Boston Teachers Union Sells Out Members

[Modern School]

The Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), the state’s largest educators union, has agreed to tie teacher evaluations, promotions and terminations to student scores on the MCAS standardized state exam. MTA officials said that the change was inevitable, so it was better to get on board early and help shape the plan. “We have to be the architects of reform, rather than the subject of it,” said Paul Toner, MTA president. Paul Reville, the state’s Secretary of Education, praised the union. (Big surprise)

MTA is correct that there is growing momentum for performance pay based on student test scores; at least it would seem so from the screeds of politicians and pundits. It has been called for by Obama and his privatization-hungry ed chief, Arne Duncan. It has been promoted by Bill Gates, Eli Broad and other billionaires out to destroy public education. But they are dead wrong that it is inevitable or that unions must jump on board idiotic projects that will be detrimental to children and to teachers.

To see the rest of this article, please go to http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2010/12/boston-teachers-union-sells-out-members.html

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Betrayal: It's what's for dinner.

And breakfast and lunch.

Truly we are a nation of cheats and liars and thugs.

[valerief]

3. +1

[driver8]

2. What a bunch of bullshit.

Spineless cowards...

Won't someone stand up for teachers??

[madrchsod]

4. it`s going to take the students,teachers,and parents to stop this.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. Not going to happen in the next decade...we are too choice a target

with our benefits and retirement plans, let alone annual salary

[madrchsod]

8. teacher`s unions are the one of the few left standing....

they shipped my trade unions overseas to the lowest bidder but they can`t ship service trades. they`ll just make them the scapegoat for the result of the wars and de-industrialization.

i still can`t believe the teachers are under attack by a democratic president.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. What you say is true but has nothing to do with the abidcation by our leaders when in came to

reviews etc

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. The fault for much of this lies with teachers unions at the national level

“We have to be the architects of reform, rather than the subject of it,” is exactly the right thing, but they are seeing the light 10 years too late. Our union leaders refused, stuck their collective heads in the sand, and now the teachers, students, and schools are the worse for it. Back then was the time to get involved and work to develop fair and effective criteria, not after the juggernaut has run us over.

[Angry Dragon]

7. As another post on DU stated awhile ago

The places that did not have a union should have higher scores
if the unions are the problem

The Obama plan has no basis in fact and one day people will
wake up and corps will own education and there will be no learning

[MineralMan]

9. Did the teachers, the members of this union, vote for this?

If so, how is it that the union has betrayed them? Are the teachers stupid?

Do the members not also elected their union leaders? That's how unions used to work. Has that changed?

[wellst0nev0ter]

10. Study: Students' FIFTH Grade Teachers Strongly Correlate With Their FOURTH Grade Scores

http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/qjec.2010.125.1.175?journalCode=qjec

I hope they enjoy sinkhole they've just bought for themselves :eyes: