They’re demanding an end to testing in preschool through 2^nd grade, and fewer tests for older students. They also want the district to offer an accounting of the instruction time and money that is spent on test prep and test-taking.

The petition gathering was organized by the anti-testing More than a Score campaign, a coalition of the Chicago Teachers Union, Parents United for Responsible Education, Raise Your Hand, and Parents 4 Teachers. The union has long been opposed to the use of standardized test scores in teacher evaluations, but new teacher evaluations incorporate a test-score component.

It is part of a national day of action to support teachers in Seattle who are boycotting the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test, which CPS also uses. The test has recently been criticized because a U.S. Department of Education study found that its use had no effect on 4^th- and 5^th-grade students’ reading achievement.

CPS schools use the test two to three times a year, and it is one that has come in for criticism. At the January board meeting, teacher Anne Carlson, who teaches 4^th- through 6^th-grade at Drummond Montessori, cited the research and said testing in Chicago amounted to child abuse. Kindergarteners, she said, take as many as 14 district-mandated tests a year.

Dramatic changes are coming to the testing landscape in Chicago and Illinois. The Illinois State Board of Education plans to raise the cut-off scores on the ISAT test  and test scores are virtually certain to plummet across the board as a result. In 2014, new tests based on the Common Core Standards are expected to replace the ISAT, and scores on these tests are also expected, at least initially, to paint a dim picture of student achievement.

“Let’s play school…let’s play DIBELS”

Parent Rhoda Rae Gutierrez, who helped organize the petition gathering at Coonley, complains that her children even take tests when they are playing. “My older daughter, who is 8, said to my 5-year-old, ‘Hey, let’s play school… let’s play DIBELS,” Gutierrez said (DIBELS is an early literacy test.) “Teachers are put in a really awkward position of having to balance the district mandates with trying to provide a quality education.”

Julie Greenberg, whose son is in 2^nd grade at Coonley, said that now that winter break has passed and the ISAT is approaching, “You can see the content of the homework is changing. It’s fill-in-the-bubble homework. I think we all know that’s not the best way our children learn.”

Others complain that for gifted students, testing takes away from the accelerated program. “They are re-hashing what they did a year ago,” said Coonley parent Steve Johnson, also a local school council member at Amundsen High School, who signed the petition. Johnson has one child in the school’s gifted program and another in the neighborhood program.

Parent Joy Clendenning had little luck getting signatures at Kenwood Academy High School, where few parents got out of their cars. But at Ray Elementary, she found more signers including Aisha Mays, who was dropping off a 1^st-grade student. Mays quickly understood what Clendenning was petitioning against.

“I hate standardized testing,” Mays said. “I think it is stupid.”

Mays went onto say that she never performed well on standardized tests, but that had little bearing on her ability to make it through school and get a good job.

Clendenning, who has two children at Ray and two who have graduated, tells Mays that she knows her son’s 1^st-grade teacher well and that she would trust her, as a professional, to get an accurate read on where her son is without a standardized test. Mays agrees, noting that the teacher comes early every Wednesday to provide extra help in reading for her son.

Not all parents at Ray signed the petition on the spot. Many wanted to take the information and read it. Some of them are concerned that, if they were to opt out of the testing, it would hurt the school and their child’s teacher.

Sabrina Miller, another parent at Ray who stopped to talk to Clendenning, said she never had a problem with testing. “It puts me in a mind frame of where my child is at,” she said. Before talking to Clendenning, Miller said she never thought about the drain that tests have on instructional time or on the district’s money. She decided to sign the petition.

There are 30 more slots available for speakers to sign up the day of the meeting.

But starting in January, sign-up will be done entirely in advance.

 CPS spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler says speakers can sign up in advance online, in person or by phone, and the sign-up will open at 8 a.m. on the Monday of the week before the board meeting.

 CPS launched advance sign-up for board meeting speakers this fall, in response to frustration that parents and community members had to wait outside CPS offices in line for hours to get a speaking spot.

 The district has also faced unconfirmed accusations that CPS employees held spots in line at the March board meeting for parents supportive of its policies.

“If you have these three things, every kid regardless of who they are, where they’re from and their background, can succeed in our schools,” Emanuel said.

CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett added: “It does not essentially matter where a child comes from. We cannot change that, but we can change the arena a child comes into.”

In a press release, Emanuel’s office said the scores were calculated based on four factors: improving test scores, raising the percentage of students who graduate and who are ready for college, and decreasing the achievement gap. Principals who met CPS’ bar in two of the factors earned $5,000. Those who showed improvement in three factors earned $10,000.

Principals could have the bonus check made out to themselves or their schools.

Principals at four schools – Chavez, Lowell, Keller Gifted and Lavizzo – received the highest bonus of $20,000 for improving in all four areas.

Even so, not all schools are doing equally well.  Principals at schools with the most low-income students, and those at the most segregated high schools, were less likely to earn bonuses. Principals at schools with more white students were more likely to earn bonuses. (Click here for a list of the bonus amounts principals received.)

A Catalyst Chicago analysis shows that:

*Principals at the elementary schools where fewer than half of students receive free or reduced-price lunches had a 38 percent chance of receiving bonuses. At the other end of the spectrum, principals at elementary schools where more than 95 percent of students are on free and reduced lunch had just a 10 percent chance of getting a bonus.

*Among elementary schools where at least one-fifth of the students are white, almost twice as many principals – 23 percent – received bonuses compared to other elementary schools, where just 12 percent did.

*Principals at high schools where more than 95 percent of students receive a free or reduced-price lunch were a little over half as likely as other high school principals to receive bonuses: 4 percent vs 7 percent elsewhere.

*More than half of all high schools are at least 80 percent African-American or 80 percent Latino students. But just two of the 10 high schools where principals got bonuses fall into this category.

*Gifted and magnet schools make up 12 percent of elementary schools in CPS, but 24 percent of the elementary schools whose principals earned bonuses.

Promising signs in struggling schools

Some neighborhood schools, however, showed promising signs of improvement despite the disparities. In high-poverty Roseland, principals at four schools – three of them neighborhood schools – received bonuses.

They included Lavizzo Elementary, a long-underperforming school which narrowly escaped a turnaround several years ago. But today, that school’s principal, Tracey Stelley, took home a $20,000 bonus. The percentage of students meeting and exceeding state standards on the ISAT composite has increased by nearly 20 points in each of the last two years, to 75 percent today.

In West Garfield Park, principals at six schools earned bonuses. They were among 11 elementary schools in the Garfield-Humboldt Elementary Network who received bonuses, a third of the schools in that network.

One principal at a school for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities, Montefiore, also received a bonus. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards on the ISAT composite increased from 8 percent in 2011 to 26 percent in 2012.

Principals at five elementary schools in the wealthier neighborhoods of Norwood Park, where median household income is $64,477, and Forest Glen, where it is $87,394, also received bonuses.

Overall, the 78 elementary schools where principals got bonuses included four turnaround schools, seven charter schools, eight schools with gifted programs, and nine magnets.

The 10 high schools included two charter schools: Young Women’s Leadership Charter School and Noble Street-Chicago Bulls. They also included two selective enrollment schools, Northside College Prep and Whitney Young High School.

Principal recruitment, retention a struggle

Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett told principals gathered at the press conference that “we will continue to do everything we can to support you, retain you.” And turning directly toward them, she added: “You ain’t going nowhere.”

