We told you yesterday about some great speeches that were delivered at the RA yesterday. You can watch video of those speeches below:

2010 NEA America’s Greatest Education Governor Award – Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley

You can also read transcripts of several NEA RA speeches. We'll post more videos when we can.

Diane Ravitch is speaking now. Some highlights:

She called public education “the backbone of democracy.”

She called No Child Left Behind “a disaster,” saying “it has turned our schools into testing factories. Its requirement that 100% of students be proficient by the year 2014 is totally unrealistic. Any teacher could have told them that.” By setting schools up to fail with a goal that “no country, state, or district has ever achieved,” NCLB has “paved the way for privatization”

She stated that high-stakes testing “undermines education,” saying it leaves less time for important subjects.

She said the benefits of school choice are “vastly overstated”, saying that it allows charter schools to “skim the best students in poor communities” and led to an educational system of “haves and have nots.”

Speaking of the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program she asked, “why did a race to the top replace equal educational opportunity?”

She asked, “Why expand the number of charters when research shows that on average they don’t get better results than regular public schools?” She stated that according to the NAEP, “charter schools have never shown an advantage over public schools.”

She stated that “teachers should be judged by professional standards and not by a political process.”

On test scores: “The single most reliable predictor of test scores is poverty.” She stated that research indicates test scores are not the best indicators of student learning, in part because of fluctuations in classroom populations.

On closing schools: “Closing schools weakens communities … no school was ever improved by closing it.”

On merit pay: it “has nothing to do with education. It destroys teamwork” and discourages teachers from collaborating “for the benefit of children.”

On Race to the Top: “The role of the federal government in education is to level the playing field, not to set off a competition for money.”

On school improvement: “The best way to improve schools is to improve the education profession. We need expert teachers, not a steady influx of novices. We need experienced principals who are themselves master teachers. We do not need a wave of newcomers who took a course called ‘How to be a Principal.’ We need superintendents who are wise educators, not lawyers or businessmen.”

This was a great speech that was very well-received by the delegates … definitely makes me want to buy her book.

Wifi is better in the hall today, so hopefully we can give some faster updates. Day four (the final day) of the RA is underway. We’ve already considered a few new business items, but still have a ways to go. We’re about to hear from Diane Ravitch, this year’s NEA Friend of Education Award recipient. This should be a great speech, and I’ll try to hit the highlights.

The Arizona caucus meeting this morning was bittersweet, as it was our outgoing president’s last official act. John Wright has provided outstanding leadership in his tenure as AEA president. There were a lot of great tributes paid to John, many of them touching, most of them hysterical. Farewell, John … you’ll be missed.

The wireless connection is still very bad on the RA floor, but we’ll try to keep track of what went on today. Here are some highlights:

We heard from the the 2010 NEA America’s Greatest Education Governor, Martin O’Malley of Maryland. Suffice it to say that after listening to Governor O’Malley’s speech, a number of us thought about moving to Maryland.

We got an update on the Elementary/Secondary Education Act (ESEA, better known to many of us as No Child Left Behind) from the ESEA Advisory Committee. This included some of the history of ESEA, but focused on our current priorities as ESEA comes up for reauthorization.

We considered the 2010 NEA Legislative Program, which spells out action that NEA will take in regards to the upcoming session of the U.S. Congress. First we approved the overall program that was put forth by the NEA Board of Directors, then considered amendments to the legislative program that individuals had submitted. There were 20 of these amendments that were considered.

We heard from the 2010 National Teacher of the Year, Sarah Brown Wessling, a high school English teacher from Johnston, Iowa. Her speech was challenging, motivating, and inspiring.

And of course, we heard new business items … lots of them. The bad news is we still have over 50 (out of 99) to go, so tomorrow might be a long day. The highlight tomorrow promises to be a speech from Diane Ravitch, the 2010 NEA Friend of Education Award recipient. We’ll try to post highlights if we can.

Here are some videos from the RA that members may find interesting.

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel’s Keynote Address

Fourth of July Celebration

The NEA RA has been held during the 4th of July for several years. Although it takes us away from our families during a fun holiday, it is neat to share that experience with our fellow delegates in cities across America. Every year, delegates get dressed up to show off their patriotism, and the RA floor is flooded in red, white and blue. There is also a moving Independence Day celebration, involving speakers and a choir consisting of delegates from every state. Walking along the Mississippi River and watching fireworks off in the distance from the French Quarter was a pretty fantastic way to celebrate our nation’s independence, too.

But today we’re back at work … two days down, two days left. We still have 80 new business items to consider, which sounds daunting (considering we’ve only discussed 19 in the first two days). It might be a long day tomorrow, because the RA doesn’t end until all business items have been considered.

Day 2 is underway. The wireless connection we were promised in the RA hall has been unreliable, to say the least, so the real-time updates we were hoping to offer aren’t happening. But we’ll still try to give you an idea of what is happening.

