Randi Weingarten has taken issue with my saying in an earlier blog post that the New York City performance-pay plan had been “forced down the throat” of the United Federation of Teachers.
In a phone conversation this week, Weingarten emphasized that she was the one who took the initiative to the table.
“I negotiated the plan and I believe that the plan actually helped us prove to the school system that collaboration is a key ingredient to school success,” said Weingarten, who, as my earlier blog post pointed out, has always spoken very positively about the plan in public.
As to why Weingarten would agree to a merit-pay plan that bases a large proportion of a school’s reward on test scores, the union leader said that although she is against “testing as the be-all and end-all,” she did not want yet another accountability system thrust on New York teachers.