CPS has long struggled with principal retention and quality, and the bonuses are one part of a strategy to improve principal recruitment and training. CPS also began offering $25,000 signing bonuses for out of town principals, but no candidates have received them since the year-long initiative began in March. Officials were aiming to recruit 50 principals through the program.

Starting with this fall’s class of incoming principal candidates, the district also kicked off an effort to improve principal training, called the Chicago Leadership Collaborative.

Stanley Griggs, a bonus winner who is the principal at Owen Elementary Magnet School in Ashburn, says he is not sure whether the bonuses will improve retention.

“It feels great because finally I feel like someone has recognized not only my efforts, but the efforts of my assistant principals, teachers, parents,” he said, adding that the recognition helped him feel energized.

He said the bonuses could make a difference “for some, maybe, (but) for myself, no.”

“I don’t think we do it for the money. It’s in our hearts to do this right for the kids,” Griggs said. But, he added, “It doesn’t hurt.”

This story has been updated to include additional information from CPS, including a list of the specific bonus amounts principals received.

Elementary schools where principals earned bonuses

1.    Demetrius Bunch    ARMSTRONG, L
2.    Estuardo Mazin    BARRY
3.    Sandra Caudill    BELL
4.    Troy LaRaviere    BLAINE
5.    Staci Bennett    BRADWELL
6.    Christopher Brake    BRIDGE
7.    Donald Morris    BURROUGHS
8.    Joe Piela    CHAPPELL
9.    Barton Dassinger    CHAVEZ
10.    Christy Krier    CICS-BUCKTOWN
11.    David Lewis    CICS-WRIGHTWOOD
2.    Jose Barrera    COLUMBIA EXPLORERS
13.    Greg Zurawski    COONLEY
14.    Bud Bryant    CULLEN
15.    Susan Kukielka    DECATUR
16.    Kathleen Hagstrom    DISNEY
17.    Elizabeth Alvarez    DORE
18.    Pamela Creed    DULLES
19.    Chandra Byrd-Wright  DUNNE TECH ACAD
20.    Janice Kepka    EDGEBROOK
21.    Shirley Scott    ELLINGTON
22.    Brian Metcalfe    FIELD
23.    Cynthia Miller    FISKE
24.    Barbara Kargas    GOETHE
25.    Yvette Curington    GOLDBLATT
26.    Donella Carter    GREGORY
27.    James Gray    HAMILTON
28.    Alfonso Carmona    HEALY
29.    Jacqueline Hearns    HEFFERAN
30.    Juliana Perisin    HENDRICKS
31.    Mable Alfred    HIGGINS
32.    Pam Brunson-Allen    HINTON
33.    Matthew Ditto    JACKSON, A
34.    Catherine Jernigan    JENSEN
35.    Alice Henry    JOHNSON
36.    Delena Little    KELLER
37.    Brenda Browder    KELLMAN
38.    Elisabeth Huetefeu    LASALLE
39.    Tracey Stelly    LAVIZZO
40.    Mark Armendariz    LINCOLN
41.    Gladys Rivera    LOWELL
42.    Carolyn Epps    MARCONI
43.    Jo Easterling-Hood    MCDOWELL
44.    Nancy Hanks    MELODY
45.    Julious Lawson    MONTEFIORE
46.    Catherine Reidy    MOUNT GREENWOOD
47.    Sonia Caban    MOZART
48.    Estee Kelly    NOBLE STREET- COMER
49.    Renee Blahuta    NORWOOD PARK
50.    Elias Estrada    ORIOLE PARK
51.    Stanley Griggs    OWEN
52.    Hassan Okab    PECK
53.    Vicky Kleros    PEREZ
54.    Kelly Moore    POE
55.    Angela Johnson-Williams PROVIDENCE - BUNCHE
56.    Pat Baccellieri    PULASKI
57.    Ana Espinoza    SANDOVAL
58.    Isamar Vargas    SAUCEDO
59.    Christine Munns    SAUGANASH
60.    Suzana Ustabecir    SAYRE
61.    Deborah Clark    SKINNER
62.    W. Delores Robinson   SUMNER
63.    Sean Clayton    TILTON
64.    Sabrina Jackson    TURNER-DREW
65.    Molly Robinson    UNO - SANDRA CISNEROS
66.    Joann Lerman    UNO - FUENTES
67.    Martin Masterson    UNO - PAZ
68.    Krish Mohip    WALSH
69.    Relanda Hobbs    WARD, L
70.    Dina Everage    WENTWORTH
71.    Mary Beth Cunat    WILDWOOD
72.    Tamara Littlejohn    WOODSON

 

High schools where principals earned bonuses

1.    Barry Rodgers    NORTHSIDE COLLEGE PREP HS
2.    Yashika Tippett    AIR FORCE HS
3.    Patty Brekke    INFINITY HS
4.    Chris Jones    MATHER HS
5.    Tyson Kane    NOBLE STREET- CHICAGO BULLS
6.    Mary Dolan    RICHARDS HS
7.    Sue Lofton    SENN HS
8.    Todd Yarch    VOISE HS
9.    Joyce Kenner    WHITNEY YOUNG HS
10.  Deniece Fields    YOUNG WOMEN'S CHARTER CAMPUS

Still, it’s questionable how much the new provision will change what is happening on the ground in schools, given a host of factors.

For one, the provision had a stipulation that if CPS could not meet that quota by hiring back teachers, they could do so by taking the most-senior in the pool and making them substitutes.

Also, while the percentage of new hires who are displaced teachers has dropped in recent years, the overall number of displaced teachers has declined also. In fact, last year CPS could not have filled 50 percent of available jobs with displaced teachers because there were just not enough of them.

Here’s how the numbers compare: In the 2011-2012 school year, only 29 percent of new hires were of displaced teachers, according to a Catalyst Chicago analysis of data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. But three years ago, 48 percent of new hires were displaced teachers. During that time, the number of teachers in the displaced pool declined to 404 from 721.

Another factor is school closings, which simultaneously increase the number of displaced teachers and limit the number of jobs available. As many as 120 schools could be shut down in coming years, and more than 2,000 teachers could be displaced. But fewer schools means fewer teaching jobs, and the district’s budget problems are also likely to limit new hiring. New schools that are opened will, overwhelmingly, be charters, whose teachers by law cannot belong to the Chicago Teachers Union.

Another factor is retirements. A big wave of retirements took place this year, the last year in which teachers could take advantage of a pension enhancement program that allowed them to cash in unused sick and vacation days and have it count toward their pension. Fewer retirements in coming years will mean fewer new replacement hires.

CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey acknowledges that many unknowns existed when the union signed on to the provision. However, he said the union believes the provision will result in more displaced teachers being hired.

CPS also agreed to force principals to interview at least three displaced teachers when three or more apply for a position. If they choose not to hire one of the three, they must provide a reason to the Office of Talent Development.

“In the past, there was a real propensity for principals to hire new people,” Sharkey said. “Now principals will have a reason to hire more veterans, or the district will face a financial penalty.”

Another complicating factor is that the provision only applies to “pre-qualified” displaced teachers—those who have been rated satisfactory or excellent. In the past, there were no performance provisions to be part of the reassigned pool.

It is predicted that under the new evaluation system, about 70 percent of teachers would achieve those ratings.

Lewis refused to say how she voted and refused to call the contract a good one. She did note she was in the negotiation room, implying that she marked her ballot “yes.”  

The ratification vote is but the first step in achieving what the contract provides. Now, she said, the union must monitor implementation and participate in the many committees the School Board and union agreed to create. The contract establishes at least 12 committees, including one on professional problems and another on setting a time-table for air-conditioning all school buildings that are used during summer.

