Teachers union initiates school reform plan

More evidence that the unions are trying to embrace reform:

Education reformers have long criticized the big teachers unions for blocking efforts to shake up public school bureaucracies, but a new, $1 million campaign from one of the largest may help put some of that criticism to rest.

The American Federation of Teachers, the USA's second-largest teachers union, plans to announce today it will put up $1 million and seek additional philanthropic funding to help school systems try "sustainable, innovative and collaborative reform projects" developed by AFT teachers over the past several years...

Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, a nonprofit that has taken positions routinely at odds with unions, calls the move "a pretty important green light for innovation and experimentation, not just from the union to teachers, but from the union to elected officials."

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Teachers union initiates school reform plan

By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY

www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-09-10-aft-plan_N.htm

 

 

Education reformers have long criticized the big teachers unions for blocking efforts to shake up public school bureaucracies, but a new, $1 million campaign from one of the largest may help put some of that criticism to rest.