Minnesota Educator January 2010 : Page 1
A publication for the members of Education Minnesota Education Minnesota proposes innovative use of federal funds As the state of Minnesota put the final touches on its entry in the federal Race to the Top competition last month, Education Minnesota announced its own proposal for using federal dollars to more directly support great teaching and learning in the classroom. The federal dollars are intended to support effective teaching and learning in the classroom to shrink the achievement gap, while ensuring that the education of high performing students is not diminished. “The Minnesota Department of Education’s plan misses the mark,” Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher said at a Dec. 16 news conference. “This federal program is supposed to be all about improving student learning and closing the achievement gap. Instead, the department’s plan emphasizes more bureaucracy and top-down state control of Minnesota’s schools as well as more testing. “We urge the state to join with educators in a bold, all-out effort to address the achievement gap by surrounding students and teachers with the support they need in order to succeed.” The Race to the Top program, part of the federal economic stimulus package, has Minnesota and other states racing to put together school reform proposals dramatic enough to attract a share of the $4.35 billion pot. The deadline for the first round of applications is Jan. 19. Race to the Top asks states to address four main reform areas: Standards and assessments, data systems to support instruction, “great teachers and leaders” and turning around low- performing schools. States will be judged on how they link student “growth” on tests to individual teachers and principals; intervene in struggling schools; support charter schools; adopt Funds, see page 8 OUR PLAN TO SUPPORT EXCELLENCE Education Minnesota recommends: \UE teaching excellence where the most successful teaching methods can be identified and disseminated statewide. \UE to become teachers in high-needs schools. \UE for new teachers. \UE Research & Dissemination program statewide. \UE data to adapt teaching to students’ needs. For the detailed proposals, see page 6. JANUARY 2010 Conference empowers educators for 2010 election campaigns Hundreds of Education Minnesota members are “fired up and ready to go” for Election 2010 following the union’s first Political Conference Nov. 20 and 21 in St. Paul. Political conference participants gather for the opening session at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront in St. Paul. Photo by Janet Hostetter More than 350 people attended the statewide training event, including 125 members who had never before been active in Education Minnesota or its locals. Nearly 200 took part in a lively mock political convention featuring a simulated subcaucus process—complete with posters, chanting and efforts to persuade other attendees to join groups such as “Gore- Health Care” and “Kucinich- Motorcycle Helmets.” The goal is that this core of energized members will go back to their locals and get their colleagues active in the Feb. 2 precinct caucuses and beyond. Quoting President Barack Obama, Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher urged members to get “fired up” and get involved in a political process that will have a profound impact on K-12 schools and higher education. The key race in 2010 is the governor’s race, he said. “The next governor must understand our issues and INSIDE THIS ISSUE… The Educator has gone digital! Find copies of the current and back issues, with hot links and a search feature, on the Education Minnesota Web site. Also follow the union on Facebook and Twitter. Find out how. Page 7 Let’s change the frame the federal government is trying to put around its program for funding school improvement, President Tom Dooher writes. Page 2 Legal services come with membership in Education Minnesota, Anne Krisnik, the union’s general counsel, writes. Page 3 Are precinct caucuses unfamiliar? Do you choose not to go because you are unsure of what to expect? Education Minnesota will bring training to your local on how to participate and gain pro-education delegates who will select candidates for governor and other offices this year. Page 4 Number of students who come to school hungry is rising, national survey finds. Page 7 Teacher contract bargaining faces big barriers. Union Life. Page 10 Find workshops and seminars for educators Page 12 what we do on an every- single-day basis,” he said. “The future is at stake…. We want to empower you this weekend to organize and mobilize. We need to get every single one of our members involved in this.” U.S. Rep Tim Walz added: “You’re all staring zero and zero [two-year salary increases] in the face, you’re all staring levies in the face…. You know that none of that will change unless we organize, unless we talk passionately about why we need to elect people who will do these things.” If educators don’t step up in Minnesota’s crucial elections for governor and the Legislature, Walz said, what will happen is “people are going to be elected who will pursue destructive policy.” The gubernatorial election is “about our children’s future,” he said. Conference breakout sessions offered practical advice in areas such as messaging; cost- effective campaign tools; organizing and working with communities, retirees and college students; and recruiting female and minority candidates and campaigners. The conference culminated Nov. 21 with a mock state Senate district convention, teaching participants how to maximize their impact for public education through the process of selecting delegates to higher-level nominating conventions. The simulation used the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party process. Participants were directed to resources on how Minnesota’s other major parties choose delegates to nominating conventions. Special workshops were offered for people new to politics, Republican members and higher education faculty members. Other sessions provided opportunities for people to network with others in their congressional district. Here is a sample of the discussion in several sessions: Conference, see page 4 IT’S BACK! FIND THE SNOWFLAKE After a holiday hiatus, the Educator’s image-finding contest is ready to start 2010 with a familiar feature of Minnesota in January. Find the snowflake hidden in this issue of the Educator to be eligible to win a gift card in the drawing from correct entries. When you have found the snowflake just like the one here, e-mail the inside page number where it appears along with your full name and mailing address to educator@educationminnesota.org. The deadline is Jan. 11 for entries to be eligible for the drawing. You must be a member of Education Minnesota to win. Good luck!
