NEA unveils teacher-improvement agenda

The National Education Association is embarking on a broad campaign aimed at elevating the quality of the teaching profession, with an ultimate goal of improving student education.

The NEA, the nation's largest teachers union, rolled out a three-point agenda earlier this month, pledging to steepen the entry requirements for teacher candidates, strengthen peer reviews, and marshal the resources of the organization to advance the teaching profession and promote forward-looking education policies.

"It's about the kids," NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said in a statement. "NEA aims to ensure that every student has a qualified, caring and effective teacher. And NEA will support a stronger profession of teaching."

The NEA arrived at its new program after compiling best practices from tens of thousands of top teachers around the country and soliciting input from an independent Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching.

Through the portion of the campaign aimed at "raising the bar for entry," the NEA is seeking to strengthen teacher-preparation programs. That would entail more rigorous admission standards at post-secondary programs as well as a more involved pre-service regimen.

Putting new teachers through the paces

The organization is proposing that new entrants into the field must complete a full year of residency under a master teacher before they can attain a full license. At the end of their candidacy, all teacher candidates would undergo a classroom-based performance evaluation under the NEA's new program. To that end, the organization is planning to advocate for a significant expansion of the Teacher Performance Assessment that many states are currently piloting.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan hailed the NEA's platform for improving the quality of the teaching profession.

"Reforming public education to give all children the world-class education they deserve will take all of us--unions, parents, teachers and government officials--stepping out of our comfort zones to challenge the status quo," Duncan said in a statement. "NEA's three-point plan for reform outlines some necessary steps for transforming the teaching profession, and I also applaud the NEA for creating the commission and empowering it to push for what is right for students. We look forward to seeing these proposals implemented in schools."

In addition to stiffer entry requirements for teachers, the NEA is calling for an ongoing evaluation and training framework that would help ensure that educators continue to develop new skills. In that spirit, the organization is proposing a tiered achievement system for career teachers, a new career path that would increase compensation and responsibility as teachers progressed from novice to professional and then onto master.

Additionally, the NEA is calling for the development of 100 new peer assistance and peer assistance and review programs over the next two years, which would aim to relieve principals from the burden of wholesale mentoring and evaluation of a school's faculty.

Leadership beyond the classroom

Finally, the NEA is looking to encourage more teachers to take on leadership roles within their schools and districts, encouraging them to work more actively to improve instruction and shape policy. The NEA is planning to tap its local affiliates to help build out a training network as it works toward the goal of cultivating 1,000 teachers around the country to assume leadership roles, as well as offering support for teachers to serve as mentors to develop younger teachers and teacher candidates.

"I will put the full weight of our national organization behind this effort and expand on proven programs and successful innovations underway in our affiliates around the country," Van Roekel said. "We have to ensure that teachers' expertise isn't confined to the classroom. Teachers should have more opportunities to strengthen their skills and knowledge and inform policy decisions that affect the classroom."