AFT leads drive for excellence, reforms

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AFT Leads Drive for Excellence, Reforms
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The AFT has a golden opportunity to take the lead in the current debate about quality in public education, AFT presi•dent Albert Shanker told the executive council last week.
For the first time in over a decade, education is at the top of the national agenda as reports and state proposals dealing with education come out almost daily. ,
Although all the reports exaggerate the problems of public education, they are designed to get action, "and a balanced picture is not the best thing for effective persuasion," Shanker said. On the other hand, all the reports do call for large in•creases in teacher salaries, and these are reports written by
, buSiness leaders and state officials, not teacher unions, he
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added. While most of the reports also contain items that the AFT
has traditionally opposed, such as merit pay, the difference be•tween these reports and previous ones is that they are offered in the spirit of cooperation, with a true desire for positive Change, Shanker said.
"It would be a terrible mistake to criticize these reports," Shanker added. It would confirm the feeling that public educa•tion is a massive institution totally resistant to change-and would cause an outpouring of support and funds away from public schools and toward private schools. The NEA has made the mistake of categorically dismissing these new proposals, but the AFT executive council supported Shanker in a move to study these ideas and help improve education and the lot of teachers.
"Education in this country is now ina AFr Must Be situation not much different than that of Willing To the automobile and steel industries 10 Consider Cbanges years ago: we can see all kinds of things
coming," Shanker said. While these two industries knew what was happening in the international market they did not take action, and now they may be on the way toward extinction. If public education is not to go the same way, it must agree to change, Shanker said.
As a first step in this new dialogue, Shanker invited Educa•tion Secretary Terrel Bell to meet with the council in an off•the-record session to talk about areas of agreement on the reports.
The AFT will also set upa series of regional conferences and retreats for teachers and policymakers to discuss some of . the new proposals. In addition, this year's AFT convention will serve as a forum for some of the leading thinkers in this area. Over the next year, AFT will develop its own plan of action to improve public education.
If the AFT refused to cooperate in this dialogue, teachers may have certain changes thrust upon them unilaterally, Shanker said. The AFT must be willing to discuss all pro•posals, including merit pay, he added. The union has had very good reasons for opposing merit pay and some master teacher plans over the years, but some of the new proposals are resolving some of the objections, Shanker said.
A proposal by Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander, for example, calls for merit review, but the evaluation would be made bya state commission whose members would include teachers selected by teacher organizations, Shanker said. And whereas most merit plans provide for only a few teathers to get pay increases, in Tennessee 30 to 60 percent of all teachers would be eligible for the raise, Shanker said.
Teachers in Tennessee would be given additional respon•sibilities, such as overseeing student teachers and developing the curriculum, along with the additional pay. This could pro•vide a ladder of advancement for teachers who would develop new skills while remaining in the classroom. And as teachers take on new jobs, the role of the principal and assistant prin•cipal could be modified. '
"The factory relationship in the school could very well ,change ,and a new type of profeSSional status for teachers could develop," Shanker said. The AFT is providing input to decision-makers in Tennessee as the plan is being developed.
The executive council spent several hours discussing some of these new plans and their implications for teachers and the union. They agreed that this is a time of tremendous oppor•tunity for increasing teacher salaries since public interest is focused on education. While some of the plans pose certain risks for teacher unionists, great gains sometimes require great risks, several AFT vice presidents commented during the meeting.
In summing up, Shanker said that public education currently requires $20 to $40 billion in new funds if some of the im•provements called for by the various reports are to be made. "If you can't get an infusion without strings attached, the question is whether you believe in the institution strongly enough to pay the price," he said.
Ironically, the day after the union made
Reagan Renews these apparent goodwill gestU(es toward
Attacks Despite the administration, President Reagan
These Overtures delivered yet another stinging attack on
public schools and teachers. In his

speech at graduation ceremonies at Seton Hall University in
New Jersey, the president again made his pitch for tuition tax
credits and criticized "the heaviest hitters in the national . education lobby" for opposing pay. and' promotions on the
basis of merit and competence.
"Constructive criticism is one thing," Shanker com,mented, but the president's comments "serve one purpose-and that is directly contributing to an already low level of self-esteem by teachers."
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'The. 67thannuaIAFT:'convention~is'set:forJulyAithrougti 8 in, Los Angeles. Credentials 'must be received ;in the ~ , " national office by June 17., ", ,: \.."':" '" <
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Now whllt wa~ it that I actually urged? Because J didn't spollk (rom
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Where· tan .\i a prep~red lext, I'm quoting from the long transcript. I told the delegates'
. ,'Ihst teacher reliction to these repQrls "should be based on what.15 realty. . . ",:; L.pow happening Itnd should not be II knc~-j~rk tYIlc of rt~ponse to things.
byAlbert~r.'_M"~!~_~d,""",'S .1" ,hat h.ppen.d;n ,h. P""." nod t~.t w, w'" ..._.t
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Will Teachers Take Part in Education Reform?

