Reprinted below is the testimony presented by MCEA President Doug Prouty at the April 5th County Council Public Hearing on the FY12 Operating Budget; inlcuding a chart illustrating the potential impact on individual MCPS employees of a shift in health insurance premium cost-sharing to 30%.
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Good evening Council President Ervin, Vice-President Berliner, and members of the County Council. I am here tonight speaking on behalf of the approximately 12,000 professional educators whose hard work, dedication and skills have helped make the Montgomery County Public Schools one of the best school districts in America.
Let me start by asking that each of us endeavor to keep the discussions, public and private, focused on how we can best work together to seek a solution to the difficult budget decisions that need to be made. Keeping the rhetoric at this level and avoiding anger, resentment and finger pointing can only result in a more civil, productive, and healthy process and arrive at a budget solution that is fair, balanced and equitable.
I also hope that we can continue to preserve the quality of public services that our county residents and taxpayers have come to expect. Whether it be public schools, public safety, public libraries, public parks, or our community colleges – Montgomery County’s quality public services have been the linchpin of our county’s success. The quality of our local public services attracts jobs, investments, housing and economic growth.
I am not just concerned about our schools. Our communities will not thrive without adequate fire, paramedic and police protection. Public libraries, public parks and recreation programs, community colleges and mass transit all contribute to why people want to live in, or stay in, Montgomery County.
That is why I am fundamentally concerned by those who believe that the county government can solve its budget challenges by cuts alone. We are in the third year of an economic contraction that has forced large scale cuts in staffing and services across all county agencies and departments.
We have to look for long-term strategies, not one-time fixes. We need, taking that long term view, to be sure that our strategies do not have a disparate impact on those who have dedicated their lives to public service.
The Health Care Challenge
The proposed cost shift in county employee health insurance premium payments produces only one-time savings. It does nothing to slow the rate of increase in overall health care costs. MCEA strongly urges the Council to reject the County Executive’s proposal to increase the share of health insurance premiums paid by county employees. The proposal is wrong. The impact on individual county employees is too severe. We have modeled the impact of a potential shift in health care premiums for MCPS employees and attached it to this testimony. A shift to a 70/30 split would cost the average MCPS employee over $4,000 a year, on top of the 2% increased pension contribution and the restoration of the 2% federal FICA tax in January. The combination would result in a 10-15% pay cut for MCPS employees. The County Council has the ability to prevent it, and we urge you to do so.
There is a fundamental difference between cost-shifting and cost containment. In MCPS, the administration and the unions have worked together for many years to control the increasing cost of health care. We have prepared a detailed summary of many of the cost containment steps we have jointly developed and implemented. Our focus has been on providing incentives for plan participants to use health care services in the most cost effective ways. We encourage use of lower cost mail order maintenance drugs and generics. We discourage the use of expensive emergency rooms for non-emergency care. Over 63% of MCPS plan participants are enrolled in HMOs, compared to just 33% of county government employees.
But cost containment is not a checklist, it is an ongoing strategy. The pressures from rising health care costs are national phenomena. There is much work still to be done. Most recently, the MCPS cost containment collaboration has turned its efforts to employee wellness. We know from our data that 24% of our annual medical costs are caused by preventable and manageable health conditions: diabetes, asthma, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, and high-risk pregnancies. The best long term strategy for controlling health insurance costs is to improve the health of those segments of the workforce at highest risk of such preventable problems.
We expect there is much that all the agencies could learn from each other on cost containment strategies. As long as the purpose is honestly cost containment and not cost shifting, we would welcome the opportunity to participate in an ongoing, joint process involving the managers and employee representatives across all agencies, charged with seeking out additional options for meaningful cost containment.
We fundamentally believe that this is the appropriate way forward; in stark contrast to the County Executive’s proposal to simplistically shift more health care premium costs onto employees while doing nothing to address the overall, and ongoing, increase in the total cost of health care.
