History and Origins
Since 1995, with the formation of the Teacher Union Reform Network (TURN) local progressive teacher unionists have been pursuing a vision of teacher unionism that places improving the quality of teaching and learning and student achievement at the center of our union work. TURN, in its decade of growth, has created an opportunity to build a national “community” for progressive union leadership—a learning community for teacher union leaders to hear of new approaches being tried, to engage with each other in an active peer network, to exchange ideas and resources, and to consider our role in the national context of public education politics.
While TURN has created an important community of practice, these times call for more intensive efforts at leadership development and strategies for how local unions are able to impact policy and build the capacity for change. In response to the felt need of locals and a growing sense of urgency, the Institute for Teacher Union Leadership (ITUL) was formed with TURN’s encouragement, in 2004.
A planning committee to create an institute first met in December, 2003, in Boston Massachusetts, hosted by Northeastern University. It included:
Jo Anderson, Illinois Education Association
Naomi Baden, Montgomery County Education Association
Tom Blanford, National Education Association
Michael Charney, Cleveland Teachers Union
Sharon Cormony-Ornelas, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers
Carol Doherty, Northeastern University School of Education and former MTA President
Patrick Dolan, The Dolan Group
Jim Fraser, Dean of the School of Education, Northeastern University
Tom Mooney, Ohio Federation of Teachers President
Lynn Nordgren, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers
Mark Simon, Center for Teacher Leadership.
Louise Sundin, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers
Others, including Mary Mcdonald, Springfield Education Association and the Center for Educational Innovation, Ellen Bernstein, Albuquerque Federation of Teachers, and David Sherman of the AFT contributed to the planning group during early years of design. A second planning retreat took place in Albuquerque in 2004, resulting in the development of a curriculum and design framework for the cohort experience and summer institute.
In January 2005, we invited nine urban locals in challenging circumstances to be part of a first ITUL cohort and all nine willingly accepted the challenge and put together their teams for engagement. The challenge they and we accepted was to engage in a learning process about what we called “progressive unionism,” to help each other become bold, collaborative, advocates for improving public education and to make teacher unions critical and powerful players in improving the quality of teaching and student learning.
The Institute’s work with its first cohort began in April, 2005, with a week-long summer retreat in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota, site-visits, consultations, written feedback reports and “critical friends” gatherings throughout the year, and a second summer institute week in conjunction with the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts in July, 2006. Funding is being sought for a second cohort at the present time.