Loss Prevention Officer
Current Issues in Education
Jeff Jonas
ED5001-8
8-2-13
The issues to be analyzed are; Do teacher unions stymie school reform? Can merit pay accelerate school improvement, and can zero tolerance violate student rights? The school being analyzed in this paper will be Freedom High School in Oakley, California. Freedom is a comprehensive high school of slightly over 2600 students, grades nine through twelve. Freedom has a diverse student body including a significant population of EL, SPED, and Title 1 students. The district was put into program improvement eight years ago and since that time scores on the state and district assessments have undergone a substantial and continual climb, particularly in science. The budget crisis caused the district to issue lay-off notices and freeze raises and COLA increases. Prior to the 2007, the district was the third highest paying district in Northern California. The LEA (Liberty Educational Association) is well represented and very vocal group in this district and fought hard for teacher’s rights, benefits, and working conditions. In 2009, Freedom was named a California Distinguished school and in 2010 received a six year WASC evaluation. Despite budget constraints the community has approved several Bond issues for physical improvements to the school facilities including a four million dollar athletic facility and substantial improvements to the library, both of which Freedom shares with the community. Freedom is the center of the community and is rarely with out people using the facilities. Has the LEA stymied school reform at Freedom? The LEA has made a commitment to fight hard for teacher’s rights but not at the expense of the students. The union has had some tough issues to resolve with the district. During negotiations the schools test scores and performance actually improved. The Union agreed to put salary increases on the
Jeff Jonas
ED5001-8
8-2-13
The issues to be analyzed are; Do teacher unions stymie school reform? Can merit pay accelerate school improvement, and can zero tolerance violate student rights? The school being analyzed in this paper will be Freedom High School in Oakley, California. Freedom is a comprehensive high school of slightly over 2600 students, grades nine through twelve. Freedom has a diverse student body including a significant population of EL, SPED, and Title 1 students. The district was put into program improvement eight years ago and since that time scores on the state and district assessments have undergone a substantial and continual climb, particularly in science. The budget crisis caused the district to issue lay-off notices and freeze raises and COLA increases. Prior to the 2007, the district was the third highest paying district in Northern California. The LEA (Liberty Educational Association) is well represented and very vocal group in this district and fought hard for teacher’s rights, benefits, and working conditions. In 2009, Freedom was named a California Distinguished school and in 2010 received a six year WASC evaluation. Despite budget constraints the community has approved several Bond issues for physical improvements to the school facilities including a four million dollar athletic facility and substantial improvements to the library, both of which Freedom shares with the community. Freedom is the center of the community and is rarely with out people using the facilities. Has the LEA stymied school reform at Freedom? The LEA has made a commitment to fight hard for teacher’s rights but not at the expense of the students. The union has had some tough issues to resolve with the district. During negotiations the schools test scores and performance actually improved. The Union agreed to put salary increases on the
References: Johnson, Susan. 1984. Merit pay for teachers: a poor prescription for reform. Harvard Educational Review. Volume 54, Number 2. Harvard Education Publishing Group. Kain, Erik. 2011. Why we should support teachers unions. Forbes.com. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/09/28/why-i-support-the-teachers-unions/ Murnane, Richard J. & Cohen David K. 1984. Merit pay and the evaluation problem: why most merit pay plans fail and a few survive. Harvard Educational Review. Volume 56, Number 1. Harvard Education Publishing Group. Trump, ken. 2012. National School Safety Services zero tolerance and school safety 2012 retrieved from http://www.schoolsecurity.org/trends/zero_tolerance.html