It is in the best interest of county tax-payers that we address the rate of growth in health care costs and not simply move to the next one-time savings trick – at the expense of county workers.
The MCPS Budget
The MCPS budget did not cause the county’s budget woes. We’ve heard the complaints that the MCPS budget consumes 57% of the overall county budget. But it’s been about 57% of the overall county budget for at least 20 years.
That figure does not present the whole picture, because it includes local, state and federal funding. Thankfully, our schools have benefited from a surge in state and federal funding over the past ten years. As a result, the Montgomery County Government has had to spend a smaller and smaller share of locally generated tax revenues on MCPS. That share of locally generated tax revenues going to MCPS has dropped from 52.5% in FY ’03 to 44.7% in the proposed budget. Were MCPS still getting the same percentage in local tax revenues as it did in FY ‘03, it would mean an additional $279 million a year going to our schools next year.
My point is simply that I ask you to reject the rhetoric that somehow our schools are causing cutbacks in other services. Spending of local tax revenues has been going up dramatically in some areas, but not in education. Those who want a boogie-man to blame for the cuts in county services need to look elsewhere.
The second myth I’d like to dispel is the belief held by some that MCPS has not “felt the pain” of budget cutbacks like other county departments.
Hundreds of positions have been cut over the past few years, more for next year. Hundreds of MCEA members are now on the involuntary transfer list due to the cuts that have had to be implemented as a part of the staffing process for next year. Teachers in the classroom will have even less support to teach more students. We can’t wait till the budget process plays out to plan for the 147,000 plus students who will walk through the doors of our school on August 29th. And this is happening in the context of a national dialogue in which public employees are being scapegoated as the cause of state budget woes and public school employees are being labeled the problem that needs to be fixed to help our kids.
The county executive proposes to spend $71.6 million more in FY12 in current revenue, PAYGO, and debt service than in FY ‘11. The budget is to be balanced by extracting tens of millions of dollars from the employees- $18 million from county workers through health insurance cost shifts, $12 million from county workers through pension cost shifts, and additional tens of millions in sought after school employee health insurance cost shifts.
The county executive is putting more new money into capital expenditures - and snow removal - than he is taking away from all employees. You can fix that or you can be a part of that. Those aren't the priorities any of you talked about when you ran for office. All of you talked about quality public services: good schools, safe streets. We believed you then, and we want to continue to believe those are your priorities. We don't live in Wisconsin. We can do better. I hope you will. Thank you for your time, your efforts, and your commitment to our students. We look forward to working with you in the coming weeks.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
5 myths about teachers that are distracting policymakers
Many thanks to Valerie Strauss, author of the Answer Sheet column at the Washington Post, for posting the following article.
This was written by Barnett Berry, founder and president of the Center for Teaching Quality, Inc., based in Hillsborough, N.C., which seeks to improve student achievement by advancing teaching as a 21st-century, results-oriented profession.
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There’s a lot of talk today about making our schools better and our teachers more effective. Researchers confirm that the right teachers can make a big difference in how much students learn, even in the most challenging schools. But scholars, educators, union leaders and policy wonks still disagree, sometimes vehemently, over what good teaching looks like. And it’s a high-stakes question. Political leaders at every level are demanding we evaluate and pay teachers based on student test scores and value-added statistical formulas. If that turns out to be a bad strategy, the long-term ramifications for the nation could be staggering.
Incredible as it seems, 11 years into the new millennium decision makers are still opting for a patchwork teaching policy that often lowers entry standards to keep salaries and preparation costs down.
We spend too much time debating 20th century arguments — e.g., whether or not Teach for America or university-based certification programs are the best ways to recruit and train teachers. What we need instead are millions of well-prepared, highly savvy teachers who know how to teach the iGeneration and work successfully in teams in order to serve diverse public school populations that include large numbers of English language learners and students from poverty.
