New Haven Register

by Edwin C. Darden

BASKETBALL season is in full frenzy in Connecticut and, as any fan knows, a team’s crunch-time performance is often the key difference between victory and collapse.

In a game with even higher stakes, in which victory means a better education for students in dire need of opportunity, the New Haven public school district thinks it has a good shot lined up. And, with an assist from the union, the system has attracted national attention in signing a new teachers contract that encourages aggressive action to improve low-performing “turnaround schools.”

Signing the deal is only a start, not a game winner. Making it work effectively year-in and year-out for high-needs kindergarten through 12th grade students is the real trick. The contract marks significant progress by requiring the district to measure student achievement, tie teacher evaluation to kids’ progress and make dramatic changes to schools that fail.

It allows for schools with weak student test scores to be converted to charter schools or managed by a private contractor, thereby providing greater flexibility in choosing teachers, changing work rules and introducing innovative programs and curriculums.

Though exciting, this focus on innovation, reform and new rules must not overshadow one simple and fundamental priority: Student needs supersede adult wants.

Nationwide, contracts tend to be labor-management tools to establish salaries and govern the minutiae of who will do what, by when, where and how. For school boards, negotiations too often involve jealously guarding every legal prerogative, saving money and achieving political victories that prove fiscal toughness. For unions, talks too often revolve around securing the highest possible salary, defining working conditions, insisting upon complicated and lengthy due process rights to forestall job loss and eroding the decision-making authority of the school board.

Setting up a negotiation as a competition between the school board and the teachers union rather than as a joint project to put kids’ educations first is a problem.

Appleseed, a national legal organization that focuses on social justice in public education and other major areas of need, has conducted a study examining both teacher and principal contracts in 37 school districts of 10 states. It has revealed a preponderance of rigid contracts that do not establish the flexibility needed, for example, by students in poverty and those learning English.

The options available to New Haven turnaround schools are good. But that kind of dexterity ought to be available before a school reaches the crisis point. Student-centered, preventive contract provisions might include extending school days and school years, providing instructional coaches, developing a peer assessment process, and changing daily schedule and assignments to better accommodate learning.

Both sides must be careful that struggling youngsters and striving schools are not shunned by teachers for fear of being evaluated based on “student progress.” We must acknowledge also that merely converting an educational clunker into a charter or recruiting private management is no guarantee of success.

New Haven school officials and the teachers union both deserve congratulations for defying the usual pattern. Still, it is somewhat worrisome that the pact leaves many school reform details unanswered. How those questions are addressed between now and September will determine whether the school district truly breaks new ground or simply walks another section of the same path.

Teacher-district agreements, at their best, establish a structural framework that makes student achievement — particularly for the most vulnerable students — its foremost aim. Figuring out how that happens has national implications.

Meanwhile, Connecticut is in crunch-time in public schooling. A recent national test of student learning found that Connecticut’s black students are three grade levels behind white students in fourth-grade math, and that by eighth grade the gap grows wider. Connecticut consistently has had some of the largest racial and ethnic achievement gaps in the country.

New Haven has a chance to make a statement for these kids, who need more resources, time and talent and routinely receive less. If I were the basketball coach guiding players during that last timeout, I would offer advice that applies equally to school districts and teachers about contracts: Work hard, be smart, no fouls and we can’t afford to fail.