At Dyett and other schools, teachers seemed ready to accept the three-year pact, despite some misgivings. In general, teachers saw victory more in the experience of the strike itself than in any contract details.

“I am not happy with every single line in the thing, but it’s a contract,” said Tina Padilla, who teaches at Lane Tech High School and is a trustee of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund and a member of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators. “This is just the beginning. The sleeping giant has been awoken. We are massing up for the challenges that await us.”

Lewis seemed to say the same thing, noting that, the strike empowered teachers. “They know their rights and they are standing up. “

School closings are the next major challenge the school system will tackle –officials openly talk about the need to close as many as 120 schools over the next few years and have indicated that they will vote on some this year.

One teacher walking into Dyett, who declined to provide her name, said she will retire once Dyett closes.  “I wouldn’t want to be a new teacher in this situation,” the teacher said. 

On Tuesday, Lewis framed the  school-closing issue as community participation in decision-making.

“The student voices were heard, but they were ignored,” Lewis said. “These decisions are badly made. They don’t take into account the community, but rather sit in rooms amid spreadsheets.”

After voting , Lewis joined a group of Dyett students, flanked by members of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization. The students and leaders of KOCO are still trying to get the decision to close Dyett reversed through a civil rights complaint and a campaign to get the federal government to put a moratorium on school closings. These efforts are longshots considering the U.S. Department of Education is run by Arne Duncan, who started school closings in Chicago.

Dyett students also protested a new school rule that requires they enter the building in the rear. “I am not the maid, I am not the help,” said Aquila Griffin.

Dyett Principal Charles Campbell said that with only 200 students in a building built for 1,200, he wanted to consolidate the space students occupy.  The back of the building was a more logical place for entering and exiting, he said, because the cafeteria  and gym entrance are nearby.

Having all the students in one area helps keep them secure and cuts down on students wandering in the hallways, he said.

Aquila Griffin also complained that as the enrollment decreases with the phase-out, class offerings have dwindled.

 CPS officials are sensitive to the allegations. Knowing that Lewis was going to show up at Dyett and that the students were going to hold a press conference, they sent out security guards to keep press outside on the perimeter of the school. 

Campbell says he is focused on getting all the students to graduate and into college. Students have already have gone on one college tour this year, he said, and a college fair is coming up. He also is attempting to bring back some honors and AP classes.

“A phase-out is a delicate situation,” Campbell said. “I am focusing on students.  … I want to have a laser-like focus on instruction and making college attractive.”

Emanuel also sought to back up the district's position on teacher recall rights, bringing together principals to speak at a press conference about the importance of maintaining hiring authority at their schools.

The two sides offered diverging accounts of the talks, with no clear sign of whether the strike will end anytime soon. 

“There has not been as much movement as we would hope,” CTU President Karen Lewis said at a press briefing early Tuesday evening. “There have been centimeters, and we are kilometers apart.”

Regarding evaluations, Lewis said union leaders believe the proposed evaluation system, which follows a state law mandating that teacher ratings be tied to student performance, would “put 28 percent of our members in harm’s way of being dismissed.” 

The district disputes this assertion and has offered the CTU concessions like a limited appeals process for teachers whose value-added test score ratings might be erroneous.

CPS’ evaluation plan was first rolled out in March and the district wants to eventually base a slightly higher percentage of the evaluations on student performance than the state law requires.

The two sides also sparred over the question of whether teachers can legally strike over issues other than pay. The law says the district can go ahead with an evaluation system after a 90-day period of negotiations has ended. But the union says that since negotiations are still under way, it is illegal for CPS to forge ahead with the new system.

Evaluations are one of the issues cited in the union’s unfair labor practice charge against the district, another basis for the strike. The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board has set a Sept. 24 hearing on the issue in Springfield.

Meanwhile, school clinicians also spoke out another press conference about high caseloads and the need for more school resources.

Teacher recall vs. principal hiring

Emanuel, speaking at a press conference at Tarkington Elementary, said that although he believed teachers were not allowed to strike over some of its issues, “my view is to work these issues out at the table” rather than seek an injunction. against the strike.

At Tarkington, which is run by the Academy for Urban School Leadership, Emanuel was flanked by principals who emphasized the importance of having hiring authority at their schools, something the district says would be jeopardized by giving in to union demands on teacher recall and hiring preference.

The CTU wants displaced teachers to be given preference for future jobs, but CPS has held firm on denying the preference.  CPS has offered to give those in the displaced teachers pool an interview for any job they apply for and an explanation if they aren't hired.

 “I think they should go through the interview process, just like anyone else,” said Maria McManus, the principal at STEM Magnet Academy. “I hired a displaced teacher, and she’s phenomenal. I have no problem with that, but I was able to select her.”

In the expired contract, displaced teachers had 10 months at their current pay rate to find a new position, and according to Appendix H of the teachers’ contract, have the right to interview for any open positions they are qualified for.

Under CPS’ new contract proposal, the district is offering teachers from closing schools jobs in the schools their students would be sent to, if there is a vacancy.  Otherwise, they could choose to get severance pay of three months or a 5-month stint in the displaced teacher pool.

Other teachers - possibly including those laid off for economic reasons or because their position was re-defined - would have a year of recall rights for the same school and position.

But McManus said even the preferential reassignment for teachers at closing schools might be too much.

CPS board member Mahalia Hines, a former principal, said it should be easy for good teachers to find another job.

“I have never known good people not to get a job,” Hines said.

Hines added that at one of the schools where she was a principal, in Englewood, it took her two years to get the right staff in place. The school wouldn’t have improved, she said, “if  I had not been able to select my teachers in that war zone.” 

The press conference came shortly after Joenile Albert-Reese, the principal at Pritzker Elementary, sent a letter signed by about 30 principals to CTU’s Lewis saying that “we think it’s imperative that principals be given the autonomy they need in the hiring process to do what is necessary to support our students and their learning. … Without this autonomy, principals may be forced to hire individuals whose skill set and value systems are not conducive to the school’s culture, mission, and vision.”

Union makes case for classroom impact

Out of 49 contract articles under negotiation, CTU says, the two parties have only come to agreement on six.

At two press conferences, CTU made the case that its fight impacts students in the classroom.

The Mental Health Movement, which was responsible for occupying mental health clinics that Emanuel closed, joined with school clinicians on Tuesday to call for more social workers hired as part of the teacher’s contract.

The teachers’ union has publicly demanded more clinicians but, considering the district’s financial situation, it may be unrealistic.

David Temkin, a social worker at Near North Therapeutic Day School, a public school for significantly disabled students, said he doesn’t expect that the demand will be met. However, he thinks the strike is a good time to draw attention to the lingering issue.

CPS has about 380 school social workers for 350,000 students.

Numerous labor leaders also gathered at a press conference outside the board headquarters to continue painting the issues in terms of school resources.

Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, said that class sizes are higher in Chicago than in the rest of the state.

And Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said that the strike was “a struggle for the heart and soul of public education for the kids of Chicago.”

“This is a city that has had the so-called reforms that are being championed [nationally] for 15 years,” Weingarten says.

And Tom Balanoff, the president of SEIU Local 1, which represents CPS janitors, said that starting on Friday they would have the option of walking off the job in solidarity with teachers.

“We are tired of students in oversized classrooms. We are tired of 96 percent of schools without full-time social workers,” said Jackson Potter, the union’s staff coordinator.

He suggested the district's evaluation system would lead to teacher turnover, worsening disruptions in the lives of students. “This is about failed policies and experiments on children,” Potter said.

