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Our statement on Race to the Top (RTTT)
On January 8th members of the WEA voted
in a ratio of 8 to 1 against the Race to the Top "Memorandum
of Understanding". Approximately 40% of Districts in
the state did not approve the Race to the Top Memorandum.
Here are the reasons regarding our vote against the Race
to the Top:
The money that would have been allotted
to out District was approximately $250,000, this equals
about 1/2 of 1% of the present annual Westfield school budget.
Half of this money would have gone to the Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education in Boston and would have
had little effect on teachers and students at the ground
level in our classrooms. That would leave $125,000 for use
in our District, which brings the amount of money down to
1/4 of one percent of the annual budget, none of which could
be used for teacher compensation for additional work or
training.
The RTTT program will require additional
standardized testing. Students are already being tested
extensively at all grade levels using Dibels testing in
lower grades and MCAS Testing starting in grade 3. According
to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NEAP),
Massachusetts already has the top performing schools in
the nation. Additional testing does not appear necessary
at this time and would take time away from classroom instruction.
One of the priorities of RTTT is to judge
teacher performance solely on student performance on these
tests - students must acquire a particular level of performance
at a particular age. While at face value this statement
may seem reasonable, study after study shows (and teachers
know anecdotally) that this is a poor way to judge teacher
performance simply because all students are different. Studies
have shown that students entering kindergarten having been
exposed to 2200 words per hour at home are far more prepared
for school than those who only heard 1200 words per hour.
And students who heard only 600 words per hour are at a
distinct disadvantage. Test score based evaluation and compensation
for teachers would provide a disincentive for excellent
teachers to work with such high needs students, and provide
yet another disadvantage for underperforming schools and
Districts.
As you may know Union's provide collective
bargaining rights. The WEA is a union and teachers and other
staff are members. As you may not know, the United States
has the shortest school year of all the industrialized nations
in the world, and among the lowest paid teachers in the
industrialized world. Here is a portion of The Race to the
Top Memorandum regarding collective bargaining:
Collective bargaining: The
commissioner may propose waivers to the contract. The contract
is reopened and negotiated for 30 days. If there is no agreement,
the commissioner can impose changes unilaterally.
This aspect of RTTT could essentially break
Unions one at a time, District by District. And what would
be the result? Quite possibly longer school days, longer
school years, and in the long run under non-union contract
negotiations in the future, an actual decrease in pay for
teachers. Only time would tell if this happened what impact
it would have on student learning, although longer school
days and years with less pay for teachers might not attract
or keep excellent teachers.
This train of events is already happening
at a high school in Rhode Island. In Rhode Island just recently,
in a District that was on board for the RTTT money, EVERY
teacher at Central Falls High School was fired. Why? Because
they are in a level 5 school, which has been underperforming
and because the language in the Race to the Top Memorandum
of Understanding says they can be fired, the superintendent
and the school board voted to terminate all the teachers.
Does this sound like bargaining "in good faith"
as stated in the Race to the Top Memorandum of Understanding?
Please
read about the details concerning this event in the Providence
Journal article.
We as teachers in Westfield could very
well consider longer school days or longer schools years
as long as we are treated with respect, reasonably compensated,
and judged not by the performance of students as now on
yearly high stakes testing by comparing this year's 4th,
5th, 6th, 8th or 10th grade students to last year's such
students, but by tracking individual student performance
and growth over time.
How important is education to you? As teachers
we are devoted to providing the best quality education for
our students as is possible. Massachusetts teachers are
among the top performing in the country as shown by the
NEAP. But there is always room for improvement, and we will
continue to work hard on the job and with administration
to improve student achievement for all students in Westfield.
John F. Kennedy has another powerful quote
that we as teachers and Districts may want to keep in mind
at this time, "United we stand, divided we fall."
Click
here for a list of other school Districts in Massachusetts
that did not sign the Memorandum of Understanding on Race
to the Top.
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