We Should Be Ready to Sit and Talk
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here's mao)!, a slip belweeo tbe headline and the Up, I discovered last weekend. l made an hour-long speech to'the wnual COClVentiOn of the ~ew York State United Teachers in which I ,said some pretty unusual . things for 11 teacher union president. But (he headline in Tile New York Times wellt me one beUer. The main headline ill Sunday's page one \(ory wns line, "Shanker Urges Teachers 10 Aid School Reform." JndeeJ, J. did tllat ... and more. But Ihe subllead said, "Endorses a Longer Day: in Re(urn for Raises," nnd that I did not do. What wa! it "said that

apparently so inspift:d the headline writer? . . I pointed. out to the nearly 3,000 (Jelegates . . . 'teachers from; throughout New York State .•• that there ~vas anew and very different· climate in education. The reports and propos.3ts coming out now, while sharply critical of American educatioil, are not from Ihe sallie cast of characters who used. to attack tellcl1crs and public schools in jhe J9605 -and 1970s. Dy and large, these reports are coming from pcestl~iou$ na-~ tic.nal and stale groups of business leaders. governors and :educators . seriously worried about the condition of American educatioll in 'terms of the nutional in(e'rest And not only worried, but prepared 10 support.: huge increases in funding for education and compensation for teachers, providw that certain changes are instituted which would, in Uicir view, ' ~p~r Improvement. , .' , . TIlcre are many different proposals-from the Nationnl Commi5-'·, . slon on Excellence in Education, from the California Round Table, from the National Task Force on Educlltion and EConomic Orow(h, from a" ~ask: force pur together by the TwentielhCenlury Fund. 1llere /trc 5ug-· gcstions for a longer school day and/or a longer schoof year; there are ·suggestions for diff~rent salaries for different kinds of teachers-teachers' in ~hortage areas like math and science or tcachers who are judged, by ; one melhod or another, to· be superior; there al'e proposals to make It:'
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.' somewhat easier, to get Incompetent teachers out of schools. These are'
,'ideas that teachers and ,their unions traditionally have shunned-most .
!'often because they're either impractical or unfair ill implementation ..
'But these new gro~p5 are also saying ~omethjng else. TIleY're saying,' In.cirec(, "We recognize that teachers are too poorly paid f()r teaching to 1,1~ ;!ttractive to (he best arid' brighl.cst of our YOllng people.. We also'
rtcognile that leaohers ofien work under dillkult condiuonsa/ld get very" ,Uttle public support, And we believe that 'what's happened with edilca-:: lion is not the fault of.teachers but of our society's de·emphasis on excellence in education. We want tougher curriculum nnd higher stand-:
.ards for student discipline: and achievement. We're willing to heip-to 'pour new billions into e~.ucn'tion-jf you're willing to'make 'ome of tbe: changes we want" ..'~.
the greatest opportunitic$ th¥t we Jillve ever faced in lerms of improving'
. schools, improving Ihe cOII~iti01l3 of teacheu, improving the salaries 01
'eschen, improving oilr lilnlu,.I' I uld I believed "'hat the future of
public edllcalit.n will largclydepend on how we respond to what they"
nfe proposi;lg." And her~'s how I concluded: . ' . . .


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"I would shongly urge I~at lIS each ot these reports come, out,. in-.
stead of Ilutomatic rejcction, we view them and the people who are
.making th'em nOI liS enemies, bill lIS pO/entia I ailies and as .potentia·}
:" friends and potential supporters of eduClitioJl. A~d instead of automatic-.
: ally rejecting, we ought to say, 'We welcome your c('ncern, wC,\velcome· .
:. your involvement and your support. We don't agree with everything' that.
you lire pn>poling, but.we know thllt you are i~teJljgl:nt fCople, you have
built your uwn indu~lrielllllld you have a lot of orgallizallonal know-how.'

.. 'We know Olk I;>Wll'lndmtry prc'uy well, too. This thl~B Is too important for us 10 gel Jolo a big iniual tight .81 to whether tbis idee. ii a good Olle or thlll idea Is a, bad one. Let's 6i~ dowIi. We. will listen to your id~a~ and we. wililist.cn sympathetically. We will tell lOU wliAt~e think will happen If .your Ideas are Implemented and applied..VI!: will Iry to meet you pnrJwllY, and it is·essential Ihat we do puttlds together, be•cause if you in business Dnd illdUlitry who are nt th~ pQfnl of ~rgin8 lhat billioll~ (\f additiollal dolla" corne into education .and that h:acb~n', salaries J.iet. moved up .10 Vercent or tv"n doubled, thllt 'he fedeCAI and' . stille governments really Invesl, if Y9~ should lQSe hope or :Jp,c failh or think/that YQu can't do anYlhing' about p.IJoiic ¢~ucl1tlon, that im•provements are impossiblt: and move awny, tben jr.d~¢d, we will have lost a tremendoliS opportunily and we will hI: left to' flght for. public schools ourselves.' " And Ihen I told·the deleg'ates.:
"There' are .billio~s of ddllarsshti~~ there which weren;,tbcre yes•terday Imd which we call get for public c{hlCalioQ it we rise lo~he chal-. lenge of sitting down with top leaders in.ollr country who \willtalle f.O u~ 113 equals and we will talk to them as equals_ We 110W have an opportu: . lIily to hring slatus 10 American teachers and mOlley to American educa, . tion, Ull opportunilY. which we never had beto{e, and I'Ill sure we won't
miss it." , .
. Alld how did the -3,000 te.llchers in Albany react lO thi~ talk whic';' ast..ed (hem to think the previously unthinkable'i By my own recollection I and the words of the Times reporter who was tbere, tbey slood and I I\PpIIlUdcd." •

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