By Jacqueline Reis
(From Telegram, April 11th, 2013)
The contract for the local teachers’ union, the Educational Association of Worcester, expires at the end of August. Negotiations haven’t started yet, but state and national-level education experts and advocates say changes to contracