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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 3, 2000

News Release

Six Innovative Partnerships Honored by NEA, UAW and Saturn

For Joint Labor-Management Efforts to Improve Student Learning

Chicago, IL - The fourth annual Saturn Partnership Awards were presented Sunday by the National Education Association (NEA), United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Saturn Corporation, recognizing local education associations and school districts that have used a collaborative approach to improve student performance, mirroring the success achieved by labor and management in the automobile industry.

NEA President Bob Chase, an advocate of "new unionism"-- characterized by collaboration, cooperation and personal responsibility for quality schools -- hailed the six winning partnerships for their courage in daring to do things differently. In recognizing the award recipients, Chase noted the recent passing of UAW Vice President Emeritus, Don Ephlin, the Saturn visionary who was in large part responsible for NEA-UAW Saturn Award program. "Don's presence will be celebrated whenever labor and management find the strength and wisdom to work together for the common good," Chase said, "because whenever any of us do that, we will he walking down a path that Don cleared for us."

The 2000 winners hail from Phoenix, Arizona; Loveland, Colorado; Milford, Delaware; Chicopee, Massachusetts; Flint, Michigan; and St. Louis, Missouri. Chase was joined in presenting the six awards by Corey Greene, UAW Coordinator for Saturn's retail training team, at a luncheon during the NEA's Collective Bargaining Conference in Chicago.

The 2000 winning partnerships are in the following communities:

• Phoenix, Arizona, where the Paradise Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) and the Paradise Valley Education Association (PVEA) six years ago brought together 80 education stakeholders for a Future Search to envision shared goals and develop a plan to make that vision a reality. Today, some 200 teachers and administrators have been trained to work collaboratively in their schools to boost student achievement. A cadre of teachers and a curriculum director are learning to work as a team to align classroom instruction with the Arizona Academic Standards. Teachers now play a role in designing and conducting orientations for new teachers, resulting in sessions focused on what beginning teachers need to do a good job from day one.

• Milford, Delaware, which now has a district-wide leadership group representing all groups of education employees, administration, and the school board that has helped boost student achievement. The partners first worked together to pass a tax referendum for school operations, which laid the groundwork for a partnership based on trust and respect. The Milford Education Association and school district have jointly rebuilt the school system, regained the trust and support of the community, and greatly improved the education of Milford students. Before the association and school district joined forces, only 1 percent of third graders and 3 percent of fifth graders met or exceeded state writing standands. By 1999, those percentages had increased to 48 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

• Loveland, Colorado, where the defeat of a mill levy for teacher salaries helped lay the groundwork for a new way of doing things. The adoption of a consensus model of decision-making was the first step in building a partnership between the Thompson Education Association (TEA) and the Thompson School District. The district now pays half the salary of the TEA president so that she may work full-time for the organization, as well as serve on both the district's budget advisory committee and the superintendent's cabinet. The unified focus is credited with improving student achievement in the district, which demonstrated greater growth on the state student assessment program last year than 95 percent of the state's districts.

• Chicopee, Massachusetts, where local education associations, school administrators, and business leaders formed the Regional Education & Business Alliance (REBA) in Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley. REBA is now a consortium of more than 50,000 students, 3,000 teachers, 500 administrators, 200 union representatives, and dozens of community and business partners. The Alliance serves as a catalyst to bring people together to support school reform and boost student achievement. REBA provides workshops, retreats, and lectures on issues ranging from curriculum improvement strategies to site-based budgeting and decision-making. To get involved, district superintendents, union presidents, and school committeee chairs must declare their commitment to work together for school improvement, and then choose which REBA services they want to use. Forty-six percent of REBA schools have shown improvement in two out of three subjects (English, math, and science) covered by the Masachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) in both 1998 and 1999.

• Flint, Michigan, which credits "Win-Win" training for creating a more productive and collaborative relationship between the Genesee Intermediate Education Association, Genesee Intermediate Education Support Personnel Association, and Genesee Intermediate School District. A five-day workshop, financed jointly by the board and unions in 1991, helped lay the groundwork for improving communications and dialogue. Joint efforts of the new partnerships range from decentralizing the special education program in classrooms throughout the local school districts, which required staff transfers, to creating a new school - the Mott Middle College - which required contract flexibility.

• St. Louis, Missouri, where a superintendent's philosophy of inclusiveness mushroomed in the last five years into an ongoing, management-teacher "communications committee," which meets regularly to address common concerns; a collaborative, interest-based bargaining process; and successful initiation of a broad range of educational reforms and strategies with widespread staff involvement and support. Decisions are now much more site-based, and teachers have a key role in choosing which improvement programs to embrace at their schools. A state-mandated comprehensive school improvement plan was developed in 1996 for the first time by all team partners, and student achievement is up.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.