Yesterday the Senate proved once again that nobody there--despite party differences--actually thinks about public education critically by passing Dave Sokola's ridiculous SB 51, which is supposed to improve teacher preparation in Delaware.
I will have more to say on this later today, but here's the morning takeaway.
Earlier this week the DSEA Facebook page praised the bill because
Today I discover DSEA President Frederika Jenner, who has publicly endorsed this bill now backpedaling away from the (brutally honest) statement on her own organization's Facebook page:
Your first statement is contradicted by your own organization's testimony in front of the Senate and other public statements.
And your agenda is for DSEA, not teachers, to become involved in teacher preparation, and involved not on the basis of professional quality, but involved on the basis of having state law MANDATE that involvement.
My guess is that you don't even know how many teachers are currently involved in such preparation programs. There are dozens if not hundreds across the State.
Master teachers work with ALL the pre-service candidates for extended periods.
Teachers have a virtual veto over the credentials of all student teachers.
Many teachers are involved as adjunct faculty at our universities, and many retired teachers (or teachers who went on to get their advanced degrees and then switched career fields) are on the full-time faculty. Take a look at the teacher preparation faculty at our universities and you will discover ... teachers!
But apparently not the right teachers for Ms. Jenner.
Her rhetoric about not wanting a seat at the table is woefully thin at this point, given that such has been the argument she used while committing DSEA's full support for Vision 2015 and Race to the Top, both of which have been disasters for Delaware teachers as a whole.
How the teachers of Delaware continue to support a union that makes common cause with corporate officials who blame virtually all the problems of public education on them is beyond comprehension.
I will have more to say on this later today, but here's the morning takeaway.
Earlier this week the DSEA Facebook page praised the bill because
It also gives DSEA a seat at the table to help develop the criteria for the exam and the assessment.I pointed out that this is both disingenuous and dangerous. There are already plenty of teachers involved in the teacher preparation programs at UD, DSU, and WU (which produce 95% of our new teachers), that there are already rigorous national standards being closely monitored (via NCATE), and that no research has ever EVER actually determined the preparation of our entry-level teachers in Delaware to be a problem.
Today I discover DSEA President Frederika Jenner, who has publicly endorsed this bill now backpedaling away from the (brutally honest) statement on her own organization's Facebook page:
DSEA leadership does not actually want that proverbial "seat at the table." What I would like to see is a greater number of working teachers involved in every aspect of teacher prep--the profession managing the profession, so to speak. I do not know which teachers were involved in any of the planning of this legislation. I have recommended that teachers be involved in planning, preparation, and implementation of teacher prep. A variety of working teachers. I also believe that lots more teachers could and should be involved in teaching college students about teaching.Ms. Jenner, get real.
Your first statement is contradicted by your own organization's testimony in front of the Senate and other public statements.
And your agenda is for DSEA, not teachers, to become involved in teacher preparation, and involved not on the basis of professional quality, but involved on the basis of having state law MANDATE that involvement.
My guess is that you don't even know how many teachers are currently involved in such preparation programs. There are dozens if not hundreds across the State.
Master teachers work with ALL the pre-service candidates for extended periods.
Teachers have a virtual veto over the credentials of all student teachers.
Many teachers are involved as adjunct faculty at our universities, and many retired teachers (or teachers who went on to get their advanced degrees and then switched career fields) are on the full-time faculty. Take a look at the teacher preparation faculty at our universities and you will discover ... teachers!
But apparently not the right teachers for Ms. Jenner.
Her rhetoric about not wanting a seat at the table is woefully thin at this point, given that such has been the argument she used while committing DSEA's full support for Vision 2015 and Race to the Top, both of which have been disasters for Delaware teachers as a whole.
How the teachers of Delaware continue to support a union that makes common cause with corporate officials who blame virtually all the problems of public education on them is beyond comprehension.
Comments
Its not like they have a choice. I am sure most teachers would stop paying dues if they had the chance.
First, teachers do have a choice. While DSEA is an "agency shop" it is not a "closed shop." This means that you CAN choose to pay the representation fee, not join the union, and not have a single dollar support DSEA political lobbying.
Second, DSEA--primarily through its local affiliates--does provide a necessary service for teachers in an collective bargaining environment. Having worked in such a union in an education environment for years, I can tell you that our teachers do need effective representation when administrators try to ignore contract, due process, and employment law.