WASHINGTON — A teachers union challenged the Obama administration Monday to live up to its promise of working with teachers and not against them.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said her union will post a “collaboration meter” on its website to judge whether reforms are happening with teacher involvement.
Weingarten spoked to an AFT gathering of more than 2,500 people in Washington on Monday. She joined Education Secretary Arne Duncan on stage for a town-hall-style forum.
President Barack Obama has education goals that put him at odds with many teachers.
Obama supports performance pay, which links teacher bonuses to student achievement using measures that include test scores. Many teachers don’t want test scores to be used because tests can be deeply flawed and because kids aren’t tested in every subject.
Obama also wants to expand charter schools, which are more autonomous schools that teachers have resisted because they usually aren’t unionized and because critics think they drain money and talent from traditional public schools.
