After a year of negotiations and three weeks of sometimes-brutal internal debate, Newark public school teachers and other staff ratified a historic labor agreement yesterday that will reshape pay and many rules for New Jersey’s largest school district.

Nearly 2,900 members of the Newark Teachers Union voted in the day-long balloting at the NTU’s downtown offices, a nearly unprecedented turnout, and the vote was closer than many expected. The final tally was 1,767 in favor to 1,088 against, or roughly 62 percent to 38 percent.

Union leaders who had backed the deal appeared as much relieved as celebratory when the numbers were announced, citing both the accomplishment of the pact but also the sizable numbers not on board.

Joseph Del Grosso, the NTU’s longtime president, said the agreement is only the first step in developing a workable system to fulfill it. That includes new teacher and staff evaluations and a program for performance bonuses to the most exemplary members, the controversial centerpiece of the deal.

“It’s a great vote, but it’s going to take a lot of work to put this together, that’s the tough part,” Del Grosso said.

Looking tired from a long day in which voting started at 6:30 a.m., Del Grosso said he didn’t entirely blame a third of his voting membership for casting “no” votes.

“It’s a difficult contract; it’s a leap of faith, it really is,” he said. “They took the leap, which I am grateful for. But we now have to show the members how it will work.”

Job Well Done

The plaudits came in from elsewhere, including Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson, who had staked much of her own standing on final passage of the deal.

“Congratulations to the teachers, parent coordinators, teacher’s aides, child study teams, and paraprofessionals who will benefit from the success of this contract, and especially to the students and families of Newark,” she said in a statement released by her office.

“As a lifelong educator, I am thrilled for our teachers here in Newark and for the teaching profession as a whole,” she said.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the national union for the NTU, issued her own press release within minutes of the final vote. Weingarten, one of the country’s preeminent labor leaders, had participated in the final negotiations.

“This contract demonstrates the willingness of Newark’s teachers and the school district to find innovative ways to ensure that quality and experience are recognized and rewarded, making it a full, professional compensation system,” Weingarten said.

“When you put all this together, you come out with a unique, innovative plan that will help boost teaching and learning and will strengthen the teaching profession,” her statement said. “Newark can now be added to the growing list of districts nationwide that are using collective bargaining as vehicles for education reform.”

Beyond Bonuses

The five-year contract has a number of highlights beyond just the performance bonuses, which would bestow an extra $5,000 to those gaining the highest evaluation ratings. They would gain an additional $5,000 on top of that if they work in a low-performing school, and another $2,500 for working in a high-need field like science and math.

In addition, it includes an average pay raise of close to 13 percent over the next three years, one of the higher increases in the state. At the same time, the union would gain a say in those evaluations, with teachers part of the actual evaluation teams, and checks and balances for monitoring the results and providing a process for appeals.

But the membership’s misgivings were evident in interviews with nearly a dozen teachers and other staff as they left the union hall after voting in the late afternoon, many with their children in tow.

Most of those willing to talk said they voted in favor of the deal, but some with concerns over a number of uncertainties still to be resolved with the development of the evaluation system and the peer-review process.

And most concurred it was likely the best deal they were going to get in the state-run district with Gov. Chris Christie at the helm.

“It really was a no-win for us,” said a kindergarten teacher with 20 years in the district who asked not to be identified. “We either turn it down and start over with a governor who won’t hear anything else from us. Or we vote ‘yes,’ and we take whatever they give us.”

“At least we now have something on the table, like it or not,” she said.

Others weren’t so hesitant in their support, including Rosemary Taylor, a psychologist at the McKinley Elementary School and 25-year veteran of the district. She said the performance pay was worth attempting, noting that the extra money could prove a powerful incentive.

“I think it is something that should be tried,” she said. “I think people are worried about who will be judging them, will they be judged fairly. I just trust enough to say let’s try it. Nothing is set in cement.”

And still others said after two years without a contract or any raises, it was time to get what they could. Teachers with advanced degrees could opt to remain on a standard salary track that would not have the performance pay, with 30 days to decide.

“We have been without a contract for so long,” said Leonie Cammock, a fourth grade teacher at the Hawthorne Avenue Elementary School. “For those like us who went back to school and have student loans to pay, we have an added burden and what we have can stretch so far.”