We started out the day discussing new business items right off the bat. The first discussion centered around a proposal for NEA to express a vote of “no confidence” in Race to the Top programs of the U.S. Department of Education. This new business item provided a great example of how the RA process works. Several individuals went to microphones to speak to over 8,000 delegates, arguing for or against the business item. After debating the business item for about 10 minutes, a delegate proposed an amendment to the business item that removed the words “no confidence” and focused more on the policies themselves rather than the source of the policies (the U.S. Department of Education). This amendment was then debated passionately and heatedly for about 10 minutes … then a delegate moved to close debate, and the delegates voted (via voice vote) to do that. Immediately, we placed a voice vote on the amendment, and voted not to accept the amendment.

But we weren’t done … we still needed to finish discussing the original new business item. So we did … more delegates stepped to microphones to argue for and against the business item. After about 15 more minutes of discussion, the delegates voted to close debate, and then a voice vote was held. Because the vote was close, another voice vote occurred. This one was also too close to call, so a standing vote was called. This was also done twice because of the close vote, but the chair (NEA President) ruled that the motion was passed.

At that point a member called for a roll call, which is where things get interesting (and rare). If delegates agree to a roll call, every delegate is basically “locked” into the hall and their votes are counted one by one. No one can enter or leave the hall during the vote, and it obviously takes a long time to count over 8,000 votes individually. This hasn’t happened in a few years. One-third of the delegates must vote in favor of a roll call for it to occur, but the delegates voted not to have a roll call. In the end, the new business item passed.

All in all, the process took about 45 minutes … to debate and pass a single new business item. The bad news? This was only the second new business item we have considered so far (we did one yesterday) and as of last night, over 40 had been submitted for discussion. Several more will be submitted before the deadline for consideration, which is today at noon.

The good news? The next business item was introduced and passed overwhelmingly without amendment or discussion, and the whole process took about 3 minutes. That business item happened to be regarding ethnic studies programs, and was actually submitted by the Arizona delegation. It definitely felt good to have “our” new business item pass with nearly unanimous support (and so quickly).

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel (who happens to be from Arizona) just finished his keynote address. Some highlights:

• reauthorization of ESEA (“No Child Left Behind”) will be coming before Congress soon, and members should tell their representatives that “ESEA should scrap AYP and instead actually support student learning” and “use a system of multiple measures and a focus on student growth.”
• in addressing the temptation to sit out the 2010 election out of frustration, President Van Roekel said we need to be “activists” instead of “victims.”
• President Van Roekel stated that NEA needs to challenge our own status quo, as well, saying, “our lives improve only when we take chances” and called for the creation of the NEA Commission Effective Teachers and Teaching to take a proactive role in developing high standards for teaching.
• President Van Roekel called on NEA members to “take action … speak up for public education, for students, and yourselves” and called on local presidents to “challenge the status quo.”
• he also stated: “our job is to lead the change we want to see in our schools,” and to “create the future we believe in.”

That was what delegates heard today as they walked into the RA hall for the opening session of the Representative Assembly. Even for veteran delegates (but especially for new delegates), the sights and sounds are overwhelming … over 8,000 delegates gathered in one room to help direct NEA’s actions for the coming year. The opening session is underway now, beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem, an invocation, and introductions of NEA officials. Soon enough, we’ll get down to business by considering amendments to the NEA standing rules, constitution, and bylaws. Then we will turn to new business items, which will guide NEA’s path for the coming year (or beyond). If our Internet connection allows us, we’ll try to keep you updated on the proceedings as they go on.

Last night included an amazing event that most of our members attended, the NEA Human and Civil Rights award dinner. This event honored numerous individuals and groups across the country who have fought hard to protect and obtain human and civil rights for several groups, in and out of education. The recipients were incredibly well-deserving of their awards, and everyone from CEA left inspired. Definitely a great night.

This morning was our state caucus at 7:00 am … bright and early. We discussed the items that we’d be considering today and voted on whether or not the Arizona caucus would take an official position on these items. We’re all looking forward to discussing these items in the national forum and seeing the diverse viewpoints from across the country.

By now you've probably heard the news that Arizona's Career Ladder program has been ruled unconstitutional. Judge Dean Fink ruled that because the program was not equitably benefiting all of the state's school districts, the legislature must either fund it for all districts or fund it for none. The lawsuit was initiated by Gilbert Public Schools in 2007.

This obviously affects CUSD as we are one of the 28 school districts that has a Career Ladder program. With the current budget crisis, legislators are proposing elimination of the program statewide, although some legislators are proposing allowing school boards to fund their own Career Ladder (or other performance pay) program through an increase in property taxes.

You can read the azcentral.com news article about this ruling, or read the ruling itself.