Last night I participated in City Club’s terrific community forum about public education in Seattle.  Seattle Channel's C.R. Douglas led the discussion over the School District’s Excellence for All plan.  Now in its fourth year, results show student learning is down, not up, and that children are failing to learn under the District’s rigid, top-down approach. You can watch the program here.  My brief comments are at 32:44 and at 17:10.

I got the strongest reaction when I pointed out that our research consistently shows that the teachers’ union is the biggest obstacle to achieving change in our public schools.  Stung by my challenge, union executives surrounded me after the program, loudly objecting to my comments.

Now that we have all had a chance to calm down, I thought I’d set down a list of the innovative learning reforms the teachers’ union is blocking.

• Charter public schools (supported by President Obama).
• Fair Student Funding.
• Allowing parents to choose their own public school.
• Merit pay to keep the best teachers.
• Rewarding teachers based on performance, rather than seniority.
• Changing seniority rules so the youngest teachers are not laid off first.
• Paying math and science teachers more, based on student needs.
• Removing barriers to hiring more qualified teachers.
• Broadening the pool of qualified school principals.
• Reforming tenure rules so bad teachers get fired.

Union lobbyists are in Olympia right now working to block many of these proven reforms.  Of course today is a new day.  There are quiet heroes inside the teachers’ union trying to convince their executives to become agents for change, instead of blocking innovative reforms.  With all the educational advances in other states, union executives certainly have ample opportunity to embrace change instead of always rejecting it. 

Powerful established organizations often fear change, but Washington’s children need our help.  Student test results are a convincing argument against the status quo.  Just take a look at our new Public School Accountability Index.