69ý

Teaching Profession

Teachers’ Contract Includes Peer Review

By Stephen Sawchuk — November 28, 2012 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

Includes updates and/or revisions.

A newly ratified teachers’ contract in Newark creates several firsts for New Jersey.

Some teachers will have the opportunity to earn up to $12,500 extra for getting a superior performance rating on evaluations, teaching in a low-performing school, and teaching a high-need subject. Also for the first time, peer reviews will become a formal part of the evaluation process.

Under the three-year contract, approved by the city’s teaching force last month, all new hires and teachers with bachelor’s degrees will be placed on a new “universal” salary schedule that replaces premiums for holding advanced degrees with the opportunity to win the bonuses. Other teachers can choose to stay on a more traditional schedule.

Teachers will also get about $31 million in retroactive pay, covering the two-year period in which they worked under an expired contract.

Regardless of which salary schedule they’re on in the future, though, annual raises for experience will be contingent on earning a satisfactory evaluation rating.

“I like differentiating pay based on performance. I think it’s just good organizational policy,” said Shavar D. Jeffries, one of the members of the 26,000-student district’s advisory board, an elected body that provides assistance to the superintendent but does not set policy on its own. The Newark district has been under state control since 1995.

“I know educators are concerned about politics informing evaluations, so we have to police them to make sure they are accurate and reflect best practices in educating children,” Mr. Jeffries said.

To that end, the contract contains a number of checks and balances introduced into the evaluation system. Among other provisions, it:

• Sets up a joint union/management panel to oversee development of the district’s teacher-evaluation system;

• Establishes school improvement councils, including a teacher representative, in each school, which are responsible for professional development and evaluating teachers; and

• Creates a system of “peer validators,” who will act as a third-party check on evaluation decisions for teachers who received low ratings on prior evaluations.

“We are starting to develop the mindset that we’re professionals, and professionals usually weigh in and evaluate their peers,” said Joseph Del Grosso, the president of the Newark Teachers Union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers. “It’s a known fact, but seldom spoken, that teachers, when they’re in the lounge, are pretty critical of those who aren’t pulling their weight. They find it demeaning.”

The contract is similar in concept to those signed by AFT affiliates over the past two years in Baltimore and New Haven, Conn. A variety of state and national figures, including Republican Gov. Chris Christie, his handpicked education secretary Christopher Cerf, and AFT President Randi Weingarten, hailed the contract as a model.

Policy Context

The pact also bears the fingerprints of other education efforts in New Jersey, including a teacher-evaluation and tenure-reform bill that passed in August. Under the measure, teachers with a string of low reviews can be brought up on a tenure hearing. Mr. Del Grosso said he fought to get peer review into the Newark contract partly because of such provisions.

How the contract will be financed was not immediately clear. Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson said it would cost some $100 million in new funds. About half that amount was expected to be provided through a foundation created by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of social-networking site Facebook. But the remainder is to come from public dollars, potentially a problem for the cash-strapped district, which had to close a $36 million gap for fiscal 2013.

Critics of the contract included the members of a new political “caucus,” or party, within the NTU. Called the New Caucus, the group has argued in documents on its website that the contract doesn’t address social-justice concerns, paves the way for more school shake-ups, and with its two salary schedules has the potential to divide the membership during future collective bargaining negotiations.

Similar groups have arisen in other AFT districts, including the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators, in Chicago, and the Movement of Rank-and-File Educators, in New York City.

A version of this article appeared in the December 05, 2012 edition of Education Week as Union Contract in Newark Includes Peer Review

Events

School & District Management Webinar Crafting Outcomes-Based Contracts That Work for Everyone
Discover the power of outcomes-based contracts and how they can drive student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in 69ý
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by 
School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Teaching Profession Data What Teacher Pay and Benefits Look Like, in Charts
A third of teachers report inadequate pay, and Black teachers are the likeliest to do extra unpaid work.
4 min read
Vector illustration of a woman turning a piggy bank upside down with nothing but a few coins and flies falling out of it.
iStock/Getty
Teaching Profession The State of Teaching Why Teachers Likely Take So Few Days Off
The perception coincides with teachers' low levels of job satisfaction.
3 min read
survey teachers static
via Canva
Teaching Profession What the Research Says The More 69ý Miss Class, the Worse Teachers Feel About Their Jobs
Missing kids take a toll on teachers' morale, new research says. Here's how educators can cope with absenteeism.
4 min read
An empty elementary school classroom is seen on Aug. 17, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York. Nationwide, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened after COVID-forced closures. More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year.
An empty elementary school classroom is seen on Aug. 17, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York. Nationwide, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened after COVID-forced closures. Now research suggests the phenomenon may be depressing teachers' job satisfaction.
Brittainy Newman/AP
Teaching Profession Will Your Classroom Get Enough 'Likes'? Teachers Feel the Social Media Pressure
Teachers active on social media feel the competition to showcase innovative lessons and beautiful decorations.
5 min read
Image of a cellphone on a desk.
iStock/Getty