Schools for Tomorrow Blog

The next three days likely will comprise a critical moment in the showdown over the future of ProComp and education reform in Denver, as mediation takes place between DPS and DCTA to settle the disputed contract.

As Alexander Ooms skillfully pointed out, the natural and traditional advantage in these types of bargaining situations goes to the union. But the leadership of DPS may not be your typical school district leadership, and in some ways they have pushed DCTA back on its heels in the public relations battle. (Of course, they owe more than a little thanks to the teachers on the ground who are fed up with the union’s position.)

Yet anyone who doubts the ability of union leaders to overcome their tough situation and manipulate events to their advantage should think again. Whether or not DCTA officials can regain public momentum in these negotiations hinges on the first and primary piece of their plan, as they rally members to persuade parents to “Stand With Us” before and after school tomorrow.

Hey, at least they’re not foolish enough to make things happen during the school day, when you know, students should be learning. And kudos to the union as well for not taking a second stab at the “Doughnut Diplomacy” strategy (though it sure sounds tasty), though the “milk-through-the-nose” silly radio ad strategy has grown tiresome.

By the time the major newspapers hit the stands on Thursday, we should have a decent idea how well the DCTA’s political theater has played. My best hopes aside, it appears that nothing short of serious public shame will get either side to back down at this point.

For the sake of the kids and the peace of the city, it would be best that the union does not opt for a strike—especially during the Democratic National Convention. Students need teachers in the classroom, and besides, I’m not sure what sort of angry response might be unleashed if picketing teachers stole some of the spotlight from folks like these.
 

Hot of the press, this new report from the A-Plus Finance and facilities Sub-committee validates what many people have been saying for a while now: ProComp needs to be reconfigured to pay newer teachers more and to provide meaningful incentives, rather than almost exclusively salary-building components. Read a full story on the report, on the Educaton News Colorado website, by clicking  here.

It looks as if Karl Rove has a new job when not working for Fox.  Check out the text of the latest radio ads playing in Denver advocating the Denver Classroom Teachers Association’s position in the contract-talks spat over ProComp.

Denver public school district officials are trying to change the nationally acclaimed performance-based pay system for Denver teachers Their proposed changes would remove incentives for experienced teachers, create quotas, and reduce accountability.
 
Call the school board and tell them to keep reform moving forward.
 
We need to attract and retain qualified teachers for Denver’s children.
 
Paid for by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association
 
Making public schools great for every child.

Not a good sign that the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and Denver Public Schools keep taking shots at each other publicly. This latest letter from DCTA prez Kim Ursetta, posted on her blog, has an unmistakably angry tone. 

And Kim, you get only a "partially proficient" in spelling. You misspelled the superintendent’s last name throughout your letter.

I was attending one of the seemingly hundreds of educational fact finding committee meetings (if someone did a meta-analysis of the reports put out by these well-intentioned powerless groups—think P-16 Council, P-20 Council, Great Education Colorado — I predict they would all say the same thing: something needs to change!), and a business owner asked why teachers wanted more money.

“Don’t teachers work for only 10 months out of the year? If you look at the pay for 10 months and not 12 months, it’s not that bad.”

To a certain extent, this  is a valid argument. But  looking at pay by the hour versus the year tells a different story. Let’s ay the average worker puts in 50 weeks a year, with two weeks off for vacation.  At 40 hours a week times 50 weeks, that’s 2,000 hours. Now let’s look at a teacher’s hourly work week. This is not empirically based. I am sure there is data out there that tracks the time teachers work (if you know of any, let me know), but this is based only on my observations of 14 years of teaching experience.

A typical teacher puts in 10 hours a day with, let’s say, a minimum of another 4 hours at home per week. That’s 54 hours a week, times 38 weeks (the typical contractual timeframe), which equals 2,052 hours a year. In other words, teachers work just as many hours in 38 weeks (or more) as a your typical 40-hour per week worker.

Yes, I am sure that some teachers do not put in that many hours, just as I am sure that not all workers are actually doing what they are supposed to be doing at their jobs every hour. The missing factor here is what teachers do over the summer and the fact that most are not compensated for work that SHOULD be done over the summer.  