Selling Out

A dissident faction of the NTU had emerged out of the protracted negotiations, openly challenging Del Grosso and the union’s leadership for what they said was selling out their members. Called the Newark Education Workers Caucus, the group has become an ever-vocal presence in public meetings, contending that the deal will only split the union at a time when Anderson is closing and consolidating schools.

Several of its leaders were on hand for much of the balloting yesterday, acting as unofficial poll watchers.

“If we had a multimillion national organization behind us [the national AFT], we would have had a much better outcome,” said Brandon Rippey, a history and sociology teacher at Science Park High School. “They spent a lot of money to convince their members.”

“But the members are scared, fearful, ambivalent,” he said. “I think ambivalent is the best word. They had no confidence in the leadership to do anything better. This is the best we could get.”

(Second of two columns on Gov. Mitch Daniels’ legacy)

Mitch Daniels used his first term to get Indiana’s fiscal house in order. His second term sealed his reputation as the education reform governor.

“Truly historic changes” came to Indiana schools, the American Legislative Exchange Council said in its 2012 Report Card on American Education.

“Indiana moved up into the A’s for the first time after the reform-minded governor and legislature greatly improved the state charter law in 2011,” said the Center for Education Reform Report.

The Weekly Standard, a national journal of conservative thought, credited Daniels for “taking Indiana from the backwaters of education reform in America to the forefront.”

It’s a bit early to claim success. It will be several years before Hoosiers know if reforms instituted by Daniels will boost test scores. ISTEP passage rates are creeping up and graduation rates are higher, but there’s yet to be noticeable improvement on the National Assessment of Education Progress or the SAT.

Daniels took office in 2005, but his first term was consumed with budget balancing and recession, which delayed his educational initiatives until the middle of term two. Once he and School Superintendent Tony Bennett turned their sights on schools, change was fast and furious:

Collective bargaining with teachers unions was limited to wages and benefits, which means schools can pursue their own reform ideas, such as longer school days.

Teacher pay raises are now based on many factors, including student test scores, as well as the previous criteria of seniority and education. Teachers rated as ineffective can’t receive a pay increase.

The State Board of Education uses letter grades — A to F — to judge school quality instead of vague labels like commendable and academic progress. The new system take into account test scores, score improvement, graduation rates and college readiness.

There are more opportunities to open charter schools. Private non-profit universities can sponsor them, and parents with children in poorly performing public schools can demand them.

Indiana greatly expanded its school choice program, with up to 60 percent of middle- and low-income students eligible for scholarships so they can attend private schools of their choice. Indiana also offers a tax deduction for parents of up to $1,000 to help pay for education costs, such as tuition or tutoring.

Robert Enlow, president and CEO of the Foundation for Educational Choice, gives Daniels a rave review for education policy. “Most governors would be pleased just to get one of these things accomplished. Mitch Daniels, along with Dr. Tony Bennett and many courageous state legislators, accomplished them all.”

Pat Kiely of the Indiana Manufacturers Association agrees. “The 2011 session was the most dynamic with the passage of teacher performance evaluations, merit pay, charter school expansion and the largest voucher program in the country.”

As for higher education, the record is less comprehensive. Experts interviewed for this column say Daniels’ focus has been on accountability in spending and in student outcomes. They predict he will make a bigger impact on academia once he takes over as president at Purdue University.

“I believe he will be a major agent of change not only in quality and affordability but improving the communications and value of universities to other segments of the economy,” Kiely said.

Daniels will be remembered as a conservative by D. Eric Schansberg, economics professor at Indiana University Southeast, “but more important/interesting, compared to other politicians, he has been quite willing to innovate and take risks.”

Schansberg lists as examples not only K-12 ed reform but “right to work” legislation, the Major Moves infrastructure project and overhauls of welfare and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Kevin Brinegar, president and CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, said Daniels “showed us that you can tackle tough issues/sacred cows and, if you make your case, Hoosiers will support your leadership and re-elect you.”

Indeed, they did. Daniels will hand off to his successor a balanced budget, a healthy business climate, some newly paved highways and a whole set of school reforms likely to soon bear fruit.

Neal is adjunct scholar and columnist with the Indiana Police Review Foundation.

The teacher evaluation piece in the Chicago contract negotiation is so weak to start that it’s almost unfathomable that the union would waste political capital on this piece. Have you looked at what the evaluation language of the new law and the Mayor’s demands actually say? It is not, as some have reported, about finite test scores. The 25% now and 40% later of evaluations that are said to be determined based on test scores are not based on one formula, yet. It’s fuzzy, as it has been in most laws recently passed and most contracts. Evaluations can include test scores, but how and who decides is still up in the air. This is not unusual in any case today, but it is underreported.

Take DC, for example. Teachers are evaluated against an average composite of predicted scores for certain kids. The extent to which their kids, over time, meet or exceed the predicted scores for similar kids is PART of their overall evaluation. “Performance” in IMPACT also includes peer, principal and some district observations, as well as factors relating to the school as a whole. And that’s only part of it. The comparisons are done by the research organization, Mathematica – externally evaluated – not a principal reviewing individual test scores.

These factors – who evaluates, how, based on what, over what time, and what the 25% of evaluation actually means (!!) has yet to be determined.

The union is not striking against evaluations, but they are using it to incite their members without informing them it has yet to be determined. They are striking against the notion that ANY evaluation is on the table, that they won’t have as many sick days, that they aren’t getting more of a pay increase, and, frankly, that failing schools with lower enrollments, regardless of their teachers, will be shuttered.

Some unions are getting too much credit for embracing evaluations. It has been smart — and easy — for unions in other states to “embrace” evaluations. The New Jersey Education Association is claiming that Gov Christie’s new law is “Our Law.” The much fabled New Haven contract is something to which Randi Weingarten points often. New York’s agreement was much ballyhooed last year but no agreement on evaluation has even occurred after the Governor demanded inclusion of performance in all contracts! Other union leaders have their own list of places showing how well they get along on this issue when they are “at the table.”

But none of these cases represent real performance evaluation efforts for teachers. They either drive bonuses to teachers whose average scores across schools — determined by a number of factors of which test scores are minor (New Haven) OR they leave evaluation development up to school districts, where unions have the most power (NJ).

So of course Chicago’s opposition looks extreme — their “counterparts” in other states have seemed to walk the walk.

The reality is none of them are really walking the walk, and even the sheer mention of evaluations, like the sheer mention of school choice, is enough to incite the old guard, even if there is very little meat to the threat at this point in time.

A judge declined on Monday to immediately order Chicago public-school teachers back into their classrooms, rebuffing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s efforts to end the six-day strike on the grounds that it is illegal.

The Chicago school district filed suit Monday morning asking Cook County Circuit Court Judge Peter Flynn to prohibit the union from striking, arguing that Illinois law bars the teachers from striking over noneconomic issues, such as layoffs, teacher evaluations and the length of the school day. It also said the strike, which it called a “weapon,” is a “clear and present danger to public health and safety” by keeping students out of school.

After a brief meeting with a school-district lawyer later Monday morning, Judge Flynn, a Democrat first appointed in 1999 and up for a retention vote in November, said he needed more time to look over materials before issuing a ruling. He scheduled a hearing for Wednesday.

The lawsuit came a day after the Chicago Teachers Union’s governing board declined to call an end to the strike, the first teacher walkout in the city in 25 years. The union delegates said they wanted more time to look over a tentative deal that was finalized just hours before a meeting Sunday afternoon. They also voiced unhappiness with the agreement.

The battle has catapulted Chicago into the national debate over teacher evaluations, job security and the power of labor unions and pitted Mr. Emanuel, a Democrat and former chief of staff for President Barack Obama, against organized labor.

Union leaders said the delegates would meet again Tuesday—there were no meetings Monday because of Rosh Hashana—to discuss the district’s latest contract offer, meaning classes couldn’t resume until Wednesday at the earliest. The city was hoping to force teachers back into the classroom Tuesday.

Chicago students must, by state law, attend 176 days of school, and district officials said it isn’t clear how students would make up for the missed time.

“We believe our kids should be in the classroom learning from their teachers, and we are doing everything we can to get them back there as soon as possible,” said Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Mr. Emanuel. The lawsuit says the district didn’t try to halt the strike earlier because it hoped to resolve the dispute via negotiations.

