The Albert Shanker Institute-Education Page

How Should Teachers Be Graded?

The Institute’s Good Schools seminars focus attention on the link between student achievement and teaching quality. This interest is shared by the nation. In a thorough Christian Science Monitor article reviewing initiatives throughout the nation, Stacey Teicher Khadaroo writes that “As the curtain opens on a new school year . . . a noisy debate ensues about how to ensure that public school teachers are well qualified — and receive enough support — to do their jobs.” The debate, fueled by Congress’s expected fall debate on reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), including new provisions requiring 100 percent “highly qualified” teachers in key subjects in all schools. But, a researchers at the first Good Schools seminar noted, disturbingly little is known about what constitutes quality teaching and how it is best promoted.

China: Teacher Strike
There are reliable internet reports that teachers in Huadu, went on strike on Jan. 1, gathering in front of the local district government building to call for higher wages. According to Chinese websites monitoring the situation, between 700-1,000 teachers appeared on the Huadu Plaza steps at 9 a.m. New Years’ Day, and were surrounded by about 400 "patrol and riot" police. Although there appears to be a media blackout and some websites have stopped posting reports, one statement not being refuted online is that the teachers have remained peaceful, breaking their “silent sit-in” only to sing songs.

Why Teacher Unions Are Good for Teachers and the Public
Noted education historian and Shanker Institute board member Diane Ravitch argues that unions were established to protect teachers from ill-conceived instructional mandates, intolerable conditions, and poor compensation. These roles are as important today as they were 100 years ago.

Schools Out as Badhdad Bloodshed Kills Education
Three years ago, after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi teachers and students talked excitedly about reforming education. Since that time, though, sectarianism and the prevailing anarchy have poisoned society, bringing casual violence into classrooms in a way not seen before.

Carrots and Sticks: New Jersey's Effort To Create a Qualified PK-3 Workforce
This report shows how the state of New Jersey established mandates and incentives to upgrade the qualifications of the early childhood teaching force in the state's poorest school districts.

Standards and Testing, Yes, but What Else?
This year's Public Agenda survey shows general agreement among education stakeholders that standards, testing, and the implementation of No Child Left Behind are “necessary, but not sufficient” reforms for improving education. Much more needs to be done.

Smart Testing: Let's Get It Right
According to a new AFT report on statewide testing, most states have made progress in devel-oping clear grade-by-grade standards, but few have aligned high-stakes math, reading, and science tests with strong content standards, which leads to a distorted picture of how students, schools, and teachers are performing. (Requires Adobe Acrobat.)

National Prekindergarten Study
Many of the teachers in the nation's state-funded preschool classrooms have limited education and are paid poorly, according to a national study. (Requires Adobe Acrobat.)

Restoring the Balance between Academics and Civic Engagement in Public Schools
Civic education in the United States is being neglected because of a renewed emphasis on reading and math spurred by the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act, says a new report, which offers suggestions for correcting the problem.

Teaching Interrupted
A recent report by Public Agenda investigates the effects of disruptive students on teachers and teaching. "Too many students are losing opportunities for learning and too many teachers are leaving the profession" due to continual disruptive behavior of a few students.

Ready for Leadership
This study, released by Mass Insight Education and Research Institute, compares the states of Massachusetts and Washington with respect to their priorities and policies on education reform.

Past and Prologue
“Christopher Columbus: the man who discovered the New World, or the perpetrator of genocide?” This article argues that the com-plexities of history are “central to the ongoing debate over what should be taught in social studies,” and cites ASI's recent Education for Democracy state-ment in calling for an honest teaching of U.S. history.

Weaving Webs
The tricky issue of the structure of school leadership is dis-cussed in this article, which proposes several alternatives, including those suggested in the ASI publication Building a New Structure for School Leadership by Richard Elmore.

Many Americans Can Read, But Can't Comprehend
ASI board member E.D. Hirsch writes about the perils of learn-ing without understanding, citing student differences in reading comprehension. To achieve equal educational opportunity, he argues, the education system must do a better job of providing all students with rich content knowledge.

What Explains the Differences in International Performance?
This paper reviews the data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and explores the possible implications for U.S. education policy, standards, curriculum, practice, and student achievement. (Requires Adobe Acrobat.)

The Legacy of Albert Shanker
This article argues that Al Shanker was one of the most important education thinkers of the last century, saying that his commitment to a trade unions, winning the cold war, and common academic standards derived from the same source: "in his view, they all served democratic values."

Inequality at the Starting Gate
A study by the Economic Policy Institute documents the link between poverty and academic disadvantage, starting well before children enter school.

A Medical Model for Education Research
Can data-driven decision making, coupled with professional judgment, lead to a new era of educational achievement?

A Knowledge Base for the Teaching Profession
A thoughtful proposal on how teachers and researchers can work together to build and continually improve the professional knowledge base. (Requires Adobe Acrobat.)

Teachers Lack Curriculum To Teach State Standards
"Lost at Sea," a study of new Mass. teachers, concludes that few are provided with a clear, detailed curriculum. Even fewer received curricula that aligned with state standards.

Scientific Research in Education
This report from the National Research Council provides a framework for judging the quality of education research and suggests a path toward improvement.

Making Standards Matter
Despite steady progress, this AFT study finds most states still have a long way to go in developing a coherent system of aligned standards, curriculum, interventions, and assessments.

Head Start for All?
AFT President Sandra Feldman proposes universal preschool. Time magazine hosts a debate on whether Head Start should serve as its cornerstone.

Looking to France
The ASI and other policy groups look abroad for lessons on improving the quality of early childhood education.