EDUCATION MINNESOTA PROPOSES INNOVATIVE USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS
As the state of Minnesota put the final touches on its entry in the federal Race to the Top competition last month, Education Minnesota announced its own proposal for using federal dollars to more directly support great teaching and learning in the classroom.
The federal dollars are intended to support effective teaching and learning in the classroom to shrink the achievement gap, while ensuring that the education of high performing students is not diminished.
“ The Minnesota Department of Education’s plan misses the mark,” Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher said at a Dec. 16 news conference. “This federal program is supposed to be all about improving student learning and closing the achievement gap. Instead, the department’s plan emphasizes more bureaucracy and top-down state control of Minnesota’s schools as well as more testing.
“We urge the state to join with educators in a bold, all-out effort to address the achievement gap by surrounding students and teachers with the support they need in order to succeed.”
The Race to the Top program, part of the federal economic stimulus package, has Minnesota and other states racing to put together school reform proposals dramatic enough to attract a share of the $4.35 billion pot. The deadline for the first round of applications is Jan. 19.
Race to the Top asks states to address four main reform areas: Standards and assessments, data systems to support instruction, “great teachers and leaders” and turning around lowperforming schools.
States will be judged on how they link student “growth” on tests to individual teachers and principals; intervene in struggling schools; support charter schools; adopt national academic standards and assessments; use data to improve teaching; support alternative preparation routes for teachers; and a host of other criteria. States also must show broad stakeholder support for their plans, including participation by local school districts and buy-in from local and state unions.
The Minnesota Department of Education is seeking $200 million for a four-year plan that emphasizes teacher evaluation and ratings. Participating districts would have to adopt an “enhanced” version of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Q Comp program; student academic growth would be extensively tracked and applied to individual teachers for everything from pay to licensure.
While Education Minnesota can support some parts of the state proposal, the union does not agree that more tracking and ranking will lead to better teaching, Dooher said. “Minnesota already has great teachers,” he said. “We need to give them the tools to succeed.”
The union’s plan calls for turning low-performing schools into educator-led centers of teaching excellence where the most successful teaching methods can be identified and disseminated statewide. Students and teachers would have the benefit of small classes, the latest materials and technology, intensive professional development for teachers, and partnerships with parents and the community within the school building.
Education Minnesota’s proposal includes a “growyour- own” program to recruit promising young people to become teachers in high-needs schools. It would provide college-credit courses in high school and significant opportunity for hands-on experience during the student’s preparation.
Other parts of the plan would mandate comprehensive induction programs for new teachers; use state funds to expand the teacher-led Educational Research & Dissemination program statewide; and provide training for all teachers and principals on using data to adapt teaching to students’ needs. Dooher noted that St. Paul Federation of Teachers is implementing some of these measures now through an Innovation Grant from the American Federation of Teachers.
CONFERENCE EMPOWERS EDUCATORS FOR 2010 ELECTION CAMPAIGNS
Hundreds of Education Minnesota members are “fired up and ready to go” for Election 2010 following the union’s first Political Conference Nov. 20 and 21 in St. Paul.
More than 350 people attended the statewide training event, including 125 members who had never before been active in Education Minnesota or its locals. Nearly 200 took part in a lively mock political convention featuring a simulated subcaucus process—complete with posters, chanting and efforts to persuade other attendees to join groups such as “Gore- Health Care” and “Kucinich- Motorcycle Helmets.”
The goal is that this core of energized members will go back to their locals and get their colleagues active in the Feb. 2 precinct caucuses and beyond.
Quoting President Barack Obama, Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher urged members to get “fired up” and get involved in a political process that will have a profound impact on K-12 schools and higher education. The key race in 2010 is the governor’s race, he said.
“The next governor must understand our issues and what we do on an everysingle- day basis,” he said. “The future is at stake…. We want to empower you this weekend to organize and mobilize. We need to get every single one of our members involved in this.”