When pressed on whether the contract would change any of the other issues the union had cited, Potter replied: “We are hopeful that it will.”

If a tentative deal is reached, CTU plans to call together its House of Delegates, which would vote on calling off the strike. That is a typical practice for the CTU, said Debbie Lynch, who was president during the union’s 2003 strike authorization. The full contract would typically be ratified by a vote of the union’s entire membership.

In announcing that negotiations had failied, union leaders emphasized that compensation took a backseat as they want this contract to tackle bigger education issues, include greater protections for displaced teachers and lessen the weight that test scores have in teacher evaluations.

“This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could avoid,” said CTU President Karen Lewis. “We must do things differently in this city if we are to give our students the education they deserve.” 

But CPS Board President David Vitale said the district made the union 20 different offers over the many months of negotiations and painted union leadership as unwilling to compromise. By about 8 p.m., negotiations broke down inside the CTU’s Merchandise Mart offices.

At that time, Vitale said the last best offer was on the table and he was asking to talk to speak one-on-one with Lewis. When she failed to meet with him, Vitale said he assumed the strike was inevitable and left. He emerged at about 9:40 p.m.

Vitale was noticeably frustrated. “It is clearly their decision, we have done everything we can.”

Offering up anything more would “hurt the education agenda that we think is good for our children,” Vitale said.

Later, Lewis said she was on the phone and didn’t know he was waiting to speak with her. At 11 p.m., after the strike was officially announced, Lewis sent a text to Vitale saying she was still in her office. “Come on down,” the text reportedly said.

But both sides were done for the night.

Lewis spoke in broad terms about the union’s demands, but did not offer specifics. To the major issues of evaluation, job security and pay, Lewis added a laundry list of demands, such as a timetable for air conditioning in every school and smaller caseloads for the district’s social workers.

Recall/job security

With more than 300 schools under-utilized and plans to open new ones, it is widely predicted that CPS will close dozens of schools, if not more, over the next few years. This means that hundreds of teachers are likely to be displaced.

As part of the CTU-CPS interim longer agreement, in which the district promised to hire 477 more teachers to help implement the longer school day, principals were required to give a displaced teacher the position if three of them applied for a spot. CTU would like to see a similar system set up for future displaced teachers.

But CPS wants to make sure that principals keep their autonomy to hire the teachers they want. CPS is offering to give teachers of closed schools jobs in the receiving schools, if a position they are qualified for is available. Other displaced teachers could take a severance pay of three months. They could also choose to be in the displaced pool for five months where they would be given an interview for any job they applied to and an explanation if they are not hired.

Teacher Evaluation

A major trend in education reform across the country is to partly tie teacher evaluation to student performance on standardized tests. Like many states, Illinois adopted a new teacher evaluation system in order to be considered for federal Race to the Top grants.

Though state law requires some link between test scores and evaluation, the union wants to see test scores minimized. Lewis said as many as 6,000 teachers could be fired over the next two years because of poor ratings on the new evaluation system. And test scores, she said, are not a good indication of the quality of a teacher.

“There are too many factors beyond our control which will impact how our students perform on those tests,” she said. “Evaluate us on what we do, not the lives of our children, which we do not control.”

CPS offered to let CTU help implement the new teacher evaluation system and to make "adjustments as needed.”

Compensation

Vitale said the district’s last best salary offer was three percent in the first year of the contract and two percent for each year after. CPS wants a four-year contract, but CTU wants a shorter contract. CPS also has backed away from merit pay.

In addition, CPS is now willing to give teachers’ raises for experience and education, called Step and Lane increases. CPS had tried to eliminate Steps and Lanes in this contract. However, the structure of these raises will be different and not as costly to CPS.

Vitale said this salary package will cost the district $400 million over four years.

The district also backed away from asking all employees to pay more for health insurance. Premiums would stay the same for couples and single people, but families would pay about $20 more. CTU does not want to see health care costs increase for anyone.

CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said that while the union is not completely happy with the board’s salary offer, it is not a major sticking point. “If we resolve the education issues, we think the salary will follow,” he said.

But more than anything, the move alerts CPS leadership and the public that a strike is a growing threat.

If the CTU wants to strike on September 4, the first day of school, notice would have to be given by Saturday.

The House of Delegates also planned to re-convene in a week, on Thursday – likely to update members on negotiations and see whether members want to strike. There is also a rally planned at Daley Plaza on Labor Day.

As they left the meeting, many members said they felt like a strike was a real possibility.

Delegates cited dissatisfaction with the district's latest salary offer – a 2 percent raise each year for the next 3 years, with the implementation of a merit pay program in the fourth year of the contract – as one reason they are considering a walk-out. They also said that CPS is asking for a bigger health insurance contribution and it would offset a raise.

They said frustration with scarce district resources is also playing a role.

“They seem to be trying to play chicken. It's headed toward a collision,” said Valerie Morris, a special education teacher at McKay Elementary.

She complained that resources are stretched so tight that the school's recess is held in the auditorium and that the principal, assistant principals, librarians, and the art and gym teacher must trade off supervisory duties – instead of spending time doing their jobs.

Jeanne Freed, a Spanish teacher at Lincoln Park High School, said that the mood was “very positive in favor of a strike” but that delegates planned to take information back to the schools after teachers return to set up classrooms on Aug. 27.

“I have been though four negotiations. This is the toughest,” said Paulette Butler-Mitchell, an art teacher at South Loop Elementary who has been a delegate for 10 years. “The frustration level is very high. From the atmosphere inside... it seems like the possibility of a strike is very high.”

Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard said in a statement that a resolution passed by the school board on Wednesday to authorize spending on a strike contingency plan was “a precaution that we need to take” on students' behalf.

 “We want our kids to stay in school with their teachers where they are benefiting from the Full School Day, but we need to be prepared,” Brizard said. “Most of our kids rely on us for their food, and will need a safe environment and to stay engaged in positive activities.”

The phone rings. It is CPS CEO Jean Claude Brizard’s voice, a voice that is no stranger to Chicago parents. This time, however, Brizard is not reminding parents about an upcoming vacation day or the release of test scores.

Instead he is asking parents if they would care to attend a meeting about collective bargaining over the teacher’s contract—something that is usually considered internal school board business.

Unlike years past and unlike most other teacher contract negotiation processes across the nation, both parties are taking pains to present their positions to the public. Under new leadership, contract negotiations have now become almost a spectator sport, with positions traded in public and both sides trying to rally parents and the public to their side.

The leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union took the first steps by aggressively organizing community groups. From the outset, Karen Lewis made clear that the CTU would be getting into the community organizing business.

For the last few months, outside groups did the district’s bidding.  Stand for Children and Democrats for Education Reform, national groups with local chapters, held town hall meetings, circulated online petitions and did robo calls, providing the public their take on why teachers should not vote to authorize a strike.  

But now that teachers overwhelmingly approved the strike authorization, district leadership decided to reach out to the public. Parents received robo calls on Thursday night from Brizard and the district has already scheduled the first informational meeting. It will take place on Monday, June 25 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Gage Park High School on the southwest side.

(The event is being co-sponsored by the Employment Resources and Childcare Network. It is unclear what this organization’s purpose is or what its role is in partnering. It has received $800 from CPS for each of the past two years, according to the CPS procurement website. It is registered with the secretary of state as a not-for-profit, but is not registered in the Illinois Attorney General’s charity trust database.)  