Albert Shanker was so dedicated to public education that, in order to preserve and improve it, he dared to expose its weaknesses and point the way to its transformation. As president of the American Federation of Teachers, Shanker introduced innovative education reform ideas into the national debate. The Albert Shanker Institute continues this legacy by promoting discussions and sponsoring research on new and workable approaches to improving public education in America. The following are among these efforts:

ASI Launches "Good School" Seminars
This series will focus on the union's role in shaping the "good school." The initial June 4-5 seminar was entitled "Unions, Teaching Quality, and Student Achievement." This kick-off seminar featured a series of presentations and candid off-the-record conversations between local and national AFT leaders, superintendents from some of those locals, members of the Albert Shanker Institute Board of Directors, and selected policy experts and researchers.

Forum Series Links Best Evidence to Classroom Practice
The Albert Shanker Institute sponsors a periodic forum series, designed to highlight best research on key educational issues, then to link these findings to the practical steps that schools can take to improve student achievement. Held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, these events bring together a select group of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss crucial issues about which research and practice appear to diverge.

& Read the transcript of the May 2007 forum on high school dropout rates.
Read the transcript of the June 2006 forum on pay for performance systems.
& Read the transcript of the May 2006 forum on background knowledge and reading proficiency.
& Read the transcript of the May 2005 forum on improving the teaching and learning of mathematics.
& Read the transcript of the April 2005 forum on reading disabilities, reading difficulties, and school-based interventions that work.
& Read a transcript of the Oct. 2004 forum on preschool assessment.
& See press coverage of the Oct. 2002 forum on strategies to improve student behavior and support achievement.
& Read a transcript of the June 2002 forum on using professional development to raise student achievement.
& Read a transcript of the May 2002 forum on language and literacy development.
& Read more about this forum series.

Democracy: Teach It
Education for Democracy, released by the institute in conjunction with the beginning of a new school year, the second anniversary of the September 11terrorist attacks, and the 40th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, is a new statement calling for improvement in the teaching of democracy. Endorsed by a wide range of prominent citizens, scholars and educators—including former President Bill Clinton, President Reagan's UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, historian David McCullough, essayist Richard Rodriguez, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, actor Christopher Reeve, and Middle East scholar Fouad Ajami—the document calls for an expanded course of study in history, civics, and the humanities, providing students with a full, warts-and-all understanding of our own and other nations. Published copies will soon be available at $5 each from the institute’s offices (including shipping and handling).

Read the press release.
Download a final copy of Education for Democracy. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Educating Democracy: State Standards To Ensure a Civic Core
In this companion study (see above), historian Paul Gagnon analyzes the relevant academic standards from each state and provides concrete suggestions for how they could be improved to provide all students with the skills and knowledge they need to become committed, thoughtful citizens. Gagnon proposes that states adopt a rich, common core of historical and political learning for all students, and provides a model of what such a core might look like. Copies of this publication are available for $15 each ($10 each for orders of five or more) from the institute's offices.

Read more about this report.
Download excerpts, including state-by-state reviews.

Bridging the Gap Between Standards and Achievement: Report on the Imperative for Professional Development in Education
In this publication, released by the Albert Shanker Institute in conjunction with a professional development forum cosponsored with Achieve, Inc. (see below), Harvard professor Richard Elmore argues that education reforms that are based on standards and accountability will fail unless policymakers also adopt a strategy to ensure that educators have the knowledge and skill they need to help students succeed. The bottom line, says Elmore, is not in issues of governance and process, but in how the quality of instructional practice affects student learning. Copies of this publication are $10 each from the institute’s offices (including shipping and handling).

Download the full report. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Bridging the Gap Between State Standards and Classroom Achievement: Forum on the Challenge of Curriculum and Professional Development
Unless states step in to help turn standards into the tools that schools need, the promise of standards-based reform will be lost. That was the message of a March 2002 forum for educators, policymakers, and business leaders, cosponsored by the Albert Shanker Institute and Achieve, Inc. "Very few states have developed even a basic curriculum," said Sandra Feldman, president of the American Federation of Teachers and Albert Shanker Institute. That's one reason that teachers' support for standards has been slipping, she said—from 73 percent in ASI's 1999 poll (see below) to just over 50 percent in a recent AFT poll. "It's much easier to put a new test into place than to implement the effective supports that kids really need," said Feldman. "Quality curricula and professional development—this is the next frontier for standards-based reform."

Read about the conference in Education Week.
See the conference agenda.

Shanker Resource Center on Academic Standards
The Albert Shanker Institute has launched a new Web-based resource center on academic standards, featuring links to research, news and editorials on improving school quality. It is designed to provide state and local educators, policymakers, politicians, district administrators and the general public with the ideas and information they need to work through the difficult questions raised by school improvement efforts.

Go to the Resource Center.

Building a New Structure for School Leadership
In a major research analysis, Richard F. Elmore explores the problems with the structure and leadership of public education, while explaining the dangers of public funding for private schools. He urges educators to study the schools whose leaders and best practices are succeeding in meeting high standards. The report features successful efforts in districts where exemplary superintendents and principals are making it possible for teachers to offer excellent instruction. Copies of this publication are $10 each from the institute’s offices (including shipping and handling).

Download the full report. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

The Teaching Gap
The institute provided a grant to support the writing of this book, by James W. Stigler and James Hiebert, which explores the school system's failure to support a culture of professional development for teachers. It compares what's lacking in teacher training in this country with what's working in Japan, where teachers spend time working together to improve their skills.
Read the press release.
Preview the first chapter.
Get ordering information and other links.

Standards-Based Education Reform: Teachers' and Principals' Perspectives
Despite concerns about implementation, this institute survey of teachers and principals, conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, found overwhelming and growing support for standards-based education reform among those who must make reform a reality in individual classrooms and schools.

Read the press release.
Download the full report. (Requires free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

Last updated: August 26, 2006