Teaching in the 21st century is complex, challenging work, and the fiction that “anyone can be a teacher” threatens our future. We have entered an era of rapid and inexorable change, where the real “high stakes” must be measured at a global level. We don’t have time for myths. Here are five that often distract policymakers from creating the results-oriented teaching profession students deserve.
Myth #1: Teacher preparation matters little for student achievement.
Research Realities: Some research suggests that new recruits from Teach for America and other fast-entry programs perform about as well as those from traditional, university-based teacher training – leading many to assume that in-depth teacher preparation matters little for student achievement. But what if neither approach is giving us the teachers we need? The National Bureau of Economic Research found that beginning teachers with more extensive clinical training (including a full-year internship – like doctors get) actually produce higher student achievement gains than those from either traditional university programs or alternative pathways. Recent research also tells us that teacher who enter with too little preparation are likely to leave the profession much sooner than those who have a thorough grasp of the fundamentals – and they’re less likely to be effective over time.
Myth #2: Teaching experience matters little for student achievement.
We keep hearing that teaching experience beyond the initial three years or so does not necessarily produce higher student test scores. But recent studies say that more experience does matter (up to 20 years) for student achievement when the conditions are ripe – that is, when teachers teach the same subjects and grade levels consistently, especially during their first five years of teaching. Other researchers have shown that experienced, expert teachers know more than novices and organize their knowledge of content, teaching strategies, and students more effectively, retrieve it more readily, and can apply it in novel and creative ways. More seasoned experts are also better prepared to overcome some of the stressful working conditions found in many high-needs schools. Experience does not guarantee effective teaching, but when schools are organize to draw on its best teachers, it matters a lot.
Myth #3: Removing incompetent teachers will fix our schools.
Research Realities: In any professional workplace, dismissing ineffective employees makes common sense. But the best evidence indicates that the percentage of ineffective teachers in American public schools is far lower than media reports might suggest. For example, the Teacher Advancement Program, which includes many thousands of teachers across the United States, uses both student test results and observational methods to assess teaching effectiveness. Only a very small fraction of TAP teachers are rated ineffective. Over 85 percent have been deemed proficient (with a score of 3 or above) and almost one-third earn a score of 4 or above on a 5-point scale. There’s ample evidence that we are obsessing on a small problem while we give short shrift to professional development strategies that could move large numbers of teachers from satisfactory to excellent.
Myth #4: Teacher tenure rules make it impossible to get rid of poor teachers.
Research Realities: A recent study by The New Teacher Project clearly shows that the difficulty in removing ineffective teachers has much more to do with ill-trained and supported administrators than tenure rules. Another report from the Center for American Progress concluded that poor evaluation procedures – not tenure – are most likely to account for a school district’s inability to fire poor performers. Teacher tenure is prevalent in “high achievement” nations like Finland. In America, poor teacher evaluation is common (epidemic, in fact) in school districts with or without unions and tenure. Tenure reform is necessary, but the bigger issue is eliminating the widespread educational malpractice associated with broken evaluation systems, which not only stymie teacher development but student achievement.
Myth #5: Merit pay will motivate teachers to teach more effectively.
Research Realities: In the most rigorous study to date, scholars from Vanderbilt University and the RAND Corporation plainly conclude that “rewarding teachers with bonus pay, in the absence of any other support programs, does not raise student test scores.” Performance pay plans can make a difference for student achievement when they are designed to improve the school climate and encourage teacher collaboration. Studies of effective performance pay systems tell us that: (1) teachers must be involved in the design and implementation; (2) costs need to be known and made public prior to program launch; (3) the system cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach – districts and schools need to be able to adapt based on local contexts; and (4) one or two direct measures of student learning (like standardized test scores) cannot be the only basis for rewards.
These myths drive today’s teaching policies and continue to ground solutions in yesterday’s challenges. They distract us from the demands that teachers already face today and that will only intensify tomorrow. We need to identify our most effective teachers, using fair, rigorous and valid measures, and let them lead the way in removing ineffective colleagues. Most important, we need to invest far more in teacher education and school redesign policies reflective of 21st century demands on our public schools. More than anything else today’s policy focus must spread the expertise our best teachers, in and out of cyberspace.