Michael Bakalis, president and CEO of the charter-operator American Quality Schools, has been involved in Chicago’s education scene for decades and says that never before has the union or the school board taken such pains to organize and go directly to the people.

Bakalis says that this year’s contract negotiations are a stark contrast from those in the 1980s—a decade that saw five strikes.

Bakalis says the union has always presented its case to the public via the news media, but didn’t spend as much time outside to influence opinion.

As for the board, he says he doesn’t recall it ever “taking a counter offensive.”

Yet Bakalis says the school board is not as well equipped to rally the public. The teachers have thousands of members--22,000 of them voted to authorize the strike—who can get out and sell their position to people.

“The school board does not have the ground forces,” he says. “I hang up on robo calls so I don’t think it will help.”

Bakalis says the mayor could perhaps get some “feet on the ground,” if that is what he chose to do.

Bakalis says the situation is aggravated by the state’s desperate financial condition. 

Teachers may have a legitimate gripe about not being offered a substantial salary increase while being asked to work longer, he says. However, he doesn’t see how the district can come up with much more money. “It is a tough situation,” he says.

Wendy Katten, of the parent group Raise Your Hand, says that parents are confused, and many are skeptical of information that is coming from the district.

“It’s become so politicized,” Katten says. “I don’t feel like it’s going to be a true discussion. … What we have is so toxic, and I think some of the messaging has made it worse.”

She adds: “If I was a consultant, I would tell the city to take a few days and think about what happened instead of spinning things.”

Some parent groups say that it is inappropriate, while others say that it is a savvy move.

Stand for Children Chicago Director Juan José González praised the move as a departure from the district’s usual mode of communication – flyers in children’s backpacks.

“That’s a great idea – instead of having an event and who knows who’s going to show up, having something that’s more targeted and efficient, [aimed toward] those parents that are seeking information,” he said.

González says he thinks CPS should be informing parents about the status of the negotiations as well as what alternatives – like the Park District or opening school buildings to children with other adults present – might be offered in the event of a strike.

“Ultimately, no one wants a strike, and everyone is going to work hard to not achieve a strike, parents want to know, what can I do?” he says. His organization is having its own town halls for parents on Thursday June 21 and Monday June 25 (separate from the CPS event the same night.)

Julie Woestehoff, executive director of Parents United for Responsible Education and a stalwart critic of the district, says she feels it is wrong for officials to try to force their position on parents.

 “They should be doing their business of negotiating with the teachers, and let the parents decide for themselves what to think about it,” she says.

 Chicago Public School officials did not respond to questions about the robo calls or informational meetings.

“The results are not a win. They are an indictment on the state of the relationship between the ‘management’ of CPS and its largest labor force,” CTU President Karen Lewis said in a statement that also took aim at what the union calls “outside groups” that have become involved in Chicago education reform.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called the vote “inspiring” and “instructive.”

“Many doubted the 75 percent threshold could be met; few believed it would be exceeded,” she said in a prepared statment… “This level of participation and engagement by Chicago’s educators is both inspiring and instructive. It represents not just anger and frustration, but also a real commitment to Chicago’s students and a desire to be active participants in building strong public schools that help all Chicago children thrive.”

Lewis said union outreach to parents, which has been going on much of the school year, would continue. 

Teachers would not go on strike until the fall, after a fact-finding panel has issued recommendations on some of the issues at play. The final decision to strike would be made by the union’s 800-member House of Delegates, which includes representatives from each school.

Typically, the union’s entire membership would not be asked to vote again until the union and CPS reach a tentative contract agreement. However, the union has the ability to put the district’s offers or the fact- finder’s report to a vote if it chooses to.

CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard said the union set up the strike authorization vote as either teachers had to vote yes or nothing. “My frustration is that they were asked to vote with inaccurate information,” he said.

Brizard said he doesn’t think the district should challenge the strike authorization vote, though he added that it is the decision of the board of education. A legal challenge would just be another “distraction.”

Brizard has been saying in public appearances in recent weeks that he thinks the district should give teachers a raise. But he has declined to be specific as to how much of a raise. According to CPS and the union, CPS is offering 2 percent for one year and then in subsequent years wants salary increases to be based on a variety of factors, including student growth. CTU has asked for almost 30 percent.

On Monday, Brizard would not be any more specific about what he thinks the district should wind up giving teachers.  He said the question will be answered by the independent fact-finder, who he called “balanced” and “reasonable.” Yet he didn’t say that he will agree to do what the fact-finder recommends.

The fact-finding panel’s recommendations could become teachers’ contract, unless either side rejects them. But the union has criticized this idea, saying that the fact-finder can only rule on “a very small number of issues.”

“We have an entire contract to negotiate,” Lewis said. She also asserted that the impetus for the vote had come from the union rank-and-file. “We are being led by what our members have told us,” she said.

Altogether, the union said in a news release, about 92 percent of teachers cast a vote. Of those, 98 percent were in favor of authorizing a strike, with just 2 percent against. Factoring in those who did not vote, 90 percent of the union’s membership cast “yes” ballots.

Faith leaders get involved

Clergy from the pro-union Arise Chicago Worker Center held a press conference shortly after the CTU’s announcement in an effort to vouch for the union’s figures.  Allaying concerns about the vote “allows the important work of negotiations to go forward” so that a contract can be in place before school begins, said John Thomas, a visiting professor at Chicago Theological Seminary.

Twelve volunteers from the group were present during the vote counting, Thomas said. They spot-checked the union’s vote counts, made sure that tally sheet totals matched, sat in on union rules committee meetings, and signed over the seals on 47 boxes of counted ballots before they were put into a storage closet.

“We had full access to the entire process,” Thomas said, which lasted until after midnight on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and from 11 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. on Saturday.

“They tended to err on the side of removing a ballot if there were questions” such as blank ballots or those with two boxes checked, Thomas said.

Later Monday afternoon, a group of 100 pastors came together to ask Lewis and Brizard to attend a meeting with faith leaders. Robert Belfort, a pastor at New Beginnings-Pilsen, said the pastors are asking that union and district leadership keep them informed and resolve their differences.

If a strike should occur, the community would suffer, Belfort said. “There is a huge domino effect,” Belfort said. Not only could children be victims of violence while out of school, but parents also might have to pay for child care, he said.

But Belfort said the pastors do not support the district over the union or vice versa. He said his church, like others, gets safe haven money from the city to run programs after school and during vacations. However, his wife is a teacher and he sees her point of view.

“Most parents understand where teachers are coming from,” he said. “If you are asked to work longer, you would like to be paid more and not just told, ‘If you don’t like it, there’s the door.’ ”

It’s obvious to Belfort that there will wind up being a compromise between what CPS is offering and what CTU wants. He said the district needs to present their real offer, sooner rather than later.

“They say they don’t have money, but they will find it,” he said.

Members authorized a strike, but did not walk out, in 1991. Concessions from the district left teachers with a 3 percent pay raise that year followed by a 7 percent raise in 1992. In fall 2003, the union’s House of Delegates set a Dec. 4 strike date, but concessions from CPS led the union’s membership to accept a tentative contract agreement and vote no to a strike by mid-November.

Photo by Mark Chong Man Yuk.

CEO Jean- Claude Brizard’s team asked the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board to issue an emergency order to have the union secure election material and provide the IELRB and the district access to them. The district wants 20 different pieces of material from a copy of the ballot to the “educational flyer provided to each member explaining the reasons for the strike authorization vote” to information on the messenger services retained to deliver ballot boxes.

