EdVANTAGE Blog

New York State United Teachers President Richard Iannuzzi warns members of his union, “The economic and political realities we face today make it critical that we act to support one another and to take charge of our professions before others — some well-meaning, but many not — define our professions for us.”

Writing in NYSUT’s bi-weekly New York Teacher (“Taking charge of our professions“), Mr. Iannuzzi observes,

Indeed, to take charge of our profession, we must be willing to develop and accept sound, research-based changes even when they make us uncomfortable; we must be willing to reject unwise changes; and we must develop the skills to demonstrate the difference.

He continues by addressing two issues that arise in New York State’s bid for a share of the $5 billion federal “Race to the Top” education reform fund — the roles of student performance data and charter schools.

For example:

If we wish to take charge of our profession, we need to actively participate in developing a model that includes student performance as one factor in measuring effective teaching practices.

and:

A similar role must be accepted with respect to charter schools. Research clearly shows that some charter schools exceed the performance of similar regular public schools.  While the research also demonstrates that the performance of most charters is the same or below (with some significantly below) similar regular public schools, we should not deny the successes.

The article concludes,

Taking charge of our profession will require us to lead in proposing and embracing needed changes.  Changes that can increase the chances that every child … will have an equal opportunity to receive an excellent education and changes that will increase our ability to close the achievement gap.  Taking charge of our profession also means offering cogent arguments for rejecting change — no matter who or where it comes from — if, in our professional judgment, that change will lessen the availability of quality educational opportunity.

As with education, each of our professions is at a crossroads that can only be traversed safely if, when given the opportunity, we have the will to take responsibility for our work. For all our professions, taking charge is not about defending the status quo because it is the status quo, nor is it about being the bluest of blue states or looking at the ideas of others — in Washington or Albany — through rose-colored glasses.  Taking charge of our professions is about being true to our mission, true to our principles, true to our professions and, most importantly, true to ourselves.