Why/Why Not?

9 characteristics of true professions: 1 - Acknowledged knowledge base 2 - Rigorous training/certification 3 - Workplace of high consulting and collaborating 4 - Required continuous learning regularly built into the work cycle

5 - Systematic evaluation of new members 6 - High public accountability/responsibility 7 - Internal maintenance of high standards of practice 8 - Responsible for client results 9 - Make autonomous decisions guided by a canon of ethics

We gave it all away… Initial degree - to higher ed. Licensure - to administrators Recruitment - to HR folks Tenure - to administrators

Induction/mentoring - to no one Professional Development- to everyone Teacher evaluation- to principals Pay systems- to school boards Teacher dismissal -to all of the above

 Preparing professional teachers… ◦ Year-long residency in schools ◦ Local licensing – tiered model ◦ Teachers recruit & hire their colleagues ◦ Three-year induction with tenure earned at site ◦ Organized into Communities of Practice ◦ Evaluated by peers, mentors, others ◦ Professional development by colleagues, ◦ Supported by union of United Mind Workers

 Too many schools/districts today feature: ◦ Centralized, top down administrative structures ◦ Imbalance between power and responsibility – Top down, multiple “reforms” stacked on one another that seldom work – School leadership (administrators) often create – decreasing/negative teacher motivation – Administration too responsible for the school culture for the staff and students – Teachers have little control over day to day decisions that affect their outcomes for themselves and their students

 Teacher empowerment and autonomy is the greatest predictor of school improvement (elementary level.)  For every point increase in empowerment, schools are 7.3 times more likely to be rated average or above.

Accomplished teachers know the most about how /why students learn. In an new model they will:  Lead professional communities of practice;  Share expertise with colleagues;  Mentor and review other teachers;  Lead school improvement efforts  Inform policy makers as to what works/does not work to improve teaching and learning

 Good for kids and fair to teachers  Adults and students want to be there  Student learning trumps student achievement  Students are knowledge workers (Schlechty)  District-wide culture of collaboration  School systems are systems of schools  High standards but not standardization  Measure against Common Core standards  Kids not sorted by “date of manufacture”

1 - Continuous improvement through command and control bureaucracy 2 - Innovation-based systemic reform (here today gone tomorrow) 3 - Continuous innovation, improvement, and motivation in individual schools inside and outside the district

 Prepare teachers for ‘Communities of Practice’  Unpack and ‘unfear’ the punitive culture of ‘command and demand ‘  Redesigned Fourth Stage Unionism to create and support the True Teaching Profession  Think medical/law/architectural firm model  Get far enough out to sea (of the old model) to discover a new world

 Teachers are the deciders in: ◦ Self-governed schools; ◦ Teacher –led schools; ◦ Teacher cooperatives; ◦ Teacher partnerships; ◦ Communities of practice; ◦ Teachers in private practice.

 FROM TO  Blue CollarWhite Collar  IndustrialProfessional  Single employersSingle schools  MassesIndividuals

 DistrictsSingle Schools Individuals  MasterROA/MOA AMA, ABA ContractPolicy Devel. Policy Voice  Legal/Leadership Leadership Grievance Development Development PD PD PD Policy Devel.Benefits Lobbying BenefitsLobbying Indv. benefits Lobbying

“ I have come to realize how important it is for excellent teachers to step out of their comfort zones and use their credibility to positively lead and impact our schools and profession. If teachers remain silent and concede vital leadership roles and decisions to people with little or no knowledge of our classrooms, how can we blame them for the poor decisions they make? How will they know unless we teach them.” NBC Teacher

 What needs to be done… Degree: Residency at school + higher ed. Collaboratively Licensure: District + higher ed. Team Recruitment: teachers and district Hiring: Mentors on hiring and interview teams with a real voice Tenure: Mentors and colleagues Professional development: teacher presenters

What needs to be done… Pay systems: teachers, district, state Teacher evaluation: peers, mentors, others Teacher dismissal: peers, mentors “ If you change the job, you change the game.” Richard Ingersoll, Researcher, University of Pennsylvania

 DistrictsSingle Schools Individuals  Policy Dev. Policy Dev. Policy Dev.  BenefitsBenefits  LobbyingLobbying Lobbying

Without changing the job… – Top down “reforms” that seldom work – School leadership (administrators) often create – positive/negative teacher motivation – Administration too responsible for the school culture for the staff and students – Teachers have little control over day to day decisions that affect their outcomes for themselves and their students

Current game may… Squander valuable human resources through ◦ Misdiagnosis of issues ◦ Unfair and ineffective reform ◦ Decreasing teacher motivation ◦ Poor comprehensive student performance Changing the Job “Change can only be done with us, not to us.” Randy Weingarten, AFT President

 District-wide culture of collaboration  School systems are systems of schools  High standards but not standardization  Measure against Common Core standards  Kids not sorted by “date of manufacture”