In a letter to the IELRB, district lawyers argue that because Senate Bill 7 sets out a process for how a strike should occur, the labor relations board has the power to monitor it.

“We want to make sure there is integrity in the process,” Brizard said.

CTU President Karen Lewis countered that CPS has no right to the material. Union officials already said they planned to have local clergy observe the vote-counting and will preserve the ballots.

“They are fishing, and we don’t participate in fishing expeditions,” said Lewis. She and other union officials made high-profile appearances at their former schools to cast their ballots.  

A spokeswoman for the labor board said both the Chicago Teachers Union and CPS had filed documents with the board in recent days, but she declined to make them available without a Freedom of Information Act request. Law firms for the parties involved did not respond to requests to release additional documents.

The conflict underscores the importance of the strike authorization vote and the high stakes of the outcome. Brizard walked a fine line on Wednesday, saying that on one hand, regardless of the results, CPS and CTU will continue negotiating toward the goal of reaching an agreement before school starts in the fall.

But Brizard also emphatically argued that teachers should delay the vote and allow an independent fact-finder to issue a report on July 16.

“Teachers are being asked to vote on inaccurate information,” he said. “This is a serious process.”

He added that teachers only get one vote. Once teachers authorize to strike, they can’t reverse that decision, added spokeswoman Becky Carroll. (The vote, however, does not require the union to call a strike.)

Lewis and other union officials countered that the new process for calling a strike and requiring 75 percent approval makes it critical that the vote take place before school lets out for the summer. Once teachers disperse for the vacation, it would be difficult to get enough members to participate, union officials said.

Lewis said Wednesday morning she was confident that she can get enough members to authorize the strike. Showing the union can reach that threshold and that a strike threat is real will speed up the negotiation process, not thwart it as Brizard has maintained, she said.

“We want to get there [and reach a contract settlement] before August 27. We don’t want to wait till then,” she said.

Out in schools

Early Wednesday morning, Lewis went to King High School to cast her ballot. Lewis, who taught at King before taking the helm of the CTU, was greeted with hugs from students, teachers and even the police officer stationed at the school.

Throughout the morning, King’s teachers unceremoniously picked up their ballots in the main office, filled them out, stuffed them in envelopes and went back to their classes. Students were taking finals on Wednesday.

Many of the teachers wore red shirts to show their support for the union. Social studies teacher Andrew Lambert had donned a blue shirt, but said he did vote to authorize a strike. “I am young and didn’t do the laundry,” he said. “I think that this vote is more important for young teachers because we have to live with the consequences for our entire career.”

Still, it was unclear whether King would get 100 percent participation or approval this first day. David Robbins, one of the union delegates, said that 59 of 70 members of the staff participated in a survey last month that was meant to be a dry run for the vote: 56 of 59 responded that they thought the union should reject the existing CPS contract offer.

Robbins said there’s a mix of reasons why people might sit out a vote, which essentially will mean they are casting a “No” vote. 

But at other schools, delegates expected 100 percent of union members to vote in favor of the strike. CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey appeared at Senn High School at 7:30 a.m. to cast his vote and talk with teachers. “People said, ‘What are you doing here? This building’s 100 percent (in favor). Go somewhere they need your help,’ ” he said.

At Ray School in Hyde Park, teachers were eager to cast their ballots. By 8:30, all but 15 of 60 teachers had already done so. Teachers also contributed to a pot-luck breakfast, and a table nearby was heavy with donuts, coffee and other treats.

Union delegate John Cusiack said he expects everyone will authorize the strike.

Like other teachers interviewed on Wednesday, he said that the overall direction of CPS, and education reform generally, is what teachers are voting against. He said he is against efforts such as firing tenured teachers and replacing them with new staff, which happens in turnaround schools.

“In some schools they have done that several times and it is still no different,” he said.

Therese Wasik, who is retiring from Ray this year, said she was glad she got a chance to vote.  Her first year in the district, she worked one day and then went on strike. She said she remembers being nervous that her job wasn’t safe. Because she’s retiring, she has no such concerns.

“I have been in the union for more than 30 years and I know what I would want if I were here,” she said.

At Gale Elementary in Rogers Park, Head Start teacher Maxine Gladney – who has been with the district since 1968 – said that CPS’ treatment of veteran teachers had persuaded her to vote for the strike authorization.

“It’s something we should be doing, or we’re going to end up like Wisconsin, like a lot of other places, and we’re going to have nobody to protect us,” Gladney said. “We are blamed for things we are not responsible for, decisions [CPS] makes that are not up to us.”

Joseph Hill, a special education teacher, said that he supports the vote as well. “We are the only city employees that are asked to work longer for free,” he said.

 He is not optimistic that a vote will pressure CPS to cave in to the union’s demands. “They’re not going to give us a pay raise. We’re just going to need to go on strike,” he added.

But parent volunteer Tameka Leonard, who has three children at Gale, said she was unhappy about the vote. “I think it’s too early to be talking about a strike. It’s summer break. You’ve still got time to negotiate,” she said.

And, she noted, she’s pleased with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s initiative to extend the school day because of the number of kids she sees running around the neighborhood with nothing to do after school.

[Photos by Marc Monaghan]

Brizard's letter to teachers

CTU Press Release

Thousands of Chicago Teachers Union members held a boisterous rally at the Auditorium Theatre on Wednesday afternoon, with many teachers showing support for a possible strike in the fall.

Union officials announced on Tuesday that a strike vote would likely be taken before the end of the year and that 95 percent of the members who voted in a union survey would reject the current CPS proposal. CPS argues, however, that the union is inaccurately portraying the district’s offer to teachers.

“We respect our teachers and the work they do on behalf of our kids every day. They deserve a raise for that work, but our children can’t afford a strike. That’s why we are working with an independent negotiator to find a compromise proposal that fairly compensates our teachers and starts the school year on time,” schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard said in a statement.

Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, was among those who spoke at the rally.

“The next time I come back… I want to see a fair contract,” she said. “I come to you for, and with the support of, 1.5 million people. If all those with silver spoons in their mouths can get help, what about the children of this city and the people who educate them?”

Weingarten said that she had just come from a conference on labor-management collaboration an hour away where 100 districts were represented. “But here in the second city of America, we have to rally to even be heard,” she said. “I will come back every time you need me.”

Earlier at the board of education meeting, the advocacy group Stand for Children held a press conference featuring parents who don’t want to see a strike occur.

Michael Butz, who has a son at Disney, said that if the teachers strike, parents will be left scrambling to figure out what they should do with their children. Like many, both Butz and his wife work.

“I am frustrated and disappointed with the rhetoric,” he said. “It does not help the children…. My son wants to be in school succeeding and learning.”

Harold Trujillo, a parent of two, added: “The talk of a strike brings stress to families and to people. In the name of the parents come together in a humble way.”

Stand for Children, which is a national organization with a local chapter, pushed for the passage of Senate Bill 7. The bill establishes a process for calling a strike and requires 75 percent of the teacher union membership authorize a strike.  Currently, CPS and CTU are in the fact-finding stage of the process in which an independent arbitrator considers both proposals and issues a report. That report is due by July 15.

Stand for Children Chicago Director Juan Jose Gonzalez said that the organization thinks it is disingenuous for teachers to call a strike authorization vote before the fact-finding report is released.

“It is not true to the process,” he said.

CTU officials have said the high threshold for approval of a strike authorization vote forces them to schedule it before the end of the school year. Waiting until the summer would make it difficult, if not impossible, to get all members to vote. The way the law works a non-vote is essentially a “no” vote.

