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NEA WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
By Andrea Neal
The Indianapolis Star, August 12, 1999
The National Education Association has repackaged itself in the rhetoric of school reform. The "new unionism" described by president Bob Chase claims to support more qualified teachers, better schools, higher student achievement.
Behind the scenes, the teachers' union is amassing monopoly power unlike anything it's had before. This effort won't promote quality, but will lead to higher teacher salaries and more teachers trained in progressive political philosophies that have little to do with education.
The power grab is by way of two innocuous sounding groups: the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Through these two organizations, the profession hopes to exert total control over the supply, training and hiring of new teachers.
It is a dangerous prospect that has gone largely undetected as states rush to embrace any idea whose goal is to improve our schools.
Politics Over Knowledge
NCATE is the largest accreditor of teacher training programs in the United States, including 32 in Indiana. Its stamp of approval, however, is less a reflection of quality than a guarantee of an institution's socio-political views: specifically, commitment to diversity, equity and social justice.
Likewise, the NBPTS, whose purpose is to certify master teachers, considers an inclusive and learner-centered classroom more important than a teacher's knowledge in his chosen field. Using the board's scoring criteria, one teacher who asked her students to grade themselves (and who allowed a boy to keep an "A" despite spelling errors and unanswered questions) received a passing score because her techniques promoted self-discovery.
The NEA has closely aligned itself with both of these groups, endorsing mandatory accreditation of schools of education. It is urging local affiliates to craft collective bargaining language requiring schools to hire only teachers who are graduates of NCATE institutions.
At its July convention, NEA members resolved "to work with NCATE to strengthen teacher preparation programs to include an understanding of the history of education employee unions, incorporating the principles of collective bargaining, organizing and the importance of union activism. "
It's a new unionism alright, even more militant than what we've seen before.
Falling for the Scam
While many states have fallen for the scam, adopting the NCATE standards as their own and offering bonuses to nationally certified teachers, economists are sounding an alarm. Restricting the supply of anything raises the price, but not product quality, they say.
A survey by U.S. News and World Report found 22 of the top 50 ed schools are accredited by NCATE. Yet the graduates of the 28 others would be ineligible to become teachers if the union had its way.
More worrisome: NCATE and NBPTS endorse educational philosophies with no connection to student achievement.
"NCATE's approved programs lean heavily toward indoctrinating teachers in an educational perspective rather than training in effective pedagogy," writes J.E. Stone in the new Thomas B. Fordham Foundation book, Better Teachers, Better Schools.
It's worth noting that the nation's elite private schools pay little attention to whether their teachers have degrees from NCATE-accredited colleges or even state licenses. Instead, they seek the brightest graduates from the best universities, which means most wouldn't meet union approval.
NEA President Bob Chase says the pupils at private schools are different from public students and so the teachers need different training. That line's been used before in debates over vouchers.
The new unionism is a wolf in sheep's clothing. As long as political aims come first, efforts to fix our public schools are doomed to failure.
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Andrea Neal is chief editorial writer for The Star.
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