U. S. Rep Tim Walz added: “You’re all staring zero and zero [two-year salary increases] in the face, you’re all staring levies in the face…. You know that none of that will change unless we organize, unless we talk passionately about why we need to elect people who will do these things.”
If educators don’t step up in Minnesota’s crucial elections for governor and the Legislature, Walz said, what will happen is “people are going to be elected who will pursue destructive policy.” The gubernatorial election is “about our children’s future,” he said.
Conference breakout sessions offered practical advice in areas such as messaging ; cost - effective campaign tools; organizing and working with communities, retirees and college students; and recruiting female and minority candidates and campaigners.
The conference culminated Nov. 21 with a mock state Senate district convention, teaching participants how to maximize their impact for public education through the process of selecting delegates to higher-level nominating conventions. The simulation used the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party process. Participants were directed to resources on how Minnesota’s other major parties choose delegates to nominating conventions.
Special workshops were offered for people new to politics, Republican members and higher education faculty members. Other sessions provided opportunities for people to network with others in their congressional district.
Here is a sample of the discussion in several sessions:
What works to mobilize voters?
How can a local involved in a political or referendum campaign get the best return on its efforts? Denise Cardinal of Alliance for a Better Minnesota offered two research-based suggestions:
• Choose quality over quantity when it comes to phoning voters to get out the vote. One study found that when someone took the time to “walk through” the voting process with voters, they were more likely to actually vote. This was especially true for single-person households.
• Banner ads on Web sites are cheap and cost-effective in changing voters’ minds, according to one study. This tactic may be most effective for issue advocacy, Cardinal said.
Challenges for higher education faculty
Minnesota State College Facul ty representat ives said members need to get politically active in order to hold the Legislature to its higher education funding commitment and to change the way Minnesota State Colleges and Universities trustees are appointed. Rising tuitions, financial aid that goes disproportionately to private institutions and a “broken” salary schedule for
MSCF members were among the problems outlined.
“Bargaining starts Feb. 2 with the precinct caucuses,” MSCF lobbyist Rick Nelson said. “It starts by going.”
• State funding for higher education has gone from over 12 percent of the state’s total budget to 8 percent in a short period of time.
• The Minnesota Legislature has failed to honor its commitment to funding two-year college students at 66 percent. It now funds less than half of what it costs to educate a student in the system.
• The current MnSCU Board of Trus tees was appointed by a governor hostile to the values of strong working conditions for faculty and the accessibility and quality of public higher education in the state.
I’m new to politics
More than 100 participants learned how and why political activity makes a difference for public education and educators. The session covered basics, such as what’s involved in taking political action and why it is appropriate for educators to engage in the process of choosing candidates and shaping policy.
Working with and in specific population groups
Four sessions encompassed the skills and assets of seniors, students, women and people of color in political activity.
• Minnesota State College Student Association representatives presented an overview of their work with campuses across the state, focusing specifically on the strategies behind their overwhelmingly successful 2008 get out the vote campaign. The message: Ask college students to use their expertise and energy in elect ion campaigns, from local levies to the gubernatorial race.
• Reach out to retirees to help elect pro-education candidates was the message to participant s in the session on activating retired educators for campaigns.
The session highlighted an AFT-supported program that employs retired educators during campaigns. Seniors have both time and the motivation to continue supporting schools, the presentation emphasized.
• Communities of color, especially those of recent immigrants, place a high value on education, presenter Mi ski Noor said. The potential for support on education issues is high, she said, if political organizers take the time to get involved in communities through attending important events and listening to people’s ideas and concerns. Noor, a veteran campaign organizer, works on immigration and foreign affairs issues for U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison.
• In a union where 70 percent of the membership is female, Education Minnesota has a large talent pool to tap as potential candidates for office, Education Minnesota Secretary-Treasurer Denise Specht and St. Paul Federation of Teachers President Mary Cathryn Ricker said at the session on recruiting women as candidates and campaign volunteers. The presentation encouraged women t o run for office, encourage or fund other women in their races and volunteer in campaigns. Two dozen women participating in the session committed to doing something in the upcoming campaign cycle to increase the number of women in office.
Other sessions covered crafting effective campaign messages, how pro-education Republicans can make schools a priority, community organizing, traditional campaign tactics and using new media to persuade, organize and mobilize voters.
Participants will share learning from the first major Education Minnesota Political Conference with educators in their locals and with pro-education allies in their communities.
Further training in how to participate in the Feb. 2 precinct caucuses will be available this month. Arrangements can be made for caucus training through Education Minnesota field staff.
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