Stephanie Gadlin, a union spokeswoman, said teachers have the legal right to strike over evaluation procedures, compensation and classroom conditions. She said the city was trying to “trample free speech” and collective-bargaining rights.

While compensation isn’t the main sticking point now, pay raises were among the issues being negotiated, union officials point out. The tentative, three-year agreement calls for a 3% pay raise the first year and 2% the following two years with an option to extend, by mutual agreement, to a fourth year with a 3% raise.

Legal experts were divided over whether the Illinois law would permit a strike, noting the decision would be based on how the union argues its case. The Illinois Labor Relations Act doesn’t allow teachers to strike over some aspects of teacher evaluations, such as whether to use student test scores as a factor, but it could allow a walkout over more “procedural” issues, such as the specifics of observations by principals in the classroom, said Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

He said it is less clear whether teachers can hit the picket lines over layoffs and would depend on how they argue that in court. “It’s complicated law, and the judge will have to sort it out,” he said.

But as the strike reached its sixth day, parents were becoming frustrated with trying to find child care and with their kids’ loss of learning time.

“Kids are supposed to be in school,” said Mohamed Kallon, who was dropping off his two children at a North Side school that was offering meals and other services Monday morning. “I don’t know how they are going to catch up. I mean, are they going to recover the material?”

But the strike also seemed to be wearing on teachers. Last week, many of the picket sites had a festive atmosphere, with teachers enthusiastically marching in front of schools and chanting. On Monday, it seemed more solemn.

“Teachers are not as enthusiastic today,” said Stephanie Davis-Williams, 50, a first-grade teacher as she picketed in front of a school. “They are tired. They’ve been beating the pavement, and with all the marches and all the striking, we hope it pays off.”

The district lawsuit notes that about 84% of the district’s schoolchildren are poor and receive free or reduced breakfast and lunch at school. It also notes that students, many of whom live in dangerous areas, are at risk of violence when they aren’t in class.

The students “face the all too real prospect of prolonged hunger, increased risk of violence, and disruption of critical special education services,” according to the complaint. “A vulnerable population has been cast adrift by the CTU’s decision to close down the schools.”

Union president Karen Lewis has contended that teachers are fighting for students by pushing the district to cap the growing class sizes, air-condition schools and add more social workers, counselors and school nurses to campuses. She also argues that Mr. Emanuel extended the school day this year without any attention to making the longer day more academically enriching for students.

Only seven local school districts have had their teacher evaluation plans approved by the state, despite a looming deadline that could eliminate some state aid.

And while many districts have been slow to negotiate plans with their unions and then submit them to the state, a delay may also be coming from the Education Department. The state has been overwhelmed by the work required to go through the evaluations, said Valerie Grey, executive deputy commissioner, during a state Board of Regents meeting last week. “I think it’s fair to say we underestimated the time and resources that we needed to review these plans,” she said.

Grey said the state did not expect the wide variety of plans it received, and thought they would be more similar. Plans are reviewed three times and can take up to six weeks for completion.

A job listing recently appeared on the state Education Department website for “an exciting opportunity to be part of the education reform efforts undertaken by the Board of Regents and the Department.” The temporary job, which pays $50 per hour, seeks educators to help review the plans, determine if they comply with the law and provide technical assistance for districts, teachers, unions and educator associations. Qualified applicants will have a master’s degree and five years in prekindergarten-through-12th-grade education.

The state had previously been using law students as interns to sift through the dense language contained in the proposed evaluations, which stretch dozens of pages.

And a serious logjam could be developing as a crush of evaluation proposals still have to come in and two deadlines have already passed.

So far, the state has approved just 75 plans and offered feedback on another 151 out of a total of 700 districts. Though the state Education Department encouraged districts to submit plans by July 1 and then again Sept. 1, the majority have missed both deadlines and could be in danger of losing out on aid increases next year. About 295 of the state’s districts have submitted teacher evaluation plans.

Districts are already under significant pressure to implement the plans by Jan. 17. That’s when Gov. Andrew Cuomo has promised to cut off state aid increases for those districts that don’t have evaluation plans in place. The state is required to develop a teacher evaluation plan as part of its application under the federal Race to the Top competitive grant program.

Despite underestimating the amount of manpower that needed to be put into approving the evaluations, the Education Department is certain all deadlines can be met, spokesman Dennis Tompkins said. He said the number of plans submitted will increase as districts see the successful plans.

