Resources
On this page we will provide tools for understanding progressive unionism, summaries or links to key reports and studies, case studies of union reform efforts, and useful links to allies and partner organizations.
Tools
- Three Frames of Progressive Unionism (PDF)
This tool is used by MITUL to engage union leaders and activists in a conversation about the extent to which the work of union locals is sufficiently deep in the professional and social justice arenas. All three frames need to be valued. - Criteria for Progressive Union Practice (PDF)
This tool is used by MITUL not only to help a local determine whether and how they might take up a piece of proposed work, but also as a way to think about broadening the union’s mission.
Articles
- MITUL on the Cover of Ed Week (PDF)
The Mooney Insitute is the main focus of an Education Week cover story - Teacher Quality In DC
The Mooney Institute testified on teacher quality before the State Board of Education for the District of Columbia, describing what a quality-driven human capital system would look like if Chancellor Michelle Rhee was putting her attention to that task. The District of Columbia Public Schools have never had any system for nurturing good teaching. In fact, the DC school districts's approach to teacher quality has been no approach at all; rather there are simply "random acts by heroic teachers."
Read more - Whose Problem Is Poverty?
by Richard Rothstein ASCD's Educational Leadership April, 2008
It's not an excuse, but its important to be honest and realistic about the effects of poverty on academic achievement. Yes, every student can learn, but ignoring very real barriers and perpetuating myths about what educators' beliefs can accomplish alone will demoralize teachers and distort the real impact of good teaching. In Richard Rothstein's cover story, he argues that educators need to build social movements because modest social and economic reforms can greatly improve student achievement. - MITUL Critique of The Fordham Foundation’s new report (HTML) (PDF)
The Leadership Limbo; Teacher Labor Agreements in America’s Fifty Largest School Districts treats a very serious subject without the serious objective scholarship that it deserves. The study begins with a faulty premise, establishes skewed criteria, and leaves us with ratings that mask a not too hidden ideological bias. - New Commentary in Education Week (PDF)
A special commentary piece by Mark Simon and Naomi Baden about Tom Mooney's legacy in the teacher's movent appears in the January 30, 2008 issue of Education Week. - EdWeek Anticipates New Leadership in NEA and AFT (PDF)
Education Week reports on what Dennis Van Roekel and Randy Weingarten might bring this July as likely new NEA and AFT presidents. - Tough Choices or Tough Times – a response by the Mooney Institute
In December, of 2006 the National Commission on Education and the Economy published the report of The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, authored by Marc Tucker. Signing off on the report was the bipartisan commission that included former Cabinet secretaries and governors in addition to federal and state education officials and business and civic leaders, but few educators. The report made bold recommendations that amounted to dissolving public school systems and having schools run by private management organizations, accountable to states. There were a number of critiques of the report by Diane Ravitch, and others. The MITUL critique focused on the report's faulty logic and recklessness, putting the public education enterprise at risk.
Reports and Studies
- Democracy at Risk – The Need For a New Federal Policy in Education (PDF)
In a new report released April 23 from the Forum for Education and Democracy, Linda Darling-Hammond, George Wood, and their colleagues articulate the four pillars of an education program for the new administration in 2009. This watershed analysis of the crisis in public education policy may be the most significant and well-timed study since the 1983 Nation At Risk report.
Read the Report (PDF)
Read Press Release (PDF)
PodCast (From "Learning Matters")
- Holding Accountability to Account: Pay for Performance (PDF)
Richard Rothstein headed a new study that draws lessons from the private sector leading to a healthy dose of caution in utilizing pay-for-performance in education. The study examines the potential for goal distortion, manipulation of sub-groups, and ways to game the system leading to untrustworthy statistics. While not rejecting pay for performance, this study is a must-read for educators seeking to make smart contributions to designing performance pay experiments. February, 2008 - The Teaching Penalty – Teacher Pay Continues to Slide (PDF)
A new study from the Economic Policy Institute documents, state by state, how teacher pay has fallen behind comparable professions. March, 2008 - A Report Card on Comprehensive Equity – Racial Groups in the Nation's
Youth Outcomes (PDF)
A new study by Richard Rothstein makes a compelling case for broadening the scope of learning outcomes to include basic academic skills, but also critical thinking and problem solving, social skills and work ethic, citizenship and community responsiblity, lifelong physical health, lifelong emothional health, appreciation of the arts and literature, and preparation for skilled work. A look at these important skills not only redefines the achievement gap, but makes it clear that it is worse than we thought. February, 2008 - Leading the Local
Harvard University’s Susan Moore Johnson’s 2007 study of the work of union local presidents – their hopes, fears, beliefs and their take on important issues of the day. It turns out that local unions are very much engaged in and take seriously collaborative work on improving student achievement, closing the achievement gap, intervening in low performing schools, teacher evaluation reform, and alternative compensation design. - Citizen's Commission on Civil Rights report (PDF)
This CCCR report, “Fresh Ideas in Collective Bargaining: How New Agreements Help Kids,” comments on efforts in a some locals to modify contracts when language gets in the way of school improvement, creating professional growth systems that improve teaching and learning, and collaboration with parents and community groups. -
The Other Half of the Strategy (PDF)
Education Evolving's paper urges an emphasis on School Reform, not system reform, to get us back to a focus on teaching and learning and away from models of schooling that are broken. - Rush to Judgement: Teacher Evaluation in Public Education (PDF)
Education Sector released this interesting study of what's wrong with teacher evaluation and some innovations that work, including a candid look at Toledo's Peer Review system.
MITUL Case Studies
- Broad Acres Elementary (PDF)
This case study can be used to illustrate an example of a union’s effort to intervene collaboratively with the district to turn around a low performing school. It’s not simple or easy. The case reveals problems and provokes critical thinking about intervention efforts, highlighting the importance, and difficulty of good union/management collaboration. - Boston Pilot Schools (PDF)
This case study examines the challenges for the union when Boston’s Pilot Schools were established and then began to lead to problems. It is used as a provocation in teaching about the need for the union to be engaged in school innovation and some of the difficulties that can arise.