DPS, teachers closing in on merit pay, peer review
By CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
In an effort to improve aca demic performance in Detroit Public Schools, the teachers union and school district are negotiating to mandate sweep ing academic reforms in the new labor contract.
The reforms under discus sion for the next teacher con tract include peer evaluations and school-based performance bonuses. Site-based manage ment — a topic that in 1992 sparked controversy and a strike — also is on the table. It essentially would allow teach ers and administrators to each have a role in making key deci sions for the schools.
“This is going to be revolu tionary,” said Keith Johnson, who embraced talk of reform after becoming president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers this year. “Both sides acknowledge that what we’re doing is not giving us the re sults that this community has a right to expect.”
DFT also has committed to help DPS cut $45 million from the budget, suggesting mea sures such as adjusting teach er preparation periods to save $11 million.
With threats of bankruptcy looming over the deficit-ridden Detroit school district, now has become the perfect time to talk not about unlikely raises, but about academic reforms, Johnson said.
The DFT contract for its 5,000 teachers and estimated 2,400 support personnel ex pired on June 30, but the union and the school district have agreed twice to extend it. The contract now is set to expire on Saturday.
Robert Bobb, emergency fi nancial manager for DPS, said the issue of seniority is a stick ing point in the negotiations. Bobb would not elaborate, but Johnson said the union would fight any effort by the district to circumvent seniority when it comes to layoffs.
“We believe there are ways all parties can win,” Bobb said, noting that the major focus of talks is reform.
Both sides appear to be working toward that common goal of meaningful change.
For instance, Bobb and the DFT agreed to cancel classes on May 26 so teachers could at tend workshops — including one with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten — about reforms other unions have adopted na tionwide.
Peer review
Detroit is using Toledo as its model. That city has led the way nationwide in Peer Assis tance and Review programs since instituting them in 1981. Detroit teachers and adminis trators have been there twice this fall to learn how they do it. Dal Lawrence, founder of the PAR program in Toledo, who has helped institute simi lar programs in cities such as Chicago, said about 8% to 10% of Toledo’s new teachers are terminated each year as a re sult of peer evaluations.
In Toledo, veteran teachers are selected to work as evalua tors for three years to observe colleagues — mostly new teachers. Recommendations go to a panel that includes ad ministrators.
“It’s the most popular thing we do,” said Lawrence, former president of the Toledo Feder ation of Teachers.
He said the program never has been measured for aca demic impact, but two years after it was instituted, the dis trict’s state rating went from an F grade to a C.
“These efforts alone do not lead to improved academic achievement for students. But there is evidence that where implemented fairly, aggres sively and deliberately, there has been increased — and in some cases, dramatic increas es — in student achievement,” said Barbara Byrd-Bennett, chief DPS academic officer.
Detroit principals who ob served the Toledo peer pro gram in September welcome the chance to turn over the evaluation process to veteran teachers.
“Who knows better about teaching than teachers?” said Tracy Johnson, principal at Durfee Elementary.
James Hearn, principal at Marcus Garvey Academy, said a peer review process may re move the us-versus-them ten sion between administrators and teachers.
“This process will change the culture because if bad teaching is going on, guess who’s allowing it — other teachers. You can’t blame ad ministrators,” he said. Teach ers also would get mentors and more hands-on assistance, he added.
DPS principals get short handed and may not have the time to spend helping teachers improve, Hearn said.
Financial incentives
Differentiated pay, com monly known as merit pay or performance incentives, for teachers who reach agreed upon goals is discussed far more than it has been institut ed. The American Federation of Teachers cites Toledo, New York and smaller districts such as Douglas County public schools in Colorado and St. Francis public schools in Min nesota among the districts that have adopted it.
With the help of a federal grant, Toledo started the Teacher Incentive Fund that awards $2,000 to each person on staff if students meet two academic goals and a goal in another area such as atten dance. The staffs get $1,000 each if two goals are met. Last year, 28 Toledo schools met two or three of the goals, cost ing $1.8 million, said Joan Kuchcinski, coordinator for in centive programs for Toledo Public Schools.
Each of the last three years, the number of schools meeting goals increased, she said.
“Toledo has done the right thing,” she said. “We have the results to show it.”
Parent Ida Byrd-Hill said the Detroit contract negotia tions should include reforms that parents want, like making it easier to get rid of poor-per forming teachers.
“I shouldn’t have to give you a bonus to achieve,” she said. “They keep negotiating con tracts with teachers, and it’s not about what I want as a par ent.”
Site-based management
The union and the district have agreed in principle to in stitute voluntary site-based management, Johnson said. If a school wanted to take on more authority over areas such as hiring and budgeting, and be free to adopt measures such as a longer school year, 75% of teachers would have to agree.
Supporters say site-based management empowers em ployees. But it’s also the issue that led to a DPS teacher strike 1992. Back then, the union feared principals would wield too much power and hiring practices would erode working conditions.
Johnson said this time, site based management will in clude teachers in decision making about everything from curriculum and professional development to hiring.
DPS teacher Kimberly Kyff, the Michigan Teacher of the Year for 2006-07, favors the reforms.
“Working together, having professional development and programs based on building needs and a structured assis tance program — designed to improve teaching and learning — will lead to student achieve ment and a flourishing dis trict,” she said.
| CONTACT CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY: 313-223-4537 OR CPRATT@FREEPRESS.COM
“THIS PROCESS WILL CHANGE THE CULTURE BECAUSE IF BAD TEACHING IS GOING ON, GUESS WHO’ S ALLOWING IT — OTHER TEACHERS.”
JAMES HEARN, principal at Marcus Garvey Academy, on a proposed peer review process for teachers in Detroit Public Schools
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