May 2007

Bulletin Board

I Knew I Wanted To Be a Teacher When...

As the school year draws to a hectic close and your students develop a serious case of cabin fever, do you need to be reminded why you joined the world's greatest profession? Let your colleagues' educational epiphanies provide a little inspiration.

Did I Say That?

My parents (both teachers) always knew I'd be a teacher, but I was a little slow to figure it out! After a year at the Fashion Institute of Technology and a couple of years at Ohio State to earn a degree in English literature, I was off to law school. Sitting in Contracts class with all the other new students, waiting for the professor to arrive, the conversation turned excitedly to what type of lawyer each wished to be: prosecutor, criminal law, and so on. My turn: "A second-greade teacher." Truly an "A-ha" moment. I withdrew that afternoon. Two years later I had my first second-grade classroom. I have never regretted my decision.

Shannon Kriegmont
Now teaching first grade and living in Madison, Ohio

Born To Teach

My mom says she knew I was really going to be a teacher when she caught the third-grade me one night talking after the lights were out. She said she peeked in to find my Cabbage Patch doll sitting on my stomach. Ariel the doll was playing the role of the school board person, saying, "No, you can't have more money." And I, playing the role of the teacher, replied, "OK, fine. I'll work with what I have and my class will be happy anyway!" We still don't know where I learned about school boards!

Debbie Navratil
English teacher
Campbell, California

Power of Praise

I knew I wanted to become a teacher the day my high school English teacher, Jack McKinney at Garfield High School in Akron, Ohio, wrote on my essay, "You give me hope." Now I sometimes write his same words on the papers of my English students!

Judy Auch
English, speech, gifted education teacher
Williamstown, West Virginia

Sincerest Form of Flattery

I was in first grade when I stopped in to tell my principal I wanted to drop out of school. She was so nice as she bent down to talk to me heart-to-heart and asked me if I would give them another chance. My teacher went to the trouble to give me more work to stimulate my curiousity and interest. She was so great about it all that I realized I wanted to be just like her. Three years ago, I retired after 33 successful years of teaching. I missed the kids so much I went back to subbing this year.

Vikki Moorman
Senior high English teacher
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Pledge of Allegience

We—my family—were Bulgarian refugees from the labor camps of WWII whose move to the land of freedom was sponsored by a Wisconsin church. We came through Ellis Island, worked in Wisconsin to repay our benefactors, and landed by train in Kansas City, Missouri. Our goal was to learn English, work hard, and become true American citizens. My older sister had the "job" of interpreting for the family and taking the bus downtown to pay bills. My family "job" was to come home each day from school and "teach" English. (I also read the mail and newspapers and wrote correspondence.) I loved school, our new country, and my job so much that, in third grade, I decided to make it permanent. I was then—and am still—a teacher who loves her job!

Rosie Eastwood
Overland Park, Kansas

Place your mouse over the images to view their captions. Images will rotate automatically.

May 2007

Download the NEA report "Education Opportunities and Concerns for Former and Current Prisoners," (PDF, 1 MB) which includes information about youth education services in juvenile justice systems around the country, a list of exemplary programs for educating youth during and after incarceration, reviews of programs for non-incarcerated youth involved in juvenile justice systems, and information about the impact of incarceration on children and families.

May 2007

Cover Story

]]>http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0705/coverstory1-right1.htmlhttp://www.nea.org/neatoday/0705/coverstory1-right1.htmlThu, 26 Apr 2007 04:00:00 GMTWhat’s Next

Agree or disagree with any of the perspectives? Visit our discussion boards to offer your own thoughts on what the future holds for public education.

Take a look back with video clips, historical images, and timelines at how NEA has shaped the past 150 years.

How do students see their school in the future? Take a look at some of the spectacular examples of student art that were submitted in the NEA National Kids’ Art Contest.

May 2007

Houston, We Have a Teacher

How To Help English-Language Learners

It’s been nearly a century since immigrants made up as high a proportion of the American population as they do today. In those days, immigrants supplied much of the workforce for America’s new industries. Today, they’re mostly concentrated in low-paying service and manufacturing jobs. Public education must play a bigger role than ever in integrating immigrant families, especially children, into the American mainstream, because the modern economy requires much higher levels of education for good jobs.

NEA’s Representative Assembly strongly supports giving English-language learners (ELLs) the help they need to learn English and achieve in school. Surveys show a large number of teachers feel they’re not adequately prepared to help these children. About 15 percent of educators receive no special instruction at all to help students learn English and achieve in academic subjects, and another 33 percent get only a little of the support they need.

NEA and its partners offer several resources to help educators of ELLs. NEA and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) recently produced a comprehensive report on Spanish-speaking students.

NEA is also developing training modules to help members improve the education of ELLs and close the achievement gaps. One focus will be on getting the best professional development. Ask your UniServ director about availability in your area.

MORE RESOURCES:

Something To Talk About
English-only laws are restricting more than just what’s being said.

Culturally Responsive Teaching
Race and poverty don’t need to be the elephants in the classroom.

Language Can’t Be a Barrier
Here are practical ways to reach students when they speak what you don’t.

ELL Web Resources

Bilingual Resources

Bilingual Booklist

Using Technology on ELL Classrooms

The State University of New York at Stony Brook also has an excellent set of resources for teaching ELLs at with everything from research to lesson plans to vocabulary quizzes.

It has been nearly a century since immigrants made up as high a proportion of the American population as they do today. In those days, immigrants supplied much of the workforce for America ’s new industries. Today, they are mostly concentrated in low-paying service and manufacturing jobs. Public education must play a bigger role than ever in integrating immigrant families, especially children, into the American mainstream, because the modern economy requires much higher levels of education for good jobs.

NEA’s Representative Assembly strongly supports giving English-language learners (ELLs) the help they need to learn English and achieve in school. Surveys show a large fraction of teachers feel they are not adequately prepared to help these children. About 15 percent of educators receive no special instruction at all to help students learn English and achieve in academic subjects, and another 33 percent get a small part of the support they need.

NEA and its partners offer several resources to help educators of ELLs. NEA and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) recently produced a comprehensive report [www.nea.org/achievement/images/hispaniced.pdf] on Spanish-speaking students.

NEA is also developing training modules to help members improve the education of ELLs and close the achievement gaps. One focus will be on getting the best professional development. Ask your UniServ director about availability in your area.

More Resources:

NEA Today has run several articles on English-language learners:

www.nea.org/neatoday/0611/bilingual.html

www.nea.org/neatoday/0611/coverstory1.html,

www.nea.org/neatoday/0601/coverstory.html].

NEA.org has links to a wide range of resources including research, news, and practical ideas. Try these:

www.nea.org/neatodayextra/ellwebresources.html#teacher

www.nea.org/webresources/bilinguallinks.html

www.nea.org/readacross/resources/bilingualbooks.html

www.nea.org/neatoday/0601/elltech.html

The State University of New York at Stony Brook also has an excellent set of resources for teaching ELLs at www.celt.sunysb.edu/ell/links.php with everything from research to lesson plans to vocabulary quizzes.

Agree or disagree with any of the perspectives? Visit our discussion boards to offer your own thoughts on what the future holds for public education.

Take a look back with video clips, historical images, and timelines at how NEA has shaped the past 150 years.

 May 2007 Table of Contents

NEA Today Home | Archives

May 2007

English-Language Learners

May 2007

Cover Story

What’s Next

As NEA celebrates its 150th anniversary, we asked educators and experts what they see in the years ahead.

As we make our way through the first decade of the 21st century, it may seem that our schools still all too often “model 1950s architecture, use 1990s technology, and deliver 1960s curriculum.” So admits educator and architect Jeffery A. Lackney, but behind the bricks and mortar that make up our public schools, a ground swell is rising.

Technology promises to transform our classrooms. A global economy and a changing society force us to revisit long-held assumptions of who our students are—and who they might become. And while the current test-heavy regime weighs heavily on the minds of many, there’s hope that this, like so many other challenges that have faced educators over the past century and a half of constant change, will also pass.

On the pages that follow, we asked NEA members and leaders from many walks of life what they think the future holds for public education—a future they believe is bright. Perhaps Kentucky math teacher Kat Crawford puts it best: “While students are prepared for life,” she says, “we will also place value on what gives life meaning—values, arts, service to  others.”

Our Schools

Chris Gardner
Gov. Janet Napolitano
Markos Moulitsas Zuniga
Margaret Spellings
Kat Crawford
Deborah Meier
Alfie Kohn
Wynton Marsalis
Linda Christensen
Jonathan Kozol
Gary Orfield & Susan Eaton

Technology

George Lucas & Milton Chen
Jeri Stolola
John Chambers
Dawn Shephard Pope

Architecture

Jeffrey Lackney
Ron Bogle
Thom Mayne

Our Students

Reg Weaver
Charlene Christopher
Pedro Noguera
Sonia Nieto

Our Schools

Educators will regain the ability to teach what’s important.

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Chris Gardner    

Businessman, author, and philanthropist Talking about schools of the future gives me the opportunity to dream big for educators. Teachers would be compensated in accordance with their stated value. I say “stated,” because people always give lip service to the importance of education—“my favorite teacher this and my favorite teacher that.” If educators are so important, compensate them for the incredibly hard job they do every day.

There would never be a cry of “We don’t have.” The resources educators need would always be available. Not wasted, but used wisely. The current crop of presidential candidates would actually stand by their promises and make public schools a genuine—not “conveniently stated while I’m trying to get your vote”—priority.

Education would have real value—and it couldn’t happen for me 10, 20, 30 years in the future. If it happened tomorrow, it would be a dream come true for the world.

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Janet Napolitano    

Arizona Governor Our knowledge-based global economy is changing at a rapid pace, and the nations that produce the best innovators will lead it. In the United States, we are quickly finding that we have some fierce competition. To meet the challenge, we must ensure today’s education system meets the needs of tomorrow’s economy. 

Nothing is more important to the future of public education than raising student achievement. Next to committed parents, the most important element in improving achievement is a qualified, experienced teacher in every classroom. In Arizona, we’ve made teachers a top priority, focusing on raising teacher pay and enhancing professional development. We are also working hand-in-hand with teachers to prepare our students for the 21st century workforce, focusing on skills needed to solve problems, experiment, and increase their awareness about the world around them.

Together, we’re insisting on and striving toward the highest possible standards for our children, from the first day of pre-school to the last day of college.

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Markos Moulitsas Zúniga    

Blogger at “Daily Kos” and Activist My wife worries about the educational future of our 3-year-old and newborn. Are the schools good? Will they be properly stimulated? Will they be prepared for their future?

I may have had those worries in a different era, but today’s world is much different. The Internet alone is a dramatic shift. I’ve got the world at my laptop, and even my toddler has gotten used to instant gratification. He’ll sidle over as I’m working and say, “I want to see parasauralophus,” and two seconds later he’s admiring the dinosaur on my screen. No matter the topic, no matter the question, I can fire up the laptop and not just have a correct answer, but I can sit him next to me to look at pictures, diagrams, animations, and whatever else satiates his rabid demand to learn.

To me, the standardized education my child will get at school is foundational—a base upon which we can build using our wealth of access to educational materials. I won’t be sending my children to school just to learn a predetermined curriculum, but to learn how to learn. 

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Margaret Spellings    

U.S. Education Secretary As we look to the future, we know our country’s success depends on equipping all our students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed—something we’ve never really done before. To reach this goal, we must support teachers with the tools and resources they need to help every child reach his or her potential. We must share best practices, bring research-proven methods into the classroom, and leverage the power of technology to customize instruction.

In the last 50 years, American ingenuity has put a man on the moon, mapped the human genome, and developed life-extending drugs and treatment for AIDS. Having every child on grade level by 2014 is another great goal. With the right support for teachers, I know we can reach it.

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Kat Crawford    

Math Teacher I have to believe that the days of high-stakes accountability testing are coming to an end and a more thoughtful, reasonable approach will take its place. As that shift occurs, I believe we are going to see a focus on what is most important—learning. Public education can be a leader that looks to the future. I believe that will happen with a focus on preparing our students to be lifelong learners. At the same time, I believe that while students are prepared for life, we will also place value on what gives life meaning—values, arts, service to others.

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Deborah Meier    

Education Activist and Author We will see a return to celebrating childhood, enjoying those immensely useful childlike qualities instead of squashing them. Instead of making 3-year-olds do “academic” worksheets, I imagine K–12th grade will look more like the kinder (children’s) gardens of yesteryear, with everyone involved in serious activities. Playfulness, after all, is at the core of what strong intellectual work is all about.

We will also create schools that foster the democratic spirit. At the schools I’ve been most involved in, the faculty was small enough to meet regularly and sustain open discussions of disagreements about pedagogy, curriculum, discipline, and about what counted as evidence of our success at producing well-educated kids.

Democracy isn’t intuitive, or even natural. So I picture schools where adults and kids examine it, practice it, weigh its trade-offs—schools that take democracy seriously, rather than as an afterthought for Civics 101.

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Alfie Kohn

Author When I ask teachers what their long-term goals are for students, one response I hear almost everywhere is “lifelong learner.” It’s not just that we want them to know certain things but that we want them to keep wanting to know, not just that they’re able to read but that they do read . . . and think, and question.

If we took this objective seriously, every educational practice and policy – from whether to assign homework to how to assess learning, from the size of classes and schools to the length of school days and years – would be evaluated primarily on the basis of how it affected kids’ excitement about ideas. Higher achievement (let alone higher test scores) would never constitute a sufficient basis for doing something. If a proposal might well turn students off to a given topic, let alone to intellectual inquiry itself, it wouldn’t stand a chance. And of course intrinsic motivation to learn would be the principal outcome variable used by educational researchers.

I believe that schools should and can make student interest their primary criterion, but I can’t say whether they will. The likelihood of this transformation will depend on how willing we are to align our practices with our goals.

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Wynton Marsalis    

Musician and Music Advocate As Americans, it’s more important than ever that we have a sense of our identity. We need a generation of diplomats who understand and take pride in our culture and can share it with others. Jazz tells us more about who we are, where we’ve been, and where we could be going, than any of our indigenous art forms. It is a music of communication that, from the beginning, has transported people across the divides of age, race, and geography.

We’re sending our kids into the world with their skills and talents underdeveloped, and our nation is really much poorer for it. We’ve got a tough challenge ahead of us. But I know that working together, we can make a difference in our children’s lives, and we can replace cultural bankruptcy with a full pocket of good music. Lord knows we need it.

Marsalis’ Jazz for Young People Curriculum offers a free Web-based curriculum for high school teachers that places jazz at the center of a discussion of American history, through NEA Jazz in the Schools: www.neajazzintheschools.org .

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Linda Christensen

Educator/Rethinking SchoolsEducation is at a dangerous crossroads. While the federal government urges schools to close the achievement gap and work for equity, it endorses programs that teach compliance and rote answers. School districts write mission statements about creating citizens of the world, but more and more, they turn teachers into robotic hands to deliver education programs designed and shipped from sites outside of our classrooms.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation has pushed administrators to grab quick solutions to get a fast bump in their test scores. Instead of taking the time to build teacher capacity to improve instruction or creating schools as learning communities, more administrators opt for "boxed" professional development— from fill-in-the-blank writing curricula to stick-the-kid-on-the-computer reading and math programs.

But against this tide of top-down reform, a counter movement of resistance is surfacing. Many teachers are insisting that the real world must be at the heart of the curriculum, inspiring students to acquire the academic skills that help them understand self and society.

My vision for the future of education is that as teachers, as union members, we have the nerve, the audacity to struggle to nurture a curriculum that simultaneously responds to urgent social demands as well as the academic needs of our students.

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Jonathan Kozol

Educator and Author In spite of the discouraging effects of high-stakes testing and the cold winds blowing down from Washington, I believe that a rebirth of public education—of the joy that teachers take in it and the benefits it brings to children—is ahead of us.

I’m meeting tens of thousands of the best and brightest students in our universities and colleges who are determined to come in and work with us in public schools, not voucher schools, not boutique schools, not semi-private charter schools run by the business sector. They represent a burst of idealistic energy, a love for children, and a thirst for justice, which will reinforce the passions of those in the classroom now.

The tide of discontent with punitive, test-driven, and fear-driven methods of instruction is rising to the point at which I am convinced that we will see, within the next five years, a militant revival of enlightened opposition to these practices among our rank-and-file teachers. These teachers know they are in a battle for the soul of public education. Many feel intimidated by the sword of threats and sanctions under which they are obliged to teach today. But, sooner or later, these teachers will rise up and make their voices heard.

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Gary Orfield & Susan Eaton    

The Civil Rights Project, Harvard University After years of progress following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision to desegregate public schools, segregation rates in our schools have been rising across the country. Incredibly enough, the Bush Administration is asking the Supreme Court this year to forbid school districts to take voluntary action to foster desegregation.

Why should we care? For one thing, desegregated schooling has clear educational benefits—reduced prejudice, improved cross-racial cooperation, increased life chances for African-American students, and in some cases, higher achievement, especially among younger children. Despite it not being a priority of our elected leaders, teachers can play a vital role in promoting desegregation. If they are lucky enough to teach in diverse classrooms, they can engage students in discussions about race and inequality and speak publicly about the benefits of racial diversity. Teachers must be leaders in the struggle for an integrated society. The future of a healthy multiracial society is at stake.

Technology

Distance learning, individual computers, and the global classroom are all on their way.

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George Lucas & Milton Chen

Founder and Chairman; Executive Director, George Lucas Educational Foundation “The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be.” With apologies to educators who justifiably prize correct grammar, this quote from Yogi Berra captures how the future keeps changing. We can all clearly see how technology keeps changing the future—every few years, it seems—and the future for which our schools need to prepare. Technology has transformed every field of endeavor into a global field, where colleagues collaborate across borders using the Internet. Great benefits would come to our students and, indeed, the world’s students, if they could communicate with their peers in other nations.

Simply put, school life should become more like real life, with school work organized around projects rather than textbooks, and students working in teams rather than alone. Schools should break down the two enemies of learning: isolation and abstraction. We should work to ensure schools derive the same benefits that technology has brought to the rest of society—health care, manufacturing, agriculture, architecture, the military, publishing, and entertainment.

Eventually, and hopefully sooner rather than later, every student and teacher should have a mobile computer with wireless Internet access to enable them to communicate and access curricula 24/7. All this, from creating new educational simulations to providing hardware and software, will require a much higher level of investment in our schools than we have seen. As a nation, we can afford it, especially if we view these expenditures not as a cost, but as an investment in the future of our democracy.

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Jeri Stodola    

Education Support Professional Our schools will have to commit to investing in training teachers on the effective use of technology and in how to truly integrate that technology into the curriculum. Without that knowledge, providing access to the “tools” will accomplish little. Many of our nation’s schools do not have the latest technology that my Chicago suburban district enjoys. Many students do not come from homes where computers are as common as televisions. Looking ahead, I think schools will provide equitable access to the tools that will ensure our students’ success in the 21st century.

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John Chambers    

Chairman and CEO, Cisco Education and the Internet are two great equalizers in life. Networking connects us to voice, data, and video, allowing us to communicate across borders, eliminate hurdles, and accomplish tasks previously unattainable.  