In TEACHING 2030, a new book I’ve authored with 12 outstanding teachers, we build a compelling case that for teachers to be effective now and in the future, they must know how to:
(1) teach the Googled learner, who has grown up on smartphones and virtual reality games and can find information (if not understanding) with a few taps of the finger;
(2) work with a student body that’s increasingly diverse (by 2030, 40 percent or more will be second-language learners);
(3) prepare students to compete for jobs in a global marketplace where communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creative problem solving are the “new basics”;
(4) help students monitor their own learning – using sophisticated tools to assess whether students meet high academic standards and fine-tuning instruction when they don’t; and
(5) connect teaching to the needs of communities as economic churn creates family and societal instability, pushing schools to integrate health and social services with academic learning.
As described in TEACHING 2030, far too preparation programs, including both alternative and traditional ones, cultivate teachers with these skills. Even fewer schools are organized to create opportunities for our best teachers — or teacherpreneurs — to teach students regularly as well as lead pedagogical and policy reforms outside their classrooms. Now’s the time to transcend the usual debates over how to make our schools better and our teachers more effective – and break free of the myths that keep us fighting 20th century battles. Instead we need to look hard at the realities, framed by research evidence as well as the challenges teachers face everyday, in pointing the way toward a 21st century teaching profession demanded by our nation’s public schools.
This was written by Barnett Berry, founder and president of the Center for Teaching Quality, Inc., based in Hillsborough, N.C., which seeks to improve student achievement by advancing teaching as a 21st-century, results-oriented profession.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There’s a lot of talk today about making our schools better and our teachers more effective. Researchers confirm that the right teachers can make a big difference in how much students learn, even in the most challenging schools. But scholars, educators, union leaders and policy wonks still disagree, sometimes vehemently, over what good teaching looks like. And it’s a high-stakes question. Political leaders at every level are demanding we evaluate and pay teachers based on student test scores and value-added statistical formulas. If that turns out to be a bad strategy, the long-term ramifications for the nation could be staggering.
Incredible as it seems, 11 years into the new millennium decision makers are still opting for a patchwork teaching policy that often lowers entry standards to keep salaries and preparation costs down.
We spend too much time debating 20th century arguments — e.g., whether or not Teach for America or university-based certification programs are the best ways to recruit and train teachers. What we need instead are millions of well-prepared, highly savvy teachers who know how to teach the iGeneration and work successfully in teams in order to serve diverse public school populations that include large numbers of English language learners and students from poverty.
Teaching in the 21st century is complex, challenging work, and the fiction that “anyone can be a teacher” threatens our future. We have entered an era of rapid and inexorable change, where the real “high stakes” must be measured at a global level. We don’t have time for myths. Here are five that often distract policymakers from creating the results-oriented teaching profession students deserve.
Myth #1: Teacher preparation matters little for student achievement.
Research Realities: Some research suggests that new recruits from Teach for America and other fast-entry programs perform about as well as those from traditional, university-based teacher training – leading many to assume that in-depth teacher preparation matters little for student achievement. But what if neither approach is giving us the teachers we need? The National Bureau of Economic Research found that beginning teachers with more extensive clinical training (including a full-year internship – like doctors get) actually produce higher student achievement gains than those from either traditional university programs or alternative pathways. Recent research also tells us that teacher who enter with too little preparation are likely to leave the profession much sooner than those who have a thorough grasp of the fundamentals – and they’re less likely to be effective over time.
Myth #2: Teaching experience matters little for student achievement.
