Education Achievement Authority (Update)

Educators urge EMU: Cut ties with state district; teaching concerns cited

By David Jesse Detroit Free Press Education Writer

   Teachers unions and faculty members are applying pressure on Eastern Michigan University, hoping to force it from its role in the statewide Educational Achievement Authority school district, created to take over low-performing schools in the state.

   Several Washtenaw County teachers unions have asked members to stop accepting student teachers from EMU, and the faculty of EMU’s College of Education has sent a letter to the university’s Board of Regents asking it to drop out of the partnership with Detroit Public Schools and State of Michigan.

   On Wednesday, EMU’s full faculty Senate approved a resolution calling for EMU to withdraw from the EAA.

   The faculty and unions are upset with how the EAA staffs its schools. They say that when the EAA takes over, every teacher is fired and then has to reapply.

   The faculty also is upset that EAA schools are run by an appointed board and taken away from local school boards, and, they say, the reform district’s teaching methods are flawed. That all adds up, the EMU faculty says, to harming the university’s reputation.

   “These negative impacts on our reputation, our local relationships, our students and programs, the clear effect on enrollments and thus revenue to the university are a repudiation of EMU’s legacy as a champion of public education and a leader in the preparation of educational professionals,” the letter to the EMU board says. “We implore you to remedy this situation as quickly as possible by unanimously voting to withdraw from the contract creating the EAA.”

   EMU has no plans to drop out, said Leigh Greden, vice president of government and community relations.

   Under the agreement, EMU could withdraw now only if it found another university to take its place. After Dec. 30, 2014, it can withdraw on the next June 30th, as long as it has given at least 180 days notice.

   An EAA spokesman said the initiative is working well.

   How EAA benefits

   The EAA was formed in July 2011. It took control of 15 low-performing Detroit public schools, with the intent to eventually become a statewide district for the state’s lowest performing schools.

   EMU was given two seats on the 11-member board of directors, but College of Education faculty members said they’ve been frozen out since the EAA began, learning only of EMU’s participation when the new school district was announced.

   “We really have nothing to do with the EAA,” said Steve Camron, a special-education professor. “They don’t want anything to do with EMU’s faculty.

   “The EAA went out to a private firm to evaluate special education. They could have gotten that for free from EMU.”

   Camron said EMU professors have had EAA teachers and principals in classes and are trying to help informally. He said the EAA is trying to use EMU’s reputation, but not its resources.

   EAA spokesman Terry Abbott declined to comment on the EMU faculty’s protest but said the district’s “student-centered approach is working.”

   “In its first year of operation, the Education Achievement Authority saw very significant academic improvement throughout its schools,” Abbott said in an e-mail to the Free Press. “Students who had been in failing schools are making strong improvements. That’s what the EAA was created to do, and the effort thus far has been a substantial success.”

   The EAA has operated schools for only one year, so it is too early for MEAP scores to measure its impact. EAA officials measured student progress internally with a test called the Performance Series, a Web-based assessment that is not aligned with the MEAP test but allows teachers to measure student growth.

   Firings and training

   Also trying to push EMU out of the EAA is the Washtenaw County Education Association, which is made up of teachers unions from the Chelsea, Dexter, Lincoln, Manchester, Saline, Whitmore Lake and Ypsilanti school districts.

   The group has advised its teacher members not to take student teachers from EMU this year.

   “EMU is the only public university in partnership with the EAA,” said Tim Heim, a Saline teacher and association president. “The EAA feels school improvement means: ‘Fire all the teachers.’ EMU’s involvement gives us pause.”

   In a letter to teachers this year, Heim said that by firing teachers, EMU and the EAA are saying those teachers are poor teachers, but are then asking some of the same teachers to train EMU students.

   The number of student teachers from EMU who haven’t been able to get into Washtenaw County schools is not known. EMU said the boycott move could hurt its students.

   “This concerns us deeply, as the welfare and career path of our students is our primary concern,” Greden said. “We agree with many in our state and community who do not think it is appropriate for an organization to take actions that could potentially affect the careers of our high-quality teaching students, and the education of young people in our state.”

   Greden said a majority of EMU’s teaching students are from Michigan, and most plan to stay and teach in Michigan.Having a roadblock in their career development, he said, could lead them to look for opportunities outside Michigan.

   Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851or djesse@freepress.com  .

   Free Press education writer Chastity Pratt Dawsey contributed to this report.