Imagine a school where teachers and counselors have more time to spend with students because technology tackles administrative tasks, saves money, and enables more individualized education. Imagine hearing the class bell ring and knowing that a system alerts administrators and parents if students are absent; teachers communicate with students and parents on secure Web sites; and video broadcasts televise activities and classes throughout the district—and around the globe. The future of education will see technology creating a new classroom experience, where all students will find learning an engaging, interactive way of life.

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Dawn Shephard Pope    

High School Teacher As a teacher, I feel that lecturing in a classroom within a brick and mortar schoolhouse is coming to an end. Instead, distance education will become a more common tool and students will have a more customized education based on their talents, abilities, and passions in life. However, I often worry that I am still thinking “in the box” and my ideas and vision for the future are not great enough. The world is changing at a very rapid pace, and I want to ensure that I am doing all that I can to meet the needs of my 21st century learners.

Architecture

How schools of the future look matters far less than how they’ll work.

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Jeffery A. Lackney    

Educator and Architect One might argue that today’s 21st century schools model 1950s architecture, use 1990s technology, and deliver 1960s curriculum. For many well-intentioned reasons, public education has coped with a confusing mix of Agricultural and Industrial Age models, making it difficult to conceive of what a school of the new age might look and feel like.

However, there is reason to be optimistic. School designers are rapidly innovating to not only support, but also encourage change in teaching practices to accommodate collaborative, project-based learning and personalized, self-directed learning.

Ron Bogle    

President and CEO, American Architectural Foundation The United States is spending over $30 billion each year on the renovation and construction of K–12 schools—more than ever before in our history—just as we are entering an exciting period of change in the way school buildings look and support learning.

The spread of technology, the demand for smaller schools, independent and experiential learning, a more diverse student population, and the growing importance of sustainability are all part of this new mix of forces influencing the design of educational facilities.

To maximize the opportunity to design schools that support student achievement, we must seek greater involvement in the design process by those who actually use our schools.

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Thom Mayne

Architect Education is the social glue of our diverse society. I believe that architecture can engage deeply in the act of education both by providing an environment that engenders freedom of thought, creativity, and curiosity, and as a subject of study in its own right.
 
Like film and the other arts, the conceptual, artistic realm of architecture deals with a broad range of disciplines and integrates multiple levels of logic. This act of interpretation and synthesis-of political, cultural, technical, biological, and ecological issues-enriches the educational experience of the student.
 
Inspiring inquiry is at the heart of our responsibility in educating our young people, and architecture has the enormous potential to encourage inquiry and provoke curiosity. As architects, we must address the pragmatic territories at the highest level; but if we fail to capture the virtual territory-that is the territory of the mind of the student-then we risk constructing another mediocre building that will not spark the creativity, imagination, and optimism that are the birthright of our young citizens.
 

Our Students

Schools will set the example for an integrated, multicultural society.

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Reg Weaver    

NEA president Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. once said, “All education springs from some image of the future. If the image of the future held by a society is grossly inaccurate, its education system will betray its youth.”

The image of tomorrow’s classroom will be more diverse than ever. Multiculturalism is unquestionably merging its way into today’s classroom curriculum. For teachers living in major metropolitan areas, multiculturalism is no longer an issue for debate. Multiculturalism is now an everyday fact of life.

As a 30-year classroom veteran, I’ve seen firsthand the benefits for students who work with others of different ethnic backgrounds. Racial diversity in classrooms helps all students gain skills that are useful in the workplace and in life, such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and understanding different points of view.

Yet as public schools become more diverse, demands will increase to find the most effective ways to help all students succeed academically. This means that teachers will be faced with the challenge of making lesson plans culturally relevant, and all educators will be faced with the challenge of integrating diverse cultures into the curriculum and school programs.

NEA fully welcomes, values, and will adapt to this transformation of America’s public school classrooms. In our view, diversity is our greatest strength, and it is a power we must use to face a changing world.

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Charlene Christopher    

Special Education Teacher As a 30-year veteran teacher, I view the future of special education with mixed feelings. No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act have helped and hindered students with disabilities at the same time. More scrutiny has been given to decreasing the achievement gap among students with disabilities because of requirements under the laws, which for some students has been a blessing. Yet the stringent rules for accountability for testing special education students and the manner in which the regulations for highly qualified special education teachers have been implemented are causing stressors upon public education that will take years to recover from.

Many of my special education colleagues are frustrated by one-size-fits-all testing requirements that do not meet the needs of their students. General educators in inclusion classes are equally frustrated as they focus more on the data that we need to meet test requirements rather than the enriched curriculum that would be more beneficial to all students.

We must continue to fight for the students we teach, and for future teachers to have a professional career that is rewarding and satisfying.

