December 16th, 2011
A New Professionalism for Educators
The following is from a NEA commission report released a week ago. It was completed by a select group of teachers who formed a panel independent of the NEA. The article summarizes the report which includes some radical ideas and suggestions on how to reform education, like a one-year residencyand a performance assessment prior to being hired as a professional teacher.
From the article, “The NEA’s ‘New Professionalism:’”
In the system laid out by the commission, teachers would enter the classroom as novices and, as their skills and accomplishments accumulated, they’d become professional teachers and eventually master teachers. Teachers’ professional advancement through these steps and salary increases would not be determined by “time in service nor by graduate degrees,” as is done now in most places, but rather, by demonstrating their effectiveness. Evaluations would be locally bargained and based on observations by peers and supervisors; “work products” such as lessons and unit plans; contributions to the profession; participation in study groups or action-research; surveys of colleagues, parents, and students; and, finally, student learning outcomes as “measured by classroom, school, district or state assessments.” There’s much more in the report, and it’s worth reading the entire document.
