Every day it seems like we’re tripping on some bit of exciting news about the growing momentum of national education reform.

   But it would be hard to top the news that came out of Rhode Island over the weekend.

   It seems that state Education Commissioner Deborah Gist ordered school superintendents around the state to stop assigning teachers to classrooms, or particular duties, based on their level of seniority. In other words, teachers will be assigned based on their abilities and performance, not how long they’ve managed to ride their tenure status and hang around the district.

   And it gets better. It seems that Gist based her order on Rhose Island’s new Basic Education Plan, which according to the Providence Journal states that “districts must select and train only the most highly effective staff, and teacher assignments must be based on student need.” It goes on to say that a school district “must maintain control of its ability to recruit, hire, manage, evaluate and assign its personnel.”

   Wow. What a huge victory for Rhose Island students. And what a huge blow to the outdated collective bargaining system that the teachers unions ferociously cling to.

   When announcing her order, Gist made the following statement: “I’ve been very clear that every decision I make will be made in the best interest of children. And there is nothing more important than the placement of a highly qualified teacher in every classroom.”

   Hallelujiah! You go, girl!

   Of course the Rhode Island teachers unions – the National Education Association Rhose Island and the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals - immediately cried foul and threatened to take the issue to court.

   That threat drew the following response from Rhode Island Board of Regents Chairman Robert Flanders: “To the extent that there are contract provisions that are at odds with the Basic Education Plan, it’s our view that those provisions would be unlawful. If a challenge were to be brought, we would expect to prevail.” 

    These folks obviously want to improve their schools, and they obviously mean business. How refreshing to hear state officials telling the teachers unions how things are going to be, instead of the other way around.

    When we think about it, it’s quite amazing that it took so long for state officials to identify seniority as one of thefundamental problems plaguing our nations’ schools. The very idea  that a teacher could be maintaind on staff, or assigned to a particular classroom, based on anything but the ability to effectively teach is frightening and absurd.

   The antiquated seniority system is based on the premise that teachers’ longevity is more important than the educational needs of students. As a nation we’re starting to understand what a stupid, self-destructive concept that is, and we’re not going to subscribe to it anymore.

   Gist put the situation in perfect perspective when she said, “I will use every tool available to put a system in place that is child-centered. We have a lot of systems that are focused on grown-ups. Change is always hard. It’s always going to mean that people feel uncomfortable.”

    Actually, we’re quite comfortable with your idea of change, Ms. Gist. We just wish you worked in our home state of Michigan, where the teachers unions still maintain a significant amount of political power. But we believe your message of student-based education, rather than labor-based, will continue to spread and benefit students coast-to-coast.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.