Shots Fired! Tim Daly Calls Out The Teachers Unions On Common Core

ij61za9TNTP’s Tim  Daly says both major teachers unions are now undermining Common Core.

“This has everything to do with politics and job protection.”  

Strong stuff but he’s giving voice to what a lot of people are saying behind the scenes (and something the Whiteboard Education Insider survey is picking up), which is why this is a must-read.  What’s not clear yet is whether we’re seeing a genuine pivot in how people view the teachers unions and what’s possible or a temporary setback in an ongoing relationship.  Too soon too tell and Tim ascribes a posture to the administration that I’d argue is too strong – especially in an election year. But there is definitely a Lucy and the football quality to how reformers and the Common Core coalition feel about what’s happening.

One irony worth pointing out is that many teachers understandably want to see the current publishing and assessment industry disrupted. Union leaders claim to want that, too, though at the national level they’re a lot more cozy with big commercial interests in education than their rhetoric lets on. But Common Core with both its commonality and curricular flexibility offers arguably* the best chance to reshape that marketplace and allow new and smaller providers to compete.  A lot of Common Core critics seem not to get that Common Core going down isn’t bad for the commercial status quo in education. On the contrary, it would bolster a lot of today’s problems and vested interests.

*School choice proponents would disagree!

9 Replies to “Shots Fired! Tim Daly Calls Out The Teachers Unions On Common Core”

  1. Look at these assertions:

    “On the right, debate about Common Core has been clouded by the Tea Party’s dislike of anything associated with the federal government. The debate on the left is clouded, too. There, the discussion about Common Core is really a discussion about accountability in the form of stronger teacher evaluation systems that factor in student learning results alongside other measures.”

    Great, another false equivalence. Thanks so much, Tim. The Tea Party is not the same as “the left.” Why can’t you conservatives play nice? Is honesty just not on your agenda?

    Discussion about accountability is indeed about learning results, and more. Teacher unions are not what they used to be and neither are the teachers. See, the problem is, teachers were never really a part of anyone’s reform agenda; their power has waned as it has with almost every other labor union. CC I think, is a welcome addition but it was birthed temporally alongside draconian and illogical teacher evaluation regimes and continuing conservative attacks on the teaching profession, a nasty tradition begun in the Reagan WH. While I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, per se, the timing of events, and with a global economic meltdown leaving much less money to pay for reforms, is a good part of what has a lot of teachers spooked.

    The real failure here is the total lack of self-awareness displayed by the corporate/business model/fund managers/reformers. Seriously, you guys don’t know what you’re doing. You just don’t. Try this out: You, Tim, suddenly find yourself and your job security subject to a few people with money and political power. Your union effectively bit the dust during the 1990s. So, you do your best to get along but nothing you do satisfies your bosses. The bar keeps getting raised and you were never even consulted. That, and depending on what state you are in, or what district you are in, or what building you are in the rules for your work can wildly shift. But you know what Tim? You were in TFA. Then you got out of teaching and landed sweet tenures at think tanks.

    Do you people get it? A lot of you may think you mean well but I promise you on the graves of John Dewey and my mother, from Bill Gates & friends on down to the local school board, the institutional and political parts of American education have failed, not teachers nor even schools.

  2. The TNTP is a dishonest organization. The quote all kinds of bogus research and spout all kinds of bromides and make SIMPLE issue so unnecessarily complicated. They are also a BELTWAY lobbying organization.

    I would like to take the life work of TNTP and condense it into some simple statements.

    1. Teachers are the most important element in any school.
    2. Teacher impact can be measured with VAM, parsed, and used to evaluate teachers.
    3. Nevertheless, teacher labor can be commoditized, therefore it is not a profession.
    4. An “up or out” policy would improve the teaching force. Teachers that are not promotable to positions of education policy or leadership in administration in five years are counseled OUT. In plain terms, they are let go.
    5. Letting a teacher go at 5 years should require nothing more than a hand shake and an adios.

    Why can’t the think tanks just put it out there. Why can’t they be honest and speak with clarity. What is it about them that has to make simple ideas so doggone complex.

    I will state it one time for the learning impaired at TNTP. Teachers can be measured. Teaching is NOT a profession. An up or out policy is needed in teaching. At 5 years, teachers have either removed out of teaching and up the leadership chain or they are fired.

    Simple, really. Teaching is an important commodity. It is NOT a profession.

  3. The common core is a national curriculum. It was decided by the NGA. No input was ever sought from parents.

    The test are being created by nationwide consortiums. No input was ever sought from parents.

    The content is already in leaf folder books that have been distributed to teachers. This was not approved by taxpayers.

    The ed code in most states is quite clear that parents elect a school board that makes decision regarding LOCAL schools.

    I am not an opponent of CC. I have looked at it, and my feeling is that it is just more of the same edu-baloney. They rest of the world does not use it, so why should we?

    It is quite clear. CC is a radical change in how parents manage their LOCAL schools.

    The data is collected and it is stored on private cloud servers with the PROMISE that it will never be use in a bad way. Parents had no say in this either.

    CC had no local input and no parent oversight.

    Case closed.

  4. No education reform organization is as dishonest as the TNTP, and that is saying something

  5. Shots fired.

    Why is that metaphor inappropriate for this discussion.

    The TNTP and its posse of beltway bandits have won every single “bloody battle” with teachers and their evil unions.

    The battle is over. Bodies are strewn about the field. Perhaps TNTP and its legions could put down their sword, clean up the gore, and rebuild our education system.

    Folks like me would like to change the field for this debate. How about positive recommendations that work NOW. How about showing taxpayers like me that YOUR solution work NOW.

    How about assuring the rest of the local taxpaying public that every child in physics THIS YEAR will leave having mastered the subject.

    Or, is that NOT what you do, and is it NOT what you ever planned to do.

    From my own limited experience in edu-babble and edu-reform, I see little hope for our education system in this country. Local taxpayers have lost their liberties. They no longer have any say in their schools.

    So let the war continue. Let the shots be fired. Let the children suffer. Let the physics classes sit vacant, and let us generate tons of reports.

    You know it is best for “da kids”.

  6. Ms. Henderson is beginning a “happiness initiative” in DC schools. Yep, it appear Rhee had a very negative happiness coefficient with a t distribution that indicated a very low standard error. Her unhappiness correlated NEGATIVELY with student achievement.

    So, what did the edu-reform establishment do? They PROMOTED HER.

    So, there you have it. The world of edu-reform. What is down is up, and what is up is down.

    Let us all clap our hands as we all go down with the ship. Our captains are clueless buffoons.

  7. Cuomo noted it was the Education Department that was in charge of the much-maligned implementation of Common Core standards, which is overseen by the Board of Regents.
    Without mentioning the Assembly by name, Cuomo noted the Regents were appointed not by him, but by state lawmakers.

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