The National Education Association’s (NEA) president, Dennis Van Roekel, recently announced a new action agenda for the nation’s largest teachers union. The plan aims to further the union’s goals of transforming the teaching profession and accelerating student learning, and utilizes proven best practices from teachers across the country.
The three major strategies are:
1. Raising the Bar for Entry. Teachers should have a full year residency under supervision of a Master Teacher, and pass a rigorous classroom-based performance assessment at the end of candidacy.
2. Teachers Ensuring Teacher Quality. A tiered system of achievement should be developed, with different compensation and responsibilities according to experience. There should also be 100 high-quality Peer Assistance and Peer Assistance and Review programs over the next two years.
3. Union Leadership to Transform the Profession. Teachers must take on leadership roles in order to have a presence at the policy table. Current policies reflect this notable absence in teacher leadership activities.
The net effect of these strategies is intended to increase the quality of teacher candidates before they enter the classroom, to ensure that teachers are continually learning and improving their practice, and to improve student learning by improving the profession.
In addition, Van Roekel pledged that the NEA’s training network will train 1,000 teachers for leadership roles across the country, train thousands more in educational leadership, and provide support and training for high-quality teachers to serve as master teachers in teacher prep programs.
To read the full story, please visit http://www.nea.org/home/49969.htm