Though the process may experience delays at both the state and district level, there are no plans to change the Jan. 17 deadline, state officials said Monday.
“School districts are on schedule and SED has the capacity to process mass applications and to meet the deadline, as many will use the early approved submissions as models for their own,” said Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for Cuomo.

Among the approved evaluation plans, Schenectady’s has been held up as a model that other districts can emulate, partially because it uses a unique model of group assessment. Other districts that have had their plans approved include Albany, Greenwich, Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk, Mohonasen, Schalmont and Schodack.

Tensions with teachers unions have been brewing since Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has been pushing for longer days and tougher teacher evaluations. The CTU has made it clear they’re unhappy with Chicago reform proposals, even going as far as protesting at Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s house at one point. Unfortunately, this commotion is over evaluations that aren’t that strong to begin with — student performance only counts 25% in teacher evaluations, and that’s only by year five.

There’s a common misconception out there that teachers generally do not make very much money, but the average teacher salary in Chicago is $71,000 without benefits. CPS offered teachers a 16% pay raise, but the Chicago Teachers Union would not accept that offer. That raise was offered while the longer day issue was actually worked out so that current teachers would not have to work over the allotted hours they already work; CPS agreed to hire more teachers to fill in the extra hours students would be in school. The 90 minutes added to the school day would put CPS at the national average for student instructional time. Before that, CPS had the shortest school day in the nation.

Taxpayers are left to bear the brunt of the strike, as parents and students are left without the education their taxes support. Not only that, but taxpayers are the ones who have to foot the bill when boards succumb to union demands that are focused on the rights and protections of adults, not students. (This video from the Illinois Policy Institute, “Roadblock to Reform,” explains how Illinois’ labor law empowers government unions at the expense of taxpayers.)

All this comes at a time when unions are trying to get the message out that they are on board with reforms. But actions speak louder than words, and the actions in Chicago are telling quite a different story. Bottom line: beware of unions that talk the talk and say they’re for reforms, because if history is any indication of the future, you can bet they certainly aren’t about changing the status quo.

CER News Alert
Washington, D.C.
September 10, 2012

The teacher’s union leaders have, for the last few years, worked hard to correct the impression that their focus is on job protection, and that they, too, like the rest of the nation, are frustrated with the slow pace of school improvement. The alleged willingness of the unions to engage in conversations about teacher quality and to call for an end to failing schools has all been interpreted as a sign that they have turned the corner. Some of us have remained unconvinced, recognizing that many often confuse action with rhetoric. The Chicago teacher’s strike of 2012 settles the issue once and for all. Parents and students are left without the education their taxes support. Taxpayers in general are beholden to union demands that are focused on rights and protections, not on kids. Chicago remains among the worst performing school districts in the nation, yet instead of embracing the mayor’s rational, modest proposals to begin instituting limited performance evaluations, union leaders begin acting more like the Chicago thugs of old than the leaders they want to be considered today.

At a time when everyone in this nation is tightening belts, and with education the key to economic solvency, educators should be encouraged to stand up for accountability not ordered to strike over it.

This move by the American Federation of Teachers-affiliated Chicago Teachers Union proves the point that has been written about often: the fancy public relations ploys and rhetoric about quality is no substitute for action. The unions are thwarting even the most modest efforts to measure teacher quality. We said last year that New York’s much praised performance agreement with unions was unlikely to result in any substantive change and we were right. Just today it was reported that districts in New York still have not created the “required” evaluations and that little progress is being made. The same will likely happen in New Jersey where a new law is intended to ensure quality teaching gets rewarded but leaves the method and substance to districts and unions to develop.

Parents are powerless in the educational development of their children when adult rules are permitted to thwart the learning process. Rather than continue to let unions drive the education agenda, it’s time for policymakers to protect parents by enacting serious, substantive laws that remove tenure protections, abolish seniority as a condition for working and pay teachers more for doing well. At the same time, states must adopt school choice programs that provide high quantities of high quality schools so that parents have the power to make their own decisions about the education their children need.

D.C. school officials said Wednesday that 98 teachers were fired this week for poor performance, a large-scale dismissal that has become almost routine in the city but remains rare among school systems nationwide.

