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Where Teacher Quality Pays Off

Through legislation won by NEA's Connecticut affiliate in 1986, teachers get decent pay in return for tough--very tough--standards.

When Connecticut math teacher Elise Santoro enters Ridge-field High at 6:45 a.m., she isn't the first educator in the building. And when she has to leave at 3 p.m.--instead of her usual later hour--the faculty parking lot is still mostly full.

"We work long hours," Santoro says, "and we work over the summer, doing things like writing new courses or attending workshops. I remember when summers were free."

But don't get Santoro wrong. This 23-year veteran absolutely loves teaching. And she's proud of her colleagues' dedication, the quality instruction they deliver, and their willingness to help new teachers.

And Santoro, the president of NEA-Ridgefield, has no problem comfortably using a word often abused by teacher-bashing politicians: accountability.

"When you come to a state with some of the better teacher salaries in the country," she declares, "accountability is right and natural. We've worked hard to earn our salaries, and we've been very accountable. Just look at what we've produced!"

And what NEA members in Connecticut have produced are some of the most remarkable gains in student achievement in the entire nation.

The most compelling record of Connecticut's success, The Washington Post notes, comes from the nation's report card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

In this federally sponsored battery of tests, Connecticut ranked first in fourth-grade math in 1996, first in fourth- and eighth-grade reading in 1998, and first in writing in 1999.

"The number of Connecticut fourth graders reaching the 'proficient' level on the reading test jumped from 34 percent in 1992 to 46 percent in 1998, the greatest improvement in the country," the Post points out.

Why are students achieving so well in Connecticut? Some point to the state's high ranking on national measures of level of education and socio-economic well-being.

Connecticut certainly does rank high on these measures. But Connecticut has ranked high on these measures for years. What these rankings don't explain is why Connecticut student achievement has increased so dramatically.

To explain that increase, say veteran NEA members in Connecticut, you need to look back to 1986, the year state legislators passed a landmark Educational Enhancement Act.

The passage of this sweeping legislation capped a three-year public relations and lobbying campaign by the Connecticut Education Association to simultaneously lift salaries and standards for the state's educators.

To get the Act enacted, CEA had to build wide public support for teacher raises and work closely with both then-Democratic Governor William O'Neill and GOP legislative leaders.

The legislation that emerged from all this hard work allocated $300 million over three years for higher teacher salaries and established a new, three-level system of teaching certification.

The legislation also ushered in tough standards for entry into the teaching profession and coupled these standards with a teacher induction program designed to really help new teachers.

Together, all these changes created a a new stage for Connecticut's classroom teachers, and, ever since, they've played the starring role in the state's remarkable student achievement story.

Today, Connecticut teachers are among the best paid in the nation. The 2000-01 statewide salary averages, CEA researchers note, range from a bachelor's minimum of $31,204 to a $58,451 master's maximum and a $62,258 sixth-year max.

Incoming Connecticut teachers, meanwhile, are among the most highly qualified in the nation. They must pass both the Praxis I basic skills exam (unless they achieve a minimum SAT score) and the Praxis II content area test, if there is one that applies.

Incoming teachers must also have majored in the area where they want to be certified.

Once new teachers earn a provisional, or second-level, certificate--valid for eight years--they must earn a master's, or 30 credits beyond a bachelor's, to gain a "professional" certificate, which is then renewed every five years through continuing education credits.

Connecticut accountability doesn't end there. In their second year, most new teachers must complete a subject-specific portfolio that focuses on factors that impact professional practice.

In these portfolios, educators show why they had planned a particular lesson, what worked right, and what they would have done differently--all documented with daily logs, written summaries, and videotape.

Sandy White, a third-year teacher at Ridgefield's Scotland Elementary, recalls that in her first year she had to complete a portfolio that required her to write out five consecutive days of numeracy and literacy lessons, then document the lessons' effectiveness on two students--a low performer and a higher achiever.

"I had to show that both students grasped particular concepts," she says. "I had to do a lot of reflection on my own teaching."

Pretty stressful stuff for any educator, let alone a newbie. Fortunately, new Connecticut teachers are getting lots of help from their NEA state affiliate to negotiate the high hurdles to state certification.

CEA is pressing legislators and state education officials to make the state-run Beginning Educator Support and Training--BEST--Program meet all the promises made for it back in 1986.

The three-year program currently guarantees a mentor or "team support" for each first-year teacher and a series of clinics and new teacher workshops. BEST policy also encourages districts to provide release time so mentors and new teachers can work together.

But BEST doesn't provide mentors in the crucial portfolio year or require districts to grant release time.

"We're attempting to get a legislated funding increase for BEST," says CEA staffer Cliff Silver, "to get it back to what it was when the Educational Enhancement Act was passed."

"In the meantime," adds CEA staffer Linette Branham, "CEA and local affiliates are holding new teacher workshops to explain how the Association can help, and we've laid out, in great detail, a two-year portfolio preparation program, with a role for the local Association."

CEA teacher activists have also organized a "BEST Advocate Program" and brainstormed how local affiliate leaders can work with principals and district BEST "liaisons" to make BEST meet its promise to novice teachers.

One BEST Advocate, NEA-Ridgefield President Elise Santoro, is now working with local activists to implement some of the emerging new ideas.

Santoro is especially proud of a new local video about the BEST program, produced with a CEA grant and the talents of members like Eric Madsen, B.G. Brown, and Mark Reinders.

The video introduces newcomers to Ridgefield and the mentoring and portfolio process, and, appearing on it, are three recent survivors of the BEST portfolio ordeal, including Sandy White.

"I offer basic portfolio advice," notes White, "things like typing up your log daily, saving student work samples in advance, and keeping track of your most powerful lessons in the first year."

"Connecticut teachers recognize that supporting new educators will help keep them in the profession," says CEA's Branham. "It's a real challenge--but no greater than winning passage of the Educational Enhancement Act in the first place."

For more information about the BEST Advocate Program, contact CEA staffer Linette Branham at linetteb@cea.org.

Basics for Beginners
Political Action Made a Difference

Why are Connecticut teachers among the best paid in the nation?

Some factors: the Educational Enhancement Act (EEA) of 1986, a vibrant state economy, binding contract arbitration, and strong political action by NEA's state affiliate.

That political activism helped elect William A. O'Neill, Connecticut's governor during the 1980s.

O'Neill laid the groundwork for passage of the EEA by establishing a commission to investigate teacher salaries. And when lawmakers deadlocked on a resulting teacher pay/standards bill in the 1986 regular session, O'Neill had state troopers hand-deliver each of them a summons to a special session.

"The best of minds were not going into teaching because of low salaries," O'Neill explains today. "It was time to call for higher standards and pay so that Connecticut could compete in the real world. My wife had been a teacher back before I was elected, making just $17,000 with 20 years and a master's.

"The EEA has worked well," O'Neill says with pride. "Connecticut today is number one or two in the nation in terms of educational quality."