Fwd: Wall Street Journal Article on Ed

[Mike Kluznik <mkluznik@HOTMAIL.COM>]

> From: tdkluznik@uswest.net
> Reply-To: tdkluznik@uswest.net
> To: "Mike Kluznik" <mkluznik@hotmail.com>,  "  mike57"
> <mike57@mymailstation.com>
> Subject: Wall Street Journal Article on Ed
> Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2001 12:16:18 -0600
>
> From the January 31, 2001 issue of the Wall Street Journal,
> Page A10.
>
> Politics & Policy
>
>                Business Groups Push
>                Big Changes for Teachers
>
>                By JUNE KRONHOLZ
>                Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
>
>                WASHINGTON -- Four leading business groups
> called
>                for big changes in the way teachers are
> trained, promoted,
>                treated and paid if public schools are to be
> turned around.
>
>                Their report agrees with the education plans
> announced
>                last week by President Bush and Capitol Hill
> Democrats.
>                Those plans would require all teachers to
> have at least a
>                minor in the courses they teach, would put
> more money
>                into teacher training, and would take steps
> toward linking
>                teacher pay to student performance.
>
>                But the business report goes well beyond the
> legislative
>                plans by urging that colleges drop education
> as an
>                undergraduate major and that seniority
> systems that often
>                consign the newest teachers to the toughest
> schools be
>                eliminated.
>
>                The Business Roundtable, the National
> Alliance of
>                Business, the National Association of
> Manufacturers and
>                the U.S. Chamber of Commerce produced the
>                recommendations, which they will take to
> governors and
>                legislators and to state business groups to
> lobby for
>                change. None of the proposals came with a
> price tag, and
>                Keith Bailey, chairman of Williams Cos. and
> head of the
>                Roundtable's education task force, predicted
> most will
>                take years to phase in, including persuading
> localities to
>                sharply increase teacher salaries in return
> for higher
>                professional standards.
>
>                Most of the business groups' ideas have been
> bandied
>                around by policy makers for years, and all
> are being tried
>                on at least a small scale in individual
> school districts.
>                With big businesses backing such ideas as
> making teacher
>                licenses portable from state to state, the
> ideas will get a
>                better airing on Capitol Hill and in the
> statehouses where
>                most education policy is made.
>
>                The business proposals are likely to come in
> for stiff
>                opposition from the teachers' unions, which
> have largely
>                opposed performance-based pay and steadfastly
> protected
>                seniority rights that give the
> longest-serving teachers the
>                highest pay and first choice of jobs. That
> arrangement
>                means that inner-city and troubled schools
> often end up
>                with the least-experienced teachers, and that
> even bad
>                teachers can climb to the top of the pay
> scale merely by
>                staying in their jobs long enough.
>
>                The unions like other proposals, though,
> including plans
>                to give teachers greater control over
> day-to-day
>                operations in their schools and to create a
> career ladder,
>                including promotions and better pay for
> mentors, lead
>                teachers and evaluators. They also would give
> teachers
>                greater ability to switch jobs, which could
> lead to more
>                competition for teachers among the states and
> to higher
>                salaries.
>
>                Another thorny proposal could be an overhaul
> of teacher
>                colleges, which have powerful constituencies
> in state
>                legislatures. The business groups want the
> colleges to
>                require at least a B average for admission,
> and they
>                would require a degree in a subject like math
> or history,
>                with a minor in education.
>
>                Write to June Kronholz at
> june.kronholz@wsj.com

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the ARN-L list, send command SIGNOFF ARN-L
to LISTSERV@LISTS.CUA.EDU.