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Pedro Noguera    

Professor/Activist In coming years, the achievement gap—the predictable disparities in student achievement that correspond closely with the race and class backgrounds of students—will continue to present one of the greatest challenges to the public education system. Although these disparities in test scores, grades, graduation rates, and college attendance rates (typically explained by racist notions of Black inferiority) have been common for a long time, we are nonetheless seeing a small number of schools where poor children of color are achieving at very high levels. These schools benefit from high levels of parental involvement, high academic standards, and strong leadership from the staff.

Of all factors motivating students of color, teacher efficacy ranks the highest. The importance of teachers in reducing racial disparities in achievement, in encouraging a greater number of students to stay in school and become motivated to learn cannot be overstated. Large numbers of students currently have teachers they don’t understand, don’t identify with, don’t trust, and therefore won’t learn from.

Finding high-quality teachers who are willing to work in high-poverty, high-minority communities—never easy—should be one of the public education system’s highest priorities. The belief that we can reduce the historic linkage between race, class, and achievement, with a growing sense of urgency, will help us meet this formidable challenge.

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Sonia Nieto

Professor/Author At present, over 40% of all students in our public schools are Latino, African American, Asian American, Native American, and immigrants of other backgrounds. One in five children is from an immigrant family, and most speak a language other than English at home. By 2050, half of our entire population will be people of color, with substantially higher numbers in our schools. Yet while our population is growing in diversity, roughly 89% of teachers are White, monolingual English speakers. Given this reality, we can safely say that multicultural education must be the future of public education in the United States.

Critics still try to dismiss multicultural education as “political correctness,” shallow celebrations of ethnic holidays, or activities to boost students’ self-esteem. Even well-intentioned teachers often limit multicultural education in their classrooms to little more than a “holidays and heroes” approach. Multicultural education should challenge structural inequality, including racism and other biases, through a serious consideration of how school policies and practices, as well as institutional practices such as inequitable school financing and high-stakes testing, get in the way of learning. A comprehensive multicultural education means providing all students with an equitable, high quality education that affirms their identities, creates community with others different from them, and prepares them for lives as productive citizens in a democracy. What could be more essential than this?

May 2007

UpFront

Trends, Facts, Innovators, Wisdom, Research, First 5 Years, News, Quotes, and Humor

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May 2007

UpFront

Trends, Facts, Innovators, Wisdom, Research, First 5 Years, News, Quotes, and Humor

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May 2007

UpFront

Trends, Facts, Innovators, Wisdom, Research, First 5 Years, News, Quotes, and Humor

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May 2007

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May 2007

UpFront

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May 2007

UpFront

Trends, Facts, Innovators, Wisdom, Research, First 5 Years, News, Quotes, and Humor

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May 2007

State Report

Timing Is Everything

Wisconsin Traditionally, the School District of Grafton settled contracts with the Grafton Paraprofessional and Aides Association (GPAA) right after negotiating with teachers. This made education support professionals (ESPs) feel as if they were getting “the leftovers, money-wise,” according to one bargaining team member. So, the team decided to delay the start of negotiations until after the current ESP contract had almost expired and well after the teachers had settled their contract. The tactic worked. The parties agreed to a three-year contract that brings a $0.75 per hour increase the first year, followed by $0.85 and $1 increases.

“By going to a three-year contract, we were able to spread things out,” says Pam Nuñez, head negotiator. “Now, we won’t be negotiating the same year as teachers.” Though reaching a full living wage for all Grafton ESPs remains to be achieved, “the numbers they were throwing at us were bigger than they ever had been before,” says Kim Provencher, associate director of North Shore United Educators, the bargaining team GPAA is affiliated with.

Dark STAR

Florida The Florida Education Association (FEA) filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a provision in the state budget that created a teacher bonus program based primarily on student learning gains on standardized tests. FEA opposes the plan, called Special Teachers Are Rewarded (STAR), because it was enacted with conditions in the state’s budget and creates changes to existing performance pay laws. It also arbitrarily caps the number of instructional personnel who are eligible for performance pay to 25 percent and calls for changes in how they are evaluated, excluding collective bargaining. The program also threatens school collegiality by pitting teachers against each other for bonus money in a state where teacher pay runs $6,000 below the national average, say FEA officials.

Mending Fences

Colorado After a long bargaining session last fall, the Pueblo Education Association (PEA) and school board agreed to work with a fact-finder (a neutral third party chosen by both sides). After board members rejected the advised settlement, both parties returned to the bargaining table with help from a federal mediator and settled on a 2.45 percent increase this year and 2.2 percent in 2007–08. To mend relations and help facilitate future negotiations, all agreed that PEA President Carole Partin will join the district’s strategic planning committee, and a PEA member will serve on the budget oversight committee. “The opportunity for our Association to participate in strategic planning and decision-making is a huge step,” Partin says.

