

"This seems like a fairer comparison than simply casting stones at Central Falls teachers for their miserable test scores.

This is not to excuse low performance or to simply set a lower bar for this school because it serves a very high need population. But it is to point out that given their resources and their kids, they are doing as well as can be expected and better than many other Rhode Island high schools."

Of course, the current political solution is not to address the sources of failure with support and resources; it's to fire the teachers that are "doing as well as can be expected and better than many other Rhode Island high schools."

Imagine what they might be able to accomplish with those students given adequate support and resources.

[stray cat]

2. Would you send your kids there for an education if you had any other option?

[Bluebear]

3. Irrelevant. These students are in poverty and have no other option. But you know that.

[Starry Messenger]

4. Union busting jerks.

"We don’t make excuses , but we do have to talk about reality,” union president Sessums said to the cheers of the crowd. “Children in poverty come to school with a lot of issues.”

Duncan, Gist and Gallo refuse to buy that argument. They embrace a decidedly different view.

Recent research, they say, shows that even the most disadvantaged students can succeed at the highest levels, if educators are willing to abandon ineffective approaches and instead accept changes that work for students. They point to the examples of successful schools across the country that have achieved this — many of which have adopted the conditions Gallo was pushing to transform the high school."


What is this research? "The beatings will continue until morale improves"? Lifting families out of poverty and giving the teachers resources to implement classroom innovations would probably work too. Have we fucking tried *that* yet?

[Bluebear]

5. With administration support. nt

[Starry Messenger]

6. Yup.

The fish rots from the head down.