Frozen Assets redux

Better than a year ago now I wrote about Frozen Assets, a report from the Education Sector that took a fairly critical look at teacher pay provisions. It caught my eye because the primary author is Marguerite Roza, a researcher at the University of Washington.

Unlike many reports, though, this one has come back to life via John at the American Federation of Teachers catching Education Sector blogger Kevin Carey in a bit of a pickle where one of his written comments on the narrowing curriculum would seem to invalidate ES' earlier report on teacher wages. It's an interesting discussion from both sides.

Read more here, if any.

I am confused by Brad Jupp

In addition to reading Tough Liberal, the excellent biography of famed New York teacher's union leaderAl Shanker, I'm also working on the decidedly longer-titled Pay for Performance Teacher Compensation: An Inside View of Denver's ProComp Plan.

ProComp rather fascinates me. It's a performance pay plan that the teacher's union developed in concurrence with their local school board, approved by the rank and file, and financed by a vote of the people of Denver. It's easy to write off--spend a few minutes over at NYC Educator's place to see what the educators of the big apple have agreed to in recent contracts--but never before have we seen all those factors come together into some form of agreement. Brad Jupp has emerged as the union face of ProComp, and he's one of the three listed authors of the book above.

And yet, I've got this mistrust of Brad Jupp that I can't quite explain. He appears to be a visionary union leader, perhaps even in the mold of Shanker, but he also doesn't work for the union any more--he took a job at the central office for Denver Public Schools in 2005. This, after the Progressive Policy Institute named him their Innovator of the Year in 2004, based mainly on that much ballyhooed vision.

But let's think about vision. Can we really applaud Jupp's, when he saw fit to get out of ProComp and go for the administrative money instead? What does that say about his vision, if anything?

Last year EduWonk played a punk card on the UFT when they implied that Jupp couldn't be trusted to present the teacher's voice during the Aspen Institute meetings on No Child Left Behind, but I can't say that I disagree with the point. It's rather like making a jump from theism to atheism; do you carry any of the old beliefs with you, or does the label define you?

Read more here, if any.

Dollars? Cents.

There's nothing quite like the night before payday.

Mrs. Thinker was not very happy with me when she opened up Money and saw that the balance in my checking account was better than $800 in the red. "Where the hell did it go?" was her question, though she phrased it a bit less delicately.

Where did it go? Our first half property taxes were due; that was about $300. Paid a lump sum on the auto insurance; so long, $450. The hearing aide specialist needed a partial payment on the Little (s)Thinker's new mold for her hearing aide; that was $100.

"That's about half your take-home already," she pointed out.

Don't I know it. My monthly net is about $2,000, including my $150 a month stipend for the after school enrichment classes. Every now and then there's a little extra when I teach the before school remedial classes.

Right off the top of that comes my mortgage, $700. Cable, electric, telephone, gasoline, food. Copays for my daughter's frequent appointments. A couple of magazine subscriptions. Snacks, teaching supplies, and prizes for the classroom.

"I know, I know....it adds up."

When I've been paying bills I hate that phrase, because it usually adds down. 3 months out of 4 I play that game where I let the checking account get dangerously close to zero, often writing checks that fall well below, hoping to God that I've timed the mail right. When I haven't WaMu sends me a $29 love note and thanks me for my financial foibles.

I don't do the job for the money, but I also can't ignore that aspect of my life, especially with a special needs child. That's why reports like this from the American Federation of Teachers are so important, because they demonstrate beyond any shadow of a doubt just how far behind we've fallen. There's talk of a 4.3% COLA on the horizon for next year, and I thank WEA-PAC for all the great work they've done in that regard, but there are hard, hard days when I can't help but wonder why I have to leave my daughter early and get home late so that we can stay even.

Anyhow, check out the full report. It's great reading, and I commend Ed and all the other folks at the AFT for their work. I think it's also one of the most important conversations we can have as a profession; please join in.

Read more here, if any.

What Can Grounds Do For You?

I teach at one of the best elementary schools in Washington State.

Our building is only three years old, and it’s still got that new-school smell going for it. Our old campus was four different buildings joined together by a series of breezeways, but now we’re all under one roof and it’s helped our cohesion as a staff. We have a lunchroom, where formerly we ate in the classrooms, along with beautiful, dedicated rooms for art, music, and band. The gymnasium would be the pride of many small towns, and we’re only a Pre-6 building. The library has a great open layout, 14 dedicated computers, and access to a courtyard where the kids can go and read.

Then there’s the technology. 2 networked computer labs with 30 computers each and a projector unit for whole-class demonstrations. One of the computer labs has a SmartBoard interactive whiteboard system, as does every classroom grades 3 through 6 and the library. Nearly every classroom K through 6 has at least 4 computers, but many have more thanks to the good work of our tech guy, a full-time employee who does nothing but take care of computer issues all day long. Also in every classroom is a video projector attached to an Elmo document display system, which is so much better than an overhead it’s not even funny. Just recently our principal put in a wireless network, which is nice because all the teachers also have laptops that they can use. The central printer in the office is also on the network, so if I make a work sheet on my computer I don’t have to print one copy then run down to make 30 more; I just send the number I need to the printer, walk down, and pick them up. It’s very nice.

The classrooms were thought out well, with ample storage space, whiteboards on multiple walls, and a dedicated teacher area. We’ve got a set of drawers in every room that’s oversized, for putting posters in, and most of the big storage units are on wheels so we can move them around as we (the teachers, who actually use the rooms) see fit. I’ve got a giant bank of windows in my room, important for a claustrophobe like myself, and we can also control the temperature in the room with controls that really work!

We also have room. Our contract holds the line at 26 in the upper grades (22 in first grade!) meaning that even when the rooms reach their cap there’s still plenty of space for centers, desks, the reading circle, computers, and everything else that makes elementary education what it is. At the beginning of the year our 5th grade classes were packed at 30 kids each, but then the district hired another teacher to get the average class size down to 20. There was finally room to breathe, and you better believe it’s making a difference.

I bring this all up because of a new report from the American Federation of Teachers called Building Minds and Minding Buildings on the importance of having a good building to teach the kids in (report here, dialogue from Let's Get It Right here). Anyone who doesn’t think the building makes a difference is deluded. It sets the tone for what’s going to happen inside, and when the first thing the kids see when they come in is an orderly, clean environment, that helps to start the day the right way.

I wish the AFT well on this project, and to my friends out there who are working in buildings that just aren’t suit for what education demands today—fight the good fight, and hopefully things change. Even “legacy” buildings can be renovated in a way that preserves their historical beauty (District 81 in Spokane has done a great job with this). Where there’s the will, there’s always a way. That makes the ultimate challenge a matter of finding the will.

Read more here, if any.