The Chicago Teacher’s Strike: Myths and Facts

Hola Everybody,

I've been absent from the mess lately, mostly because of my new gig which entails a lot of writing. But while I've been gone, the right has gone even more bat-shit crazy (if one could believe it). 

Well, I can't in good conscience continue to be quiet! LOL

I glommed the following from several sources, mostly from The Dissenter at FDL:

MYTH	FACT
1. This is about teachers wanting to get paid more — not Chicago students’ wellbeing.	In 2011, a provision was added to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act that makes it illegal for teachers to strike on all matters except compensation involving pay and benefits.[i] The teachers had to make salary an issue in order to strike over classroom conditions in Chicago public schools.
2. Teachers are striking for higher salaries but already get paid enough or too much.	As noted above, it is illegal for teachers to strike on all matters except pay and benefits. The teachers are in fact striking over classroom conditions, but have to raise salary issues so as to not violate Illinois labor laws. A report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) finds “teaching jobs in the United States are not as well paid as they are abroad, at least when you consider the other opportunities available to teachers in each country. Teachers in the city of Chicago make just over $70,000/year on average. Median household income statistics in Chicago was about $46,800/year. What people are really saying when they suggest teachers already get paid too much is that they should be earning a salary closer to the average worker in Chicago.[ii]
3. This is not the right time for teachers to strike.	Whether it is the right time or not is a subjective discussion but what is clear is there are multiple systemic problems with Chicago public schools that certainly warrant the teachers taking a stand. Class sizes in Chicago are largest in the state of Illinois. On average, only a quarter of Chicago public schools offer arts and music education. There are only 370 social workers for 15,000 homeless children One-hundred and sixty schools do not have libraries. Schools lack air conditioning. Chicago continues to close schools or “turnaround” schools by firing by teacher and staff to improve student learning without any evidence that this meaningfully benefits students.[iii]
4. Teachers just do not want to admit they are the reason why students aren’t performing well.	Simply focusing on teachers as the reason for low performance ignores the lack of resources in schools that make it difficult for learning. Public schools lack air conditioning, roofs that do not leak, textbooks, libraries, social workers, etc. They also have overcrowded classrooms, which make it harder for teachers to educate students.[iv]
5. Teachers oppose tying student test scores to teacher evaluations because they don’t want to be held accountable for poor performance.	Teachers in Chicago are opposed because there is no evidence to support the idea that tying test scores to teacher evaluations will lead to gains in student achievement and worry this will mean more teaching to the test. Sixteen professors and researchers concurred in a letter to Emanuel sent in March, which emphasized, “Student test scores have not been found to be a strong predictor of the quality of teaching as measured by other instruments or approaches.”[v]
6. Striking hurts the students.	Teachers are striking so the city of Chicago will allocate more resources for students. In the short term, students may not be in class learning but there is no evidence to support this will have a long term impact on any students. Moreover, some students are joining their parents and teachers in demonstrations in the streets and are learning a valuable civics lesson they would not be learning in many of the Chicago schools.
7. Standardized test scores are an accurate reflection of student learning	The evaluation system school district authorities want to put in place in Chicago (and elsewhere) is premised on the assumption that progress on standardized tests reflects quality instruction, while poor test scores reflect unsatisfactory work by teachers. This assumption contradicts the research that has found the methods used to evaluate teachers are typically flawed. But more importantly, students are confronting challenges that transcend rote learning, and that limits their performance, rendering standardized tests a bogus measure of their achievement.[vi]

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[i] Is Chicago’s teachers strike illegal? Alaska Dispatch, 9/12/12.

[ii] Does It Pay to Become a Teacher? NYT Economix Blog, 9/11/12.
Median Household Income in Chicago, 2006-2010, 9/14/12.

[iii] 5 Facts You Need to Know About the Abominable State of Chicago Schools. BoldProgressives.org, 9/11/12.
The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve. (PDF) Chicago Teachers Union, 2/16/12.

[iv] The Kids Are All Right. Mother Jones, September/October, 2012.

[v] Researchers blast Chicago teacher evaluation reform. Washington Post, 3/28/12.
Teachers accountability and the Chicago teachers strike. Economic Policy Institute, 9/14/12.

[vi] Why Rahm Emanuel and The New York Times are wrong about teacher evaluation:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/why-rahm-emanuel-and-the-new-york-times-are-wrong-about-teacher-evaluation/2012/09/12/d0c53044-fce7-11e1-a31e-804fccb658f9_blog.html