Teacher Voice
States
Video
If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em: Teachers Run for Office
This election season, a record number of Oklahoma teachers are running for state legislature positions. While current lawmakers argue education has received more than its fair share of dollars, the state's sharp budget cuts in per-pupil spending are the highest in the nation and have resulted in teacher layoffs, overcrowded classrooms, and, in some cases, a four-day school week. This "teacher caucus," which includes Oklahoma's Teacher of the Year, is looking to improve education more by legislating from inside the capitol rather than lobbying from outside.
Education Week Correspondent Lisa Stark explores these issues in this report for the PBS NewsHour.
This video aired on PBS NewsHour on October 4, 2016.
School & District Management
Opinion
Can 'Deeper Learning' Drive Teacher Power?
Historically, the idea of teacher power has been associated with faculty running schools. A new report links teacher influence and providing deeper-learning experiences.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Why Teacher-Powered Schools Are Picking Up Momentum
Teachers in some schools are exercising substantial authority over curriculum, budgeting, and evaluation, writes, Barnett Berry. And their number is increasing.
Teacher Preparation
Opinion
Certification, Genuine Teacher Leadership, and Power Struggles
When authentic, experienced teacher leaders step out of their boxes to speak about education issues, they always run the risk of stepping on the toes--or in the limelight--of someone above them in the pecking order. Simply expressing a widely shared viewpoint feels like subordination to some school leaders. When teachers have a national platform and thousands of readers or fans--when their voice and leadership are elevated--they become a threat.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Mr. Broad, Charters Aren't the Only Answer for LAUSD
If I were Eli Broad, I would go into those schools and say to those teachers, "Let's work together to create a school that you would be proud to teach at and that students would love to attend."
School Choice & Charters
Opinion
Massive Charter School Expansion in Los Angeles
Right now UTLA has almost declared "war" on Eli Broad and I can't say that I blame them. Eli Broad and all the other philanthropists would do well to remember the origins of charter schools - to put teachers in charge of running schools.
Professional Development
Opinion
Ideas for Tackling the Teacher Shortage
A mid-western farmer's daughter raised me, and she had a proverb for everything. But my personal favorite, and one that she repeated to me time and time again when I became a teacher is, "You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar." In other words we all respond better to praise than we do criticism. I think the same thing can be said when looking at a looming teacher shortage.
Classroom Technology
Opinion
The Dangerous and Harmful Influence of Teacher Bloggers
Most teachers who blog do so to share their well-honed opinions and experiences with being the object of policy, rather than partners in creation of the policies that shape their professional work. A lack of firsthand information from the front-line school workers--teachers and school leaders--is what has gotten us into the policy mess in which we're currently swimming.
Federal
Opinion
Another Argument for Acting Like Finland
Perhaps if we were to give teachers the training and the autonomy like Finnish teachers get, we would see less of a need for standardized testing and more authentic assessment happening.
Teaching
Opinion
Am I a Racist Teacher for Not Being 'Color-Blind'?
After a small but loud group of white teachers pushback against my Ed Week op-ed about race in education, I felt compelled to follow-up with another post that doubles down while also apologizes (but only just a little).
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Invitation to Read: 'Racial Injustice is Rooted In a Lie'
Last week I particpated in a roundtable blogging discussion called "Confronting Racial Injustice in Schools" Education Week's Op-EDucation page, and it was sad and shocking to read the racist and culturally insensitive comments of some readers—especially because these people may very well be "educators."
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Reason #3 Why CTA Needs to Reimagine Tenure NOW
Before I move on to reason number three for why the California's Teacher Association (CTA) needs to reimagine tenure now, let me recap reasons number one and two. Reason number one is to restore faith in our public school system. Reason number two is because we need to ensure that our most vulnerable students are with our best teachers. Reason number three: Teachers want it.
School Choice & Charters
Opinion
Reason #1 Why CTA Should Reimagine Permanent Status Now
As a union representative (I sit on UTLA's House of Representatives), it is clear to me that our teaches union must restore public faith in public education through advocacy of some common sense change such as reimaging permanent status as a tenure system for teachers similar to those in place for college professors.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Opinion
Preschool, Adult Ed, Counselors: All the Pieces Matter
I was picketing because the board, in issuing those reduction in force notices (RIF), is cutting vital personnel, and program pieces who serve the neediest students in our district. Sharing the streets with me that day were preschool students and their parents, high school students, and continuing education adult students. Several of them spoke and their stories reminded me of why it was important that we save those 609 positions. Why all the pieces in LAUSD matter.