Teachers should be responding to the needs of the students during the school year–remediating with students, changing lesson plans to adapt to the changing needs in the classroom, tutoring students, conferencing with parents and, finally, implementing lesson plans. Teachers should not be working on the “Three Cs” (as Rick DuFour names them): Consequences, Calendar and Choices.

Before I start teaching every year, I should have looked at any and all data that was produced the year before, i.e.  CSAP, ACT, district assessments, common course assessments or individual teacher assessment data. This allows me to focus on any shortcomings from the previous year. The problems might stem from misaligned courses, wrong essential outcomes for courses, invalid assessments or poor teaching strategies, just to name a few.

Researching best practices and locating resources to assist me is key as well. I am not suggesting that all this be done in isolation. It needs to be done collaboratively to ensure consistent application and implementation. Some teachers do this without pay.  Most  do not do it because it is outside of their contractual obligations.

Currently, the first day back for teachers may be spending  a brief time glancing at the previous year’s data, if you are lucky enough to get that data when you return in the late summer. In my district, we have three teacher duty days, in which you are supposed to get ready for the upcoming year. This also includes copying, preparing rooms, attending meetings about new policies, and meeting with administrators to set up individual teacher objectives for the year, among other requirements.

This has to change! I believe we need to pay teachers to work over the summer on the Three Cs. A recent article in the Washington Post describes a district that is doing this. Contracts have been extended nine, 14 or 21 days. Not all teachers can participate. There is a “competitive” process to select teachers. Teacher’s duties are very specific, and they are expected to monitor their summer work throughout the year.

Yes, it takes money. And my district is struggling, as are most, with maintaining current services and would be hard-pressed to find additional money to compensate teachers for this vital work. Can we find funds to accomplish this? Here’s a thought: What about Denver altering  Denver’s ProComp to make this one of the options for teachers?

As always, constructive feedback is appreciated.         

OK, let’s see if we’ve got this straight. ProComp is "merit pay," according to a front-page headline in today’s Denver Post. Or it’s  "performance pay" as named in the body of the story. Or perhaps it’s "pay for performance," as the title of a book by two of its chief architects and an academic expert attests.

Oh, no, wait a minute! Campaign "literature" from 2005 has the real story:

“Denver’s new teacher compensation system should not be confused with “merit pay” and “performance pay” …these earlier attempts were unpopular due to the perceived subjectivity of the process and the often narrow focus used to evaluate an employee. 

“The ProComp system actually is results-based pay, using multiple criteria to assess teachers’ performance.”   

Ah-ha. Now I get it.

So please tell me, when some of us watching from the sidelines criticize all parties for misleading the  public, deliberately or not, why is it that we get lambasted for being unfair? What on earth are people supposed to think? Especially when a system that dedicates well over 90 percent of its money to "salary building" can’t possibly be called anything like "merit pay" or "pay for performance?"

Meanwhile, memo to the Denver Post: take a hint from your jointly-owned competitor. They’ve figured out how to describe ProComp more or less accurately, in headlines and in the body of the story. 

Denver Classroom Teachers Association President Kim Ursetta and Paul Teske, dean of the UCD School of Public Affairs (and evaluator of ProComp), engaged in an EdWeek-sponsored "live chat" today on the web. You can read the transcript here, though you may need to go through a *free* registration process. Some interesting questions and answers about the intricacies of the Denver system, which none dare call performance pay.

Erase any doubts about how high the stakes are in the current ProComp-fueled bargaining impasse between Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teacher Association. The two sides are frantically jockeying for position in advance of mediation sessions scheduled for later this month. DCTA President Kim Ursetta has posted a slideshow detailing the union’s poisiton on her blog, and DPS Supt. Michael Bennet yesterday sent this missive to DPS employees.

You’d think with millions of dollars on the table, the two parties to the disagreement could quickly come to terms. But as stories here, here and here point out, this is a fight over substantive stuff, and neither side appears inclined to give ground. I’d bet heavily against a strike, especially with the DNC carnival heading our way. But stranger things have happened.