Florida Union Opposes State RTTT Plan
Florida's teachers' union will discourage affiliates from signing off on the state's Race to the Top plan.
Recently in Washington, D.C. Policy on Teachers Category
December 18, 2009
November 25, 2009
Ruling on D.C. Teacher Layoffs Raises Broader Issues
A Washington superior court judge has backed Chancellor Michelle Rhee in a dispute with the Washington Teachers' Union over layoffs. The union sought a preliminary injunction that would essentially have required Rhee to reinstate teachers who were laid off supposedly due to budget cuts while other l...
July 13, 2009
Weingarten Wants Administration to Stick With Commitment to Collaborate
If unions are going to be challenged to consider uncomfortable ideas like reforms to teacher evaluation and pay, then Obama and Duncan must make good on their promise to involve unions in any school reforms, the AFT president says.
June 22, 2009
Rhee Sends Layoff Notices to 250 Teachers
The Washington community is abuzz about the chancellor's latest move, which is to pare another 250 teachers from the city's teaching force. It's already engendered quite a bit of drama. Apparently, some forces within the Washington Teachers Union are seeking pro bono assistance to avert the layoff...
May 01, 2009
"Lost" in D.C.
Wow! There's no reason to watch "Lost" when you've got the D.C. contract situation, which is quickly becoming as byzantine and bizarre as the popular TV program. DCPS officials have detailed Washington Teachers' Union Vice President Saunders back to his school over some kind of paperwork snafus...
April 10, 2009
Once as Tragedy, Once as Farce?
Here we go again. The Washington Teachers' Union/American Federation of Teachers is, apparently, running another poll about the contract D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee proposed last summer, and about the AFT's counterproposal. And, just as it was last summer, the union is being accused of push-polli...
April 08, 2009
Common Ground on D.C. Evaluations?
The Washington Post has this story up about the new teacher-evaluation system that D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee and her team are devising. The story does a good job talking about the benefits and perils of a "value added" system that uses test-score growth to estimate teacher effectiveness, a mode...
February 19, 2009
Where's the Beef?
The Washington Teachers' Union is going on the charm offensive for its contract counter-proposal to that provided by Chancellor Michelle Rhee. It is running a series of radio advertisements promoting the contract, and at this new Web site calls its own proposal "progressive, bold and comprehensive."...
February 09, 2009
Rhee Speaks!
District of Columbia schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee turns in a must-read piece in the Washington Post, in which she tries to set the record straight: Broom aside, she's not focused on firing teachers. "I want to be clear about something: I do not blame teachers for the low-achievement levels. I h...
February 03, 2009
AFT Submits D.C. Contract Counterproposal
The Washington Teachers' Union and the American Federation of Teachers have submitted their counterproposal to District of Columbia Chancellor Michelle Rhee. There's probably a lot more in the actual proposal, which we apparently won't get to see anytime soon since that's a private matter between u...
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