Three

About the same time I found out that I would be RIF’ed from Seattle Public Schools I began to wage a small scale war against a patch of Himalayan blackberry bushes that currentyl control the northwest corner of our back yard.

This part of the yard exists behind a false fense and is hidden from view. Out of sight, out of mind and out of control. I have cut these berries down several times over that last 10 years, as has my Dad, but they are pernicious and dedicated fighters who come back year after year to maintain their sway over the corner.

I usually loath the process of cutting black berries. I inevitably choose a hot day to work and wearing long sleeves and shorts wade in and into the maw of the verdant beast. In short order sweat is pouring down my face, and small cuts on my legs and arms sting and I seem to make no dent in mass of thorny vines. This time things have been different. I have, in a strange way, enjoyed the process.

As I began the process of cutting  I had just finished reading a biography of Daniel Boone, a figure who I knew little about beyond  some mid-century Disney generated pablum. Boone, it turns out, was a prodigiously talented leader and woodsman who inspired both colonizers and poets. His life figured prominently in the work of James Fenimore Cooper, Byron, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

A consistent theme of Boone’s life was  his return to the woods. Over and over his attempts at joining the mainstream of American society would fail and he would return to the subsistence life of a frontiersman. A large part of these returns involved clearing land and building a cabin. I imagine that an afternoon of cutting down blackberry bushes lacks the physical rigor of stump-busting Kentucky bottom land, but I have an inkling of the satisfaction Boone may have drawn from the task.

The work is simple, pure in its intent and rife with metaphor. With my hand occupied by the repetitive process of pushing back the vine, cutting it out and throwing it on the growing pile behind me, my mind can wander in strange directions.

Today, as I worked in a sunlit grove of lime green thorns   I was struck by the similarity between the Himalayan blackberry plant  and an Imperial power. Like the Romans, the Turks, the British or we Americans, the Himalayan blackberry is an efficient conqueror. In short order it can spread over a landscape and dominate the existing flora. It has little respect for the needs or views of what currently exists, but instead imposes its own order upon the the area it dominates. Those who can not assimilate or adapt disappear.

While not inclusive, the Blackberry is tolerant to the point of utility. It will allow others to grow and even flourish as long as that other is not threat to its sovereignty. And in the end, it will fall to a greater power.

This last point gives me some comfort.  As stressful and unassailable my current job situation can feel, it is not permanent.

I came across this op-ed through  a blog that follows Seattle school district policy.  It is interesting reading less for the editorial and more for the comments that follow. As profession, teachers still have some hurdles to overcome. As long as the public has the latent assumptions about teaching that these comments reflect meaningful reform of any aspect of the educational system will be a significant challenge.

Here is the article: OP-ED

If you want to take the time to sign this petition opposing seniority based RIF’s please visit: http://supportgreatteachers.com/

Thanks!

I most recently wrote about my frustration with the seniority based compensation structures that my union (the SEA) continues to use a the cornerstone of its bargaining position. I have talked about my position with some co-workers over the last few days and have decided that it is easy to lament the position taken by the union, but more productive to offer an alternative.

Could this work?

Education needs to model pay structures on the immigration models used by some small countries. New Zealand, for example, uses a point system to determine immigration status. A variety of qualities can earn you points towards the particular residency status you desire. Education, as a profession could use a similar process.

Lets imagine that to increase pay and seniority status a teacher needs to earn 100 points per year. Points could be awarded based on eperience, evaluations, portolios, parent reccomendations and peer reccomendations. Different processes could carry different weights.

A potential model could look like this:

• 1 year of successful employment (favorable performance review) - 60 points
• 2 letters of recommendation from parents - 10 points
  
• 2 satisfactory evaluations from administration - 20 points
• 2 satisfactory evaluations from a union trained and compensated evaluator (This would direct union dollars away from national political actions) - 25 points
• Teacher gathered evidence of student learning portfolio (this would be modeled on the NBPTS certification process) - 40 points

As a teacher I could seek to gather these points toward increased pay and job security. If I was motivated I could raise my pay grade at a rate that exceeded my duration of employment. If I did not want to do anything I would raise my pay grade at a rate slower than my duration of employment.

This model is a compromise of sorts. It still offers support to the misguided notion that experience alone is indicative of improved quality. It does, however, delay the reward enough that there is some incentive to demonstrate improved job performance.

This model also distributes the assessment of performance to a variety of interested parties. Parents, fellow teachers, administrators and union observers could all have a voice in the process. The model I suggest is only one example. It is conceivable that students, community members, university faculty or other stakeholders could play a role in the process.

It could be argued that the implementation of such a model could prove onerous, but through the use of web 2.0 technology, much of the process could be handled online through secure wiki style web applications. The biggest challenge is not logistical, but cultural.

Educational unions seem to categorically avoid the issue of merit pay on principle. As such, they have no voice in the discussion and fail their constituency. The time for this blind orthodoxy has past. As union members we need to demand that those who represent us take a leadership role in ensuring that we are compensated and held accountable at the same level as other professionaks. This means re-claiming the issue of merit pay and offering solutions that are good for students, teachers and the community.