Those who were dismissed — about half the number let go last year — account for less than 3 percent of the school system’s approximately 4,100 teachers.

They received low scores on the rigorous evaluation instrument known as IMPACT, which has drawn national attention as one of the first to link teacher pay and job security with classroom performance and student achievement.

That concept has gained traction among policymakers around the country, said Sandi Jacobs of the National Council on Teacher Quality, a Washington-based advocacy group.

But the D.C. Public Schools system, which has dismissed nearly 400 teachers since 2009 because of poor performance, is still one of the few in which an unsatisfactory rating can lead to a rapid exit.

“Most of the new next-generation evaluation systems haven’t really hit the ground yet,” Jacobs said. “Nobody’s where DCPS is.”

This week’s firings are the second round of teacher dismissals under Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), who received considerable support from the local teachers union during his 2010 campaign.

The numbers released Wednesday include only teachers in traditional public schools. Public charter schools have latitude to use their own evaluations.

Under IMPACT, teachers are observed five times each year. They’re graded on their ability to meet nine standards, including managing time, explaining information clearly and correcting students’ misunderstandings.

For some teachers — those who teach math or reading in grades four through eight — half their evaluation depends on how students fare on yearly standardized tests.

Of the teachers dismissed this week, 39 were rated ineffective on IMPACT, and 59 were rated minimally effective for the second year in a row.

“We owe it to our teachers to provide them with more and better curricular resources and professional development to ensure their success — and we’re doing that,” Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson said in a statement. “But we owe it to our students and families to continue to move out the professionals who are not up to this incredibly difficult task.”

About two-thirds of all teachers were rated effective.

Teachers rated highly effective are eligible for bonuses of up to $25,000. This year, 988 teachers — or about a quarter of the teaching corps — earned that top rating, up from 663 last year.

The bonuses are expected to cost about $8 million this year, funded by outside donors, said schools spokeswoman Melissa Salmanowitz.

Starting next year, the school system will absorb the cost, budgeted for about $6 million.

IMPACT, first implemented in 2009 by then-Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, has drawn fire from union leaders and many teachers, who consider it rigid, punitive and overly dependent on test scores.

Washington Teachers’ Union President Nathan Saunders, one of the fiercest critics, said the evaluation system is flawed but has been improved through recent revisions. If a teacher with promise appears headed for a poor IMPACT rating, for example, a principal can now ask to waive the consequences and give the teacher another year to improve.

“It’s been softened up. It’s become more collaborative than when it was first introduced,” Saunders said.

School officials anticipate announcing another round of IMPACT revisions soon. Saunders said he is hopeful that student test performance will no longer account for half a teacher’s evaluation score.

Union leaders would also like teachers to be able to appeal IMPACT scores through arbitration, a right that they are seeking to win in a pending court case.

Saunders also said he thinks that teachers are generally faring better on IMPACT because they’ve become accustomed to it. The union has made a concerted effort to help teachers navigate the system, coaching about 800 members in IMPACT courses over the past two years.

Gray has largely continued education reforms begun by his predecessor, Adrian M. Fenty (D). But the mayor has voiced concern that IMPACT is unfair to teachers working in the city’s poorest neighborhoods, where many children come to school with intensive needs. A ward-by-ward analysis of this week’s firings was not yet available.

Besides teachers let go for ineffectiveness, 95 were dismissed for licensure problems. And 51 teachers were terminated because their positions were eliminated in 2011 for budgetary or other reasons and they failed to find another permanent job.

In addition, 53 school employees who aren’t represented by the teachers union, such as custodians and clerical staff, were fired for poor performance.

A PIONEER FOR CHARTERS…that’s former Michigan Governor John Engler, who recently was honored by Central Michigan University’s renaming of their charter school center after him. Engler has never sat on the sidelines of reform. It never bothered him to ruffle feathers to put students front and center in school improvement. And, he challenged anyone, including the state’s powerful unions at the time who built barricades to thwart reform. Engler did all this not today, when the political environment is more conducive to reform. He was in the vanguard in the 1990s and put charter schools and other reform measures that highlighted the needs of children above all else. CER’s Jeanne Allen spoke at the dedication ceremonies, stressing how Engler’s accomplishments in Michigan, which went beyond charters, spread nationwide. Says Allen: He “pioneered a movement for student-centered funding and transparency for results. His commitment to that idea paved the way for one of the most successful and respected university authorizers in the nation to blossom and has resulted not only in an environment rich in choice and accountability here, but replication of strong charter laws modeled on Michigan’s around the country. It is fitting that his name will be on this center, the gold standard in university authorizers of charter schools.”

