by Gary Beckner
Gary Beckner
Reforming America’s education system has become a top national priority. In an increasingly divided political climate, ensuring that every student has access to a quality education still brings bipartisan coalitions together unlike any other issue.
Despite growing consensus among advocates, teachers are often overlooked as allies in the fight to improve our struggling system. In order to promote positive and practical reform, it’s critical to engage our teachers on the front lines.
For far too long the real voices of classroom teachers have fallen on deaf ears. The outdated union model is harming students and alienating a changing workforce.
Teachers deserve better.
In reality, hard-working educators are not in lock-step agreement with the demands and rallying cries of union leaders. To establish a credible teacher voice, we must empower teachers to be leaders for reform, not roadblocks.
Teachers are true professionals with ideas and opinions valuable to the education reform conversation. And it’s clear the vast majority of teachers want to see their students succeed and their profession evolve.
For decades dominated by traditional public schools, the landscape of public education is changing fast. New species are thriving – charters, vouchers, virtual, you name it - and who knows what nimble subspecies and hybrids are on their way.
Can teacher unions, so shaped by an earlier era, adapt?
We posed that question to a handful of ed reformers who have thought deeply about these issues. Next week, we’ll bring you their answers. You’ll hear from Terry Moe, the William Bennett Munro Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform; Gary Beckner, executive director and founder of the Association of American Educators; and Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up For Students and former president of two teacher unions.
We asked several current teacher union officials to contribute to our series, but they declined. One told us the current climate within the union made it politically unsafe to do so. We remain eager to publish the views of teacher union officials, and don't hesitate to reach out directly to me at rmatus@sufs.org or (727) 580-1577.