Playing the Percentages

Tennessee The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) organized its 60-80-90 Campaign to get the state legislature to provide retiring teachers with at least a 60 percent benefit (currently at 48 percent), cover at least 80 percent of active teachers’ insurance premiums (the state pays 45 percent for individuals), and guarantee teacher salaries to be at least 90 percent of the national average ($49,109 for the 50 states and Washington, D.C.). The campaign started with eight regional meetings attended by local Association leaders, bargaining chairs, negotiators, and even school board members and superintendents. “We asked them to arrive with creative campaign ideas that involve members,” says Earl Wiman, TEA president. The campaign includes cyber-lobbying by members, and enlisting the support of parents, legislators, and business and community leaders.

Pension Battles

Kentucky and Utah The National Public Pension Coalition, of which NEA President Reg Weaver is chair and secretary, is providing assistance to the Kentucky Education Association and other state labor unions during their battle with legislators who are debating a new pension benefit structure for new employees. At press time, the governor had threatened to call a special session to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, the Utah Education Association blocked proposed legislation to establish a defined-contribution benefit plan for new employees.

New Unit, New Laws

Washington Members of the nine-month-old Education Service Employees of College Place have recruited 40 out of the 45 eligible paraprofessionals, custodians, food service, and secretarial staff. “Even though we have to negotiate an entire contract, the three main areas of concern are employee labor laws, employee labor laws, and employee labor laws, with a dash of increased wages, please,” says paraprofessional and local President Cyndi Mehling.

May 2007

Leading the Way

Don’t Be Left Behind

As reauthorization approaches, NEA leaders focus on essential changes.

We don’t know how many innings there will be in the contest over reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind law (NCLB), but this high-stakes game has definitely started.

NCLB, the current incarnation of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, expires in September and leaders of the House and Senate education committees say they want to move quickly on reauthorization. Congress could put off decisions much longer than that, but NEA leaders are going on the assumption that the next few weeks may be decisive.

NEA President Reg Weaver led off the reauthorization push with a strong presentation to a joint hearing organized by the U.S. House and Senate education committees. He told lawmakers that NEA members are the first to agree that public schools face challenges—and he listed some of the biggest, from achievement gaps to high dropout rates. These problems, he said, “contradict everything this nation stands for, and they impede our future success.”

Weaver then laid out some of the key, research-tested strategies that NEA is promoting to fix these problems, including small classes, mentoring for new teachers, and better professional development. He called for higher salaries, at least $40,000 for beginning teachers and a living wage for support professionals, which could encourage more people to go into education and make them more likely to stay in the classroom. He put special emphasis on ways to attract and keep quality teachers at hard-to-staff schools, including financial incentives. (His testimony and accompanying materials submitted to the joint hearing can be found at www.nea.org/ref?3633). Shortly afterward, Weaver also addressed the National Lieutenant Governors Association on NCLB.

As lawmakers were gearing up for reauthorization, the NEA Executive Committee laid out its game plan in March, deciding on a short list of top-priority changes that would transform NCLB from a law that hurts education more than it helps, into one that supports educators in closing achievement gaps.

The number one priority on the list calls for schools to be evaluated with multiple measures of achievement, not just one-size-fits-all standardized tests in reading and math. The other measures could be district-level or school assessments, performance assessments, and non-test measures such as attendance, percent of students taking high-level courses, and graduation rates.

Number two on the list is the use of “growth models” in accountability—measuring how much students learn at school, so that schools get credit for helping low-achieving students who make good progress, even if those students have not completely caught up yet.

Also on the list: data should be used to help educators do their work better, not to punish them for low scores.

At the same time, the Executive Committee agreed on a list of “non-starters”—provisions that would lead NEA to oppose reauthorization of the law. That list includes vouchers, undermining collective bargaining, and adding new federal testing mandates. (Read the complete NEA Executive Committee priority list for changing NCLB and the list of “non-starters” at www.nea.org/ref?3636.)

NEA activists throughout the organization are working to make decision-makers in Congress aware of the real-life, classroom impact of NCLB’s test-and-punish strategy and telling them what we need from the federal government. For instance, Pamela Burtnett, president of the Lake County Education Association in Florida and a National Board Certified Teacher with more than 25 years of experience teaching language arts, told a Senate panel that the reauthorized law should provide support for a broad array of professional development programs for new and experienced teachers. “I know from my decades of experience that the one thing we do not need are additional federal mandates and hoops for teachers to jump through,” she concluded. “Teachers are motivated by their desire to help their students learn.” (Read her full testimony at www.nea.org/ref?3634).

But Burtnett isn’t alone. NEA members across the country are speaking in public, lobbying quietly, writing to newspapers, making phone calls, and sending e-mails and letters.
And there’s room for more! Join the team to send your NCLB message to your member of Congress.

—Alain Jehlen

May 2007

Money

How Do You Score?
A+ or Needs Improvement?

Knowing your credit score and how to boost it can save you thousands.