Gonzalez would not speak to whether the Senate Bill 7 inadvertently created the need for an imminent strike authorization vote. Instead, he insisted the bill’s purpose was to make the process more transparent.

Teachers at the rally were given stickers and hand-held red paper fans that doubled as signs, with check marks in boxes on them -- likely an allusion to a coming strike vote – next to the phrases “YES to small class sizes” and “YES to well-funded neighborhood schools.” Popcorn and union T-shirts were on sale in the lobby.

When CTU President Karen Lewis took the stage, the entire auditorium shook with stomping feet. “Why are we here?” she asked the crowd, part way through her speech. “Strike!” someone yelled, and it became a chant – “Strike! Strike! Strike!”

Lewis then mocked CPS officials and Mayor Emanuel. “I think it’s very interesting that the spokesmodel for CPS says we are being too aggressive,” she says.  She recounted old anecdotes that accused Emanuel of swearing at her, and made fun of Emanuel saying, over and over, “I want the school day long.”

“They took $600 million out of the capital budget,” Lewis complained. “They don’t intend to fix anything.”

The rally was followed by a 6,500-strong march to CPS headquarters that joined with a protest of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Amy Dollarhite, a 9^th-grade math teacher at TEAM Englewood Academy, said she came to the rally because “our union rep at school told us about this, that it was important for us to come and stand up for our rights.”

She added: “We’d like to be treated with the same respect as any other professionals. I don’t know any lawyer or doctor [office] that stays open more hours without being paid for it.”

Sheila Finley, a teacher at Jamieson Elementary, echoed a concern of many older teachers that “I’ve spent a lot of time and money to be educated and be a better teacher… [but] everything I worked for to earn, like my [stored-up sick] days, I’m going to lose all that.”

As members filed into the theater, a video showed CTU members reminiscing about past strikes, and members stood up and started clapping to an old-style version of “Solidarity Forever.” When “We Shall Not Be Moved” played, the video switched to a slideshow of the union’s leadership. Next, the video segued into pop hits like “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” and slideshows of CTU pickets.

CTU Recording Secretary Kristine Mayle argued that Chicago Board of Education members “want to turn teaching into a low-wage, high-turnover profession.”

“I am willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure our members get a fair contract – are you?” she asked the audience.

“Yes,” the theater bellowed.

One video that played had messages of support from leaders of Chicago’s SEIU and UNITE-HERE locals. Another showed parents and other Chicagoans talking about the positive impact of teachers on their lives.

Speakers from 19^th Ward Parents and Raise Your Hand also appeared at the rally. Raise Your Hand’s Matt Farmer, in a fiery speech, noted that the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools have seven fine arts teachers. He also quoted the schools’ director criticizing standardized testing and praising teacher unions.

Later, Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery spoke in support of the CTU. “When the current fight is over you will be prouder than you ever have before; you will have more power than you ever had before,” he said, his voice drowned out by cheering.

Starting this fall, the current checklist system that administrators and teachers have long said is virtually worthless for improving instruction will be replaced at all schools with the new system. However, many teachers won’t be affected until fall 2013; the new system will only be used initially for probationary teachers and for tenured teachers with satisfactory and unsatisfactory ratings.

Mandated under state law, the new evaluations will factor in measures of student growth on standardized tests; progress on district-designed tests known as “performance assessments”; principal’s observations of teachers using a modified version of Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching. Student feedback will be incorporated in the second year of the program.

District officials dubbed the new evaluation system REACH, for Recognizing Educators and Advancing Chicago’s Students.

The union quickly weighed in, saying the new system is seriously flawed because it relies on value-added test scores--although state law mandates that student achievement be part of all new evaluations--does not provide enough checks and balances on a principal’ evaluation, and doesn’t give teachers an appeal process. But the CTU noted in a statement that “the new observation system is an improvement over the checklist system currently in place.”

Tim Daly, president of TNTP (formerly known as The New Teacher Project) and a member of the state Performance Evaluation Advisory Council, said that several districts around the country weigh achievement more heavily than Chicago’s new plan.

Factoring in achievement has become a nationwide trend in recent years, as the U.S. Department of Education has been pushing states to make student growth measures a part of teacher evaluation.

Neither New York City nor Los Angeles public schools have adopted new evaluation systems yet. A state law will require New York schools to do so in the future.

“The CPS approach is more moderate,” Daly says. “Under the law, the district could have pressed for quite a bit more weight [on value-added measures].”

However, Daly says, that will put more onus on CPS to make sure that teacher observations are done well – something that has not been the district’s strong suit in the past.

“The weight [on achievement] starts out so small that it’s unlikely to affect many teachers’ ratings,” he notes. Even when this percentage rises, “the ratings of the vast majority of teachers in CPS will continue to be determined primarily based on observations.”

The same is true of the district- and teacher-designed performance assessment.

“It’s easy with state tests to say the test makers are at fault, or the state is at fault,” Daly says. “These are going to be local tests, so the responsibility falls on the community of educators to make them good. And it’s going to be tough.”

Disney Magnet Elementary Principal Kathleen Hagstrom says that she already supplemented the district’s checklist with additional evaluation forms. With the new system, she is concerned about how she will find time to do detailed observations of her school’s 86 teachers.

“Some accommodations will have to be made for large staffs,” she notes. “I know those who did the pilot for the Danielson said the data input was extremely difficult.” But, she adds, she looks forward to finding out whether the new system will be helpful.

“I am hoping our questions will be answered,” she says. “Many people felt the past evaluation wasn’t effective. We will have to see.”

Because legally mandated negotiations between the union and the district had been going on since December- well past the minimum 90-day period specified in state law - the district was free to implement the evaluation procedures it most recently discussed with the union.

"I have mixed feelings, and I think it remains to be seen how this will play out," said Carol Caref, coordinator of the CTU's Quest Center. "We felt like it was better than what they started with, but there were many things in it we did not agree with."

Robin Steans, executive director of Advance Illinois, praises the district's work. “They deserve credit for this,” she says. “It's an awfully good first step”

The law mandating the new evaluations was passed in 2010 to make Illinois a more viable candidate for the federal Race to the Top grant competition, which Illinois did not win.

Phasing in more reliance on student growth

The weight given to students’ learning gains – the most controversial part of the new evaluations, and one mandated by state law – will increase gradually over five years, until it accounts for 35 to 40 percent of a teacher’s evaluation. Student feedback will comprise 10 percent of the evaluations, and observation will remain the largest factor.

High schools will begin phasing in student growth measures based on the EXPLORE, PLAN and ACT assessments in September 2013. For the coming year, only teachers in core subjects will be rated on student growth, and it will be done through performance assessments that only account for 10 percent of a teacher’s ratings. (This formula does not meet the minimum state requirements for implementing the new evaluations, but CPS has some flexibility because the district is only required to use the new evaluations in 300 schools this year.)

For elementary schools, a portion of the student growth measure will be based on value-added test scores from the NWEA, a test that students take three times a year. The NWEA (for Northwest Evaluation Association, a non-profit group that created the assessment) is more difficult than the state’s ISAT, and the results for Chicago can be compared to those nationally. Using this test is a major divergence from past practice and is another signal of the district’s move away from the ISAT and toward tests that provide a better picture of how CPS compares on a national scale.

Chief Education Officer Noemi Donoso pointed out that the NWEA is more aligned to the Common Core, new learning standards that the district will be phasing in during the next several years. An assessment based on the Common Core is still being developed by a consortium of states that belong to PARCC, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

Creating a value-added formula

Value-added test scores try to isolate a teacher’s impact on student performance. The district’s current value-added formula, for the ISAT, takes into consideration a number of factors including where students start, a school’s racial makeup, students’ native language, and the number of low-income children in a school.