We keep hearing that teaching experience beyond the initial three years or so does not necessarily produce higher student test scores. But recent studies say that more experience does matter (up to 20 years) for student achievement when the conditions are ripe – that is, when teachers teach the same subjects and grade levels consistently, especially during their first five years of teaching. Other researchers have shown that experienced, expert teachers know more than novices and organize their knowledge of content, teaching strategies, and students more effectively, retrieve it more readily, and can apply it in novel and creative ways. More seasoned experts are also better prepared to overcome some of the stressful working conditions found in many high-needs schools. Experience does not guarantee effective teaching, but when schools are organize to draw on its best teachers, it matters a lot.
Myth #3: Removing incompetent teachers will fix our schools.
Research Realities: In any professional workplace, dismissing ineffective employees makes common sense. But the best evidence indicates that the percentage of ineffective teachers in American public schools is far lower than media reports might suggest. For example, the Teacher Advancement Program, which includes many thousands of teachers across the United States, uses both student test results and observational methods to assess teaching effectiveness. Only a very small fraction of TAP teachers are rated ineffective. Over 85 percent have been deemed proficient (with a score of 3 or above) and almost one-third earn a score of 4 or above on a 5-point scale. There’s ample evidence that we are obsessing on a small problem while we give short shrift to professional development strategies that could move large numbers of teachers from satisfactory to excellent.
Myth #4: Teacher tenure rules make it impossible to get rid of poor teachers.
Research Realities: A recent study by The New Teacher Project clearly shows that the difficulty in removing ineffective teachers has much more to do with ill-trained and supported administrators than tenure rules. Another report from the Center for American Progress concluded that poor evaluation procedures – not tenure – are most likely to account for a school district’s inability to fire poor performers. Teacher tenure is prevalent in “high achievement” nations like Finland. In America, poor teacher evaluation is common (epidemic, in fact) in school districts with or without unions and tenure. Tenure reform is necessary, but the bigger issue is eliminating the widespread educational malpractice associated with broken evaluation systems, which not only stymie teacher development but student achievement.
Myth #5: Merit pay will motivate teachers to teach more effectively.
Research Realities: In the most rigorous study to date, scholars from Vanderbilt University and the RAND Corporation plainly conclude that “rewarding teachers with bonus pay, in the absence of any other support programs, does not raise student test scores.” Performance pay plans can make a difference for student achievement when they are designed to improve the school climate and encourage teacher collaboration. Studies of effective performance pay systems tell us that: (1) teachers must be involved in the design and implementation; (2) costs need to be known and made public prior to program launch; (3) the system cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach – districts and schools need to be able to adapt based on local contexts; and (4) one or two direct measures of student learning (like standardized test scores) cannot be the only basis for rewards.
These myths drive today’s teaching policies and continue to ground solutions in yesterday’s challenges. They distract us from the demands that teachers already face today and that will only intensify tomorrow. We need to identify our most effective teachers, using fair, rigorous and valid measures, and let them lead the way in removing ineffective colleagues. Most important, we need to invest far more in teacher education and school redesign policies reflective of 21st century demands on our public schools. More than anything else today’s policy focus must spread the expertise our best teachers, in and out of cyberspace.
In TEACHING 2030, a new book I’ve authored with 12 outstanding teachers, we build a compelling case that for teachers to be effective now and in the future, they must know how to:
(1) teach the Googled learner, who has grown up on smartphones and virtual reality games and can find information (if not understanding) with a few taps of the finger;
(2) work with a student body that’s increasingly diverse (by 2030, 40 percent or more will be second-language learners);
(3) prepare students to compete for jobs in a global marketplace where communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creative problem solving are the “new basics”;
(4) help students monitor their own learning – using sophisticated tools to assess whether students meet high academic standards and fine-tuning instruction when they don’t; and
(5) connect teaching to the needs of communities as economic churn creates family and societal instability, pushing schools to integrate health and social services with academic learning.
