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Join the Put Students First Coalition mailing list.
View video clips of the Boston Foundation's
Understanding Boston forumTeaching in the 21st Century andOut of the Debate.
View video clips of the launch of the Put Students First Coalition.
We are parents, students and teachers -- community, civic and business leaders -- who want all of the children of Boston to receive an excellent education. We believe that a good education is the key to a successful future. We believe it is finally time to fulfill the promise of great schools for all and that the current Boston teachers’ contract must fundamentally change to help students and teachers achieve that goal. We are the Put Students First Coalition.
This is an exciting time for education in the United States. President Barack Obama, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino are all focused on student achievement and better preparation for all of our children. This is also an urgent time for education in the United States. A good education is essential in the 21st century – in order to get a good job, to participate effectively in society and to enjoy all of the fruits of American life.
This summer and fall, the Boston Teachers Union and the Boston Public Schools will negotiate a new teachers’ contract that will determine the relationship among teachers, the district, students and parents for many years to come. The current contract was designed for a different day and does not give teachers and administrators the freedom to adapt to meet the changing needs of today’s students. The Boston Teachers Union and its individual teachers, the Boston Public Schools District and parents must come together in a new and more productive relationship to Put Students First.
Put Students First, the new Coalition for a 21st Century Contract, has been created by a broad range of parents, community activists, business people and ordinary citizens to ensure that a new contract will create real change in relationships and rules flexibility, so that children are at the center. We believe that the district and teachers should work effectively together – and with parents – to create meaningful reform. We believe a new contract, while providing fair wages and benefits for teachers, should be simplified and accessible for every resident of Boston, including individual teachers and parents. Specifically, it should include:
Holding principals, headmasters and central district officials accountable for regularly evaluating teacher performance, effective professional development and proven curriculum. Creating a strong link between student outcomes, teacher evaluation and promotion (including tenure), and professional development. This will strengthen all teachers and remove the few who should not be in the classroom. Incentives for high-performing teachers who assume the most challenging posts and show demonstrable results. This will encourage the best teachers to take additional responsibility, further professionalize the teaching cohort in Boston and bring talent to most needy students.
Boston is home of the first public school in America, and has a justly earned reputation as being an education leader. We cannot and must not accept a contract that ignores the best way to educate our children and places the needs of adults before those of students.
Read the press release announcing the formation of the Put Students First Coalition for a 21st Century Contact
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