OPINION: New teachers will reform unions and education

Philip S. Cicero is a retired superintendent of Lynbrook Public Schools and an adjunct professor of education at Adelphi University.

Last month the school board in Central Falls, R.I., voted to fire the entire faculty and staff of a high school - 93 people - based on the students' low test scores and dismal graduation rates. The move received the support of the Obama administration, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, which has pledged to turn around failing schools.

Radical education reform is taking shape in many other areas of the country where, typically, students struggle to achieve on grade level. In New York, the number of city and Long Island charter schools continues to grow - despite discouraging signals from the Assembly. In New Haven, Conn., and Detroit, recent contract negotiations have included, respectively, performance pay on a school-by-school basis and performance bonuses. In Boston, teachers and staff at six struggling schools are being required to reapply for their jobs.

With 7,000 students dropping out of school daily nationwide, the achievement gap between white and minority students still at unacceptable levels, and the learning gap between this country and others continuing to widen, these kinds of drastic measures are long overdue. But you have to wonder, why are they happening now?

One of the first things you notice about the Obama administration's education agenda is that it doesn't look particularly unique - in fact, in many ways it bears an uncanny resemblance to reforms proposed under the previous administration. National standards, pay for performance, merit pay, linking teacher tenure to student test scores and increasing the number of charter schools were all discussed well before President Barack Obama or Duncan came on the scene.

The difference is that under the present administration, these same issues no longer seem to be dead on arrival. Some even seem to be moving forward.

In the past, resistance to changing the status quo came from very well-organized teachers unions. Whether the push- back was well-intentioned or based primarily on self-preservation, it had the effect of silencing the dialogue needed to improve our education system. As a result, the condition of education in this country remained sadly unchanged.

But recently, things seem to be getting better. While the unions have predictably, and understandably, spoken out strongly against the direct attacks on jobs in Rhode Island and elsewhere, there are signs that some leaders are willing to work with policy makers and school officials in certain key areas.

In a speech at the National Press Club in Washington back in January, Randi Weingarten - current president of the American Federation of Teachers and former president of the United Federation of Teachers, which represents New York City teachers - spoke out in support of school reform, including the rigorous assessment of teachers and the need to improve the labor-management relationship.

Weingarten may be perceptively responding to the values and beliefs of her new members. The new generation hitting the workforce today - including those new to the ranks of teaching - is much different from those who came before. The Millennial Generation, generally considered those born after 1980, is 90 million strong and the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in U.S. history. Millennials bring a unique set of values and beliefs to the workplace, and these appear to be inherently opposed to some of the positions traditionally held by labor unions.

Members of this generation don't expect to stay forever in one job. So issues like job security and longevity - items frequently negotiated by teachers unions - may have less value to them. "When they have a problem in the workplace, they walk," says Neil Howe, an author who has written extensively on this generation.

A study conducted by the New American Foundation concluded that Millennials are more progressive than their older peers, showing a stark contrast to the conservative values and views of Generation X. The Millennials' forward-looking views about government, social issues and the economy will have a profound effect on their level of union involvement and how education policy is determined in this country today and going forward.

A survey conducted by the Public Agenda in 2008 found that when compared with veteran teachers, newcomers to the profession were more interested in working with charter schools, more likely to think that alternative certification is a good idea and more favorably inclined toward merit pay as a tool to reward teachers who help students learn - ideas touted by reformers that have historically received little support from the unions.

In fact, today's unions may well find that their signature issues are in direct conflict with the values of their new members. Seniority, tenure - these may have less support among the Millennials. And modifications and negotiated changes in these areas would be instrumental to reforming education.

Long Island education leaders - whether school administrators or union presidents - must understand the values of the new teachers now emerging in today's schools. If they don't, these young and prospectively excellent educators will leave for employment in places and professions where their voices are heard. Wise leaders should leverage the many strengths of this new generation by engaging them, collaborating with them, but most importantly listening to them.

Putting education reform in the hands of this new generation of teachers will bode well for the future of education, on Long Island and across the country.