As described in TEACHING 2030, far too preparation programs, including both alternative and traditional ones, cultivate teachers with these skills. Even fewer schools are organized to create opportunities for our best teachers — or teacherpreneurs — to teach students regularly as well as lead pedagogical and policy reforms outside their classrooms. Now’s the time to transcend the usual debates over how to make our schools better and our teachers more effective – and break free of the myths that keep us fighting 20th century battles. Instead we need to look hard at the realities, framed by research evidence as well as the challenges teachers face everyday, in pointing the way toward a 21st century teaching profession demanded by our nation’s public schools.
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Largest Rally in Annapolis History!
Last night, more than 15,000 educators and public employees marched on the State Capitol demanding that our elected representatives keep their promises: their promise of adequate funding for our schools and their promise of retirement security for educators and public employees. It was the largest demonstration in Annapolis history!
1. Add your voice to the fight! Dial 1-888-216-PROMISE (1-888-216-7766) to call your state representatives. You will hear a brief script with suggested messages. Press 1 if you know which legislator you'd like to speak with and you'll be connected to the Capitol switchboard; press 2 to connect to legislators by entering your zip code.
2. To see (or post) pictures and video and commentary on the rally:
* Post your photos, videos, and comments to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/marylandeducators.
* If you're on Twitter, please join many others in using the hashtag #rallytoktp to discuss the rally.
* Tag your Flickr photos with #RallytoKTP to add them to our collaborative album.
* And friend MSEA on YouTube and upload videos to our channel at www.youtube.com/MarylandEducation.
3. This is the beginning, not the end! Over the next two months, the Montgomery County Council will be making critical decisions impacting the MCPS budget. We will need to make our voices heard. On to Rockville!
4. To read press coverage of the rally:
AP: Union Rally by Thousands against Governor’s Plan
Baltimore Sun: Thousands of Union Members Storm Annapolis
Maryland Reporter: Analysis: O’Malley co-opts protest of his own budget
Washington Post: Md. teachers, state employees protest budget cuts, pension changes
WUSA 9: Union Rally Draws Thousands in Maryland to “Night of Hell”
WAMU: Maryland State Workers Rally Over Health Care, Pensions
WBAL (early story): Union Pension Rally Draws Thousands to Annapolis
WBAL (late story): Union Pension Rally Draws Thousands
WBFF: Union Rally
WJZ: Thousands Rally While Governor Considers Cuts to Keep State Moving
Annapolis Patch: Trumka: You Have Been Heard
1. Add your voice to the fight! Dial 1-888-216-PROMISE (1-888-216-7766) to call your state representatives. You will hear a brief script with suggested messages. Press 1 if you know which legislator you'd like to speak with and you'll be connected to the Capitol switchboard; press 2 to connect to legislators by entering your zip code.
2. To see (or post) pictures and video and commentary on the rally:
* Post your photos, videos, and comments to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/marylandeducators.
* If you're on Twitter, please join many others in using the hashtag #rallytoktp to discuss the rally.
* Tag your Flickr photos with #RallytoKTP to add them to our collaborative album.
* And friend MSEA on YouTube and upload videos to our channel at www.youtube.com/MarylandEducation.
3. This is the beginning, not the end! Over the next two months, the Montgomery County Council will be making critical decisions impacting the MCPS budget. We will need to make our voices heard. On to Rockville!
4. To read press coverage of the rally:
AP: Union Rally by Thousands against Governor’s Plan
Baltimore Sun: Thousands of Union Members Storm Annapolis
Maryland Reporter: Analysis: O’Malley co-opts protest of his own budget
Washington Post: Md. teachers, state employees protest budget cuts, pension changes
WUSA 9: Union Rally Draws Thousands in Maryland to “Night of Hell”
WAMU: Maryland State Workers Rally Over Health Care, Pensions
WBAL (early story): Union Pension Rally Draws Thousands to Annapolis
WBAL (late story): Union Pension Rally Draws Thousands
WBFF: Union Rally
WJZ: Thousands Rally While Governor Considers Cuts to Keep State Moving
Annapolis Patch: Trumka: You Have Been Heard
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
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