Posted by:
Dennis Sparks
K-12 Classroom teacher
Ann Arbor, MI

Topic:
Unions Support Innovative Solutions

Message:
The national leadership of both the NEA and AFT support ambitious school reform efforts and recognize the importance of professional development in achieving those ends. In addition, many local affiliates of both unions have experimented with various innovations that support professional development. Among these innovations are peer assistance and review programs, various types of labor/management collaboration on school reform issues, and teacher compensation packages that provide incentives for increased teacher knowledge/skill and improvements in student learning.

Two valuable resources on this subject are "School Reform, TURN, and Teacher Compensation" by Adam Urbanski and Roger Erskine in the January 2000 issue of Phi Delta Kappan and the Spring 2000 issue of the Journal of Staff Development, which features a number of articles on this topic (it will be available from the National Staff Development Council in March).

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