Supporting Sustainable Education Reform

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation's second-largest teachers union, said it will offer $1 million in support and seek additional philanthropic funding to help school systems try "sustainable, innovative and collaborative reform projects" developed by AFT teachers over the past several years. One effort the money will support is peer-review teacher evaluations, such as those developed in Toledo, Ohio. Under the peer-review process at Toledo Public Schools, a team of master teachers monitors and evaluates teachers on how they prepare, plan and present lessons; how well they know the material they teach; and how they engage and discipline students. A team of administrators and master teachers meets annually to discuss teachers who have been deemed incompetent. The AFT also will support union-run charter schools similar to those in New York City and pay-for-performance plans as developed in Denver.

Sources: www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-09-10-aft-plan_N.htm
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91327130