ok, now the rest of the story...

[Hannah Bell]

Questions about deals to head off 'Performance Counts'?... 'Accountability for All' raises eyebrows among CTU rank-and-file


The Chicago Teachers Union recently thanked its members for helping to defeat — for the time being — "Performance Counts," proposed legislation aimed at the heart of teachers unions across the state of Illinois. The bill would have seriously curtailed the unions' right to collective bargaining, made future strikes virtually illegal, effectively abolished teacher tenure and seniority rights, and made teacher evaluations based on test scores (as the main measure of so-called "performance") the law of the land in Illinois.

As soon as the good news for teachers was announced (that the Gates financed Stand for Children attack on the teachers unions was thwarted), suddenly a proposed bill sponsored by the Chicago Teachers Union, Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Education Association sounded suspiciously similar to the one that was supposedly defeated...

"At the top of our agenda we'll be promoting 'Accountability for All', our legislative package of education proposals, developed in partnership of the IFT, Chicago Teachers Union and Illinois Education Association," wrote IFT President Daniel Montgomery. "'Accountability for All includes proven reforms to increase student achievement and enhance teacher effectiveness and would hold school administrators and school board members — not just teachers — accountable for their performance in public schools."

It certainly would hold teachers accountable, just like Performance Counts. Here is what Jim Broadway in "State School News Service" wrote:

"Although they differ in the details, the proposals have similar elements..."

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=1946§ion=Article

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