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Tough choices for teacher unions
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More and more interesting things are happening in education reform. As I predicted, the economic crisis may be actually very good for the reform. Here is an unexpected piece of news: NEA, the largest teacher union, has endorsed with some reservations the Tough Choices or Tough Times education reform proposal. The proposal originally published in 2006, is one of the most radical reform ideas on the table. Among other things, it suggests
- Scrapping the high schools and replaces them with a two-track system, similar to what Germany and some other European countries do;
- Building a free early childhood care system;
- Raising teacher salaries and recruiting teachers from top college graduates;
- Paying teachers more cash at the start of their careers, and less pension and benefits after they retire;
- Redesigning state assessment systems;
- Converting all schools into something similar to charter schools, run by teacher collectives, and authorized by each state;
- Providing funds for constant retraining of adult workforce;
As I said, it is one of the most radical among more or less coherent reform proposals so far. The fact that NEA is supporting it is very encouraging. I was hoping something like that would happen, but did not expect it happen so fast. There are courageous people among the NEA leadership after all. There is a chance teacher unions will embrace the reform, and avoid the fate of auto industry workers.
In my opinion, the Tough Choices does not go far enough, although it comes close to what I propose. The proposal allows any student to challenge the board exam at any time, without having to be in school required number of years. It also allows any agency, any organization to create a school. The question is – why not allow students to be their own teachers and get paid for it? The only real difference between my idea and that of the Tough Choices is in the way money flows. I think we should pay to students directly once they demonstrate what they have learned. If students need help from schools, they will pay part of the money to schools. The Tough Choices still clings to the idea that schooling is the only way to good education.
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