LIKE THEIR THINKING. The Washington Post upped themselves in their support for charter schools in a recent editorial by Fred Hiatt. Stating the very rational conclusion that, yes, teachers can be evaluated despite “hard-to-quantify variables,” just like other professions, Hiatt offers an even better way to “sidestep” critics – simply bypass the bureaucracy and go charter. Giving the principal real power to hire and fire staff, as well as make other key decisions for the school, unties the hands of educators to do what they are supposed to do – guide every child to reach his or her potential. Along the way, Hiatt takes on those who cry poverty as a reason children fail. Growing up economically disadvantaged is no excuse for schools to wipe their hands of the responsibility to teach these kids. Hiatt also gets it right that collective bargaining agreements, some hundreds of pages long, handcuff teachers and school staff so they can’t do what’s right for kids. And, he busts the myth that charters cream the top students and perform poorly next to traditional public schools. His editorial highlights the key to charter school success – the balance between freedom and accountability, with decision-making at the school level. “The schools operate inside a clearly defined structure…,” pens Hiatt. “But within that structure, they have freedom — including to attract, evaluate, retain and dismiss teachers as they see fit.”

WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT. That golden ticket to college, for students who could be locked into a failing school and ending up with a diploma to nowhere, is a central vision of all charter schools. Many charters, including Boys Latin and Friendship, have developed partnerships with post-secondary institutions to help pave the path to university study. KIPP also is leading with its partnership program that most recently attracted the first Ivy to the fold – the University of Pennsylvania. “I have followed and admired KIPP’s work from its beginning in 1994,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said. “It aligns perfectly with my commitment to increase access to higher education at Penn and nationally.” Just another reason why other media outlets, like the Post just did, should examine, why and how charters can create an environment that leads to college success for children who otherwise would be left to languish in schools more interested in growing bureaucratic rules than great minds.

SHOUT OUT TO EWA…for an informative and highly useful conference, Learning from Leaders: What Works for Stories and Schools. Takeaway quote goes to Newark Mayor Corey Booker: “Oversight of the media makes everyone do their job better. We need more light, more substance!” And, that’s why we have Media Bullpen.

Gov. Cuomo flatly rejected the “total disclosure” of teacher evaluations Wednesday, putting himself at odds with Mayor Bloomberg.

Cuomo, in his most expansive comments so far on the hot-button topic, said he supports parents being allowed to see evaluations and expects to hammer out an agreement with the Legislature by the end of its session in June.

“The teacher evaluation disclosure question is a question I believe has to be answered this session,” Cuomo told reporters.

Cuomo said he disagreed with those who want to keep teacher evaluations completely private — but he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with those, including Bloomberg, who want them made available for widespread review.

“I think you have to strike an intelligent balance between the teacher’s right to privacy and the parent’s right to know and the public’s right to know,” Cuomo said. “The question is where on that spectrum” do officials set policy.

Cuomo noted other public employees, including cops and firefighters, do not have their evaluations made public.

“I believe the parents have a right to know,” the governor stressed. “I also believe in a teacher’s right to privacy.”

A Bloomberg spokesman declined to respond to Cuomo’s comments.

The mayor has pressed for full disclosure of teacher evaluation data, arguing the public has a right to see the information.

Cuomo’s stance is similar to that of state teachers union President Dick Iannuzzi, who has said he could accept parents having limited access to teacher evaluations but few others.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) has also signaled his support for limiting access to teach report cards.

“Beyond the parents, I’m not sure that we shouldn’t treat teachers like every other municipal and state employee,” Silver said recently.

The drive to limit the release of teacher evaluation data was sparked by a court decision in February ordering the city to release controversial grades on more than 12,000 city teachers, which infuriated union leaders.

Cuomo said disclosure of teacher grades was the issue most likely to get settled this session.

He was less optimistic about reaching deals on campaign finance reform and a hike in the minimum wage.

Cuomo also said there would be no pay raises for state lawmakers before the November elections.