Donoso said district officials and union leadership still need to talk about the factors that will be included in the new NWEA value-added formula and how much weight each factor will have. The union’s criticism of value-added scores notes that scores can fluctuate from year to year and that teachers are rated against one another.

The new performance assessments will be developed by groups of teachers and the district over the summer. Donoso stressed that these will not take the form of multiple-choice, standardized tests, but can be a list of items that students should be able to do.  Across the district, the performance tasks will be the same, regardless of type of school, Donoso said, and will be given to students at different times throughout the year.

However, she said there might need to be adjustments, if, for instance, everyone in a class walks in able to accomplish all the performance tasks. "These will be rigorous assessments so we don't anticipate this happening very often," Donoso said.

One key question is how the evaluations will affect teachers for grades or subjects--such as kindergarten through 2^nd grade, physical education, and the arts—in which standardized tests like NWEA are not given. CPS officials decided that the teachers will develop a performance task assessment, but they also will be judged on school-wide literacy scores – even though those scores may be coming from students a teacher has never instructed.

"Increasing literacy is everyone's job," Donoso said. She noted that currently, only 17 percent of CPS 3^rd-grade students are reading on grade level.

Using school-level value-added scores in cases where teacher-level scores are not available is not uncommon,says Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Washington, D.C. public schools do. Tennessee kicked off a teacher rating system that way this year but aims to gradually replace the school-level scores with alternative assessments of students. A number of districts in Texas use school-level value-added scores to determine teacher merit pay awards in non-tested subjects, as does the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP).

"The key thing is how much you're going to count that, and it seems like what Chicago has proposed is pretty low," Jacobs says. "When you start to talk about it as a percentage that could influence the overall rating, then I think it becomes more complicated."

But a policy brief on the issue from the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, a teacher-quality resource center run by the U.S. Department of Education, notes in a research brief that “this approach presents some additional challenges for a number of reasons, including questions about rigor and comparability when judgments are made about individual teacher performance based on students they never taught.”

Danielson, student achievement linked

CPS’ previous teacher evaluation system had been criticized for decades. Since the 1970s, teachers had been rated on a checklist and the vast majority of teachers received good ratings. The vast number of superior and excellent teachers seemed out of sync with the fact that CPS students, on average lagged in performance.

Winckler and Donoso stressed that, though they didn't win the support of the union, they took into account many of the union suggestions and recommendations made by teachers through surveys. "We started with the voice of teachers," Winckler said. "We were listening and learning what excellent teaching looks like."

Donoso also pointed out that studies have shown a strong correlation between a teacher's score on the Danielson and how they do on student growth measures. The union had called for using the Danielson framework.

On top of observation and student growth, starting in 2013, students in grades 4 to 12 will be surveyed as to what they think of their teachers. Donoso said that a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation study also showed that students are good judges of the quality of their teacher.

"This combination will give us an accurate picture," she said. 

It is not clear yet how much the new rating system will cost. But CPS is hiring up to 18 central office employees to help train evaluators and make sure the new ratings are accurate. The advertised salary for the position is $78,700 to $111,000.

Here’s how the rating system will work:

Elementary school ratings

--For the 2012-13 school year, the ratings of elementary teachers in tested subjects will be based 75 percent on observations under the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching, 15 percent on the individual teachers' value-added scores on the NWEA assessment, and 10 percent on non-multiple-choice student performance assessments designed by teachers.

--In this example, teachers would be rated on a scale of up to 400 points, with 100 points being the lowest possible score. A teacher would get 10 to 40 points for performance assessments and 75 to 300 points for his or her rating on the Danielson observation.

--The 60 possible value-added points would be parceled out according to how far above or below average a teacher is. The lowest fewer-than-1 percent of teachers will get 15 points (the lowest possible score), the middle two-thirds will get 30 to 45 points, and the top fewer-than-1 percent will get 60 points, according to Caref.

--Teachers earning 100 to 219 points would be rated unsatisfactory. Those earning 220 to 284 points would be rated needs improvement. Those garnering 285 to 339 points would be rated proficient and those with at least 340 points would get a rating of excellent.

-- Starting in fall 2013, 10 percent of teachers’ ratings will come from student survey results.

-- For elementary teachers in tested subjects and grades, the proportion of the ratings determined by student growth will increase to 25 percent for value-added measures and 15 percent for performance tasks over the next five years.

--Elementary teachers in subjects that are not tested, and in kindergarten through 2nd grade, will have 15 percent of their ratings determined by the performance assessments and 10 percent by school-wide value-added scores for literacy. The percentages will gradually increase to 20 percent for performance tasks and 15 percent for school-wide literacy scores by the fifth year.

High school ratings

--For the coming school year only, high school teachers in core subjects will have 90 percent of their ratings based on the Danielson framework and 10 percent of their rating based on student performance assessments. Those in non-core subjects will have their entire rating based on observations.

-- Starting in fall 2013, the formula changes. Teachers in tested subjects will have 10 percent of their ratings based on student survey results; 15 percent based on student growth on the EXPLORE, PLAN and ACT standardized tests; 10 percent based on performance tasks; and 65 percent based on classroom observations. Those in non-tested subjects will have 15 percent of their ratings based on performance tasks and 10 percent on school-wide test scores.

-- For all high school teachers, the portion of evaluations determined by observations will decrease gradually until the fifth year of the program, when it will be 50 percent for teachers in tested subjects and 55 percent for those in non-tested subjects. The portion of the ratings based on student growth (including both test scores and performance assessments) will increase to 35 percent for teachers in non-tested subjects and 40 percent for those in tested subjects. Student surveys will still account for 10 percent.

 Related story: A principal gives thumbs-up to Danielson  

Critics of the longer school day seized on the opportunity to argue at Wednesday’s board meeting that schools need more money in order to see any benefits from more time.

Among them were parents from Prieto Elementary, who said their school lacks the resources to make a longer day productive.

“We would need five additional teachers for music, science, drama and an interventionist,” parent Veronica Serrano said. Other parents noted the school is so overcrowded, class must be held in hallways.

But it seems unlikely the school will get those teachers. After the public participation segment of the meeting, officials laid out a grim financial vision for the coming next year.

Tim Cawley, the district’s chief administrative officer,  said at a School Board meeting that for starters, the district hopes to find “tens of millions of dollars” in savings by buying goods and scheduling workers more efficiently, and cutting down on unnecessary procurement.

“One of the things we are going to do is find ways to reduce the centrally controlled funding, and allocate money to the schools,” Cawley said.

As a result, principals will get more flexibility in budgeting. To avoid confusion, they won’t get their budgets electronically. Instead, budgets will be handed out during April meetings with network staff, who will answer principals’ questions and help them decide what to cut.

Cawley also noted that CPS will crack down on vendors that submit bills for work done before their contracts are approved - and on employees who tell them to do so.

“I don’t blame you for being disturbed by what you’re seeing,” Cawley said in response to a question from board member Penny Pritzker about payments on the board’s agenda.

 “Until we don’t pay a supplier, and until we fire an employee, people are not going to take it seriously,” he said.

More pension relief sought from legislators

In the legislative arena, Cawley said the district will need another round of pension relief. The district’s pension and debt service payments alone will total around $700 million this year, and will keep growing after that.

Bottom line, though, there will be no “one-time fixes,” he said.</