By Deborah A. Wilburn

Most of us are familiar with credit scores. Ranging from 300 to 850, they are a sign of financial health and, to lenders, they indicate the likelihood that a consumer will be able to repay a loan. Any score above 700 is considered good, while scores below 600 tell lenders that, based on your past credit history, you may have trouble paying them back. A low score doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get a loan—but if you’re approved, you might end up paying a higher interest rate. That’s why it’s important not only to manage your money wisely, but also to know your scores. Even a difference of 60 or 70 points could cost you thousands of additional dollars in interest over the life of a loan.

The first step, then, is to find out what your scores are (you have three, issued by each of the three major credit reporting agencies—Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian). Although you can get some credit reports for free, you have to pay for credit scores. You’ll need to order them through www.myfico.com , or call (800) 319-4433. Expect to pay about $16 each.

That said, there are general guidelines anyone can use to keep their credit rating high. Here are a few steps recommended by financial experts:

Fix any mistakes in your credit reports, because your score is based on the information in them. If something is wrong—for example, if one of the reports states that you’ve missed one or more payments, but you know you always pay on time—notify the agency so the error can be corrected. Note: You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report each year from Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. To order, call (877) 322-8228 or go to www.annualcreditreport.com. It’s important to check all three reports, because these agencies don’t share data and a mistake in one may not show up in another.

Make payments on time. The most common way that people damage their credit is by not paying bills on time, says Gary Herman, president of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Once a bill is 30 days late, it’ll be reported to the credit bureaus,” he says.

Don’t max out your credit cards. Owning several cards with balances near the limits will ding your score. “Ideally, balances should be no higher than 35 percent of the credit limit,” says Herman.

Don’t close out old accounts and consolidate everything onto a new card. Demonstrating that you’ve managed an account over a long period of time is attractive to lenders. Don’t be too quick to close out your oldest accounts, especially if you’re a young educator with a fairly short credit history. Leave the account open, even if you’re not using the card.

Don’t open up several new accounts at once. This suggests you may be having financial trouble.

How long does it take to boost a low score? “A lot has to do with the type of damage you’re recovering from,” says Herman. “Chapter 7 bankruptcy stays on your report for 10 years, but if you make a late payment and start paying on time, each month when your report is updated, it will improve incrementally.” That’s because recent payment history is given more weight than past mistakes.

And that’s good news for anyone who goes through a time of financial stress: If credit scores take a hit, there are more than enough chances to improve them.

Best Summer Travel Deals

Whether you’re planning to get away this summer for some much-needed R&R, or sticking to business by traveling for conferences and training, remember that the best way to get the lowest airfare is by not following the herd.

Traveling on Saturday, Tuesday, or Wednesday tends to result in the lowest fares, especially for those willing to board in the early morning hours or late at night. When it comes to travel search engines, everyone’s heard of the biggies, like expedia.com and orbitz.com, but before locking in a fare, check out Kayak.com, which searches over 100 sites and offers alternatives like smaller airports outside of major cities. Mobissimo.com, another comprehensive site, also has a cool blog where armchair travelers can learn about wacky and wonderful things in the world of travel, including updates on the three man-made islands being built off the coast of Dubai, or Virgin Galactic—the world’s “first commercial spaceline.”

Homes for Sale, Half Off!

Sound like a deal too good to be true? Actually, the offer is real, thanks to an initiative that’s come about through NEA working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Called “Teacher Next Door,” the program allows teachers to buy houses in revitalization areas—HUD-designated neighborhoods in need of economic and community development—where they teach, at 50 percent off the listed price. This program is a step in the right direction toward helping more educators realize the American dream of home ownership.

And we can do more. NEA is currently working with HUD to improve the program to include all categories of education support professionals (ESPs) and to expand the program in high-cost areas. For more information, go to www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/reo/goodn/tnd.cfm.

How I Saved a Buck!

Christine Carlson, elementary school teacher, Stafford, Virginia

Over the years, I’ve collected sturdy, reusable (but not breakable!) plates, forks, and spoons to use in our kindergarten classroom. I have enough for a whole class set, plus extras. Now, whenever we have a class party or share a snack, I don’t have to buy paper or plastic plates and utensils. Plus, we help the environment by not using disposable items. The kids also get to practice good table manners because they are using real items. (I bring them home and throw them in the dishwasher.)

Got a great way to save some cash at home or at work? E-mail ckopkowski@nea.org.

Is It Worth It?

Road Hazard Warranty for Tires

You’re about to shell out $300 for a new set of tires, so it’s only natural to wonder if you really need to pay more for the extended warranty the salesperson is pushing. In most cases, no, but let’s take a closer look. The insurance that comes with the tire usually guarantees that it will last for a certain number of miles—from 40,000 to 100,000, according to Eugene Peterson of Consumer Reports’ Automotive Testing Center. Most manufacturers also guarantee that it will be free of defects for the life of the tire.

Extended warranties typically cover damage as a result of road hazards, punctures, and potholes. “That’s it,” says Peterson. The extended warranty may cover one year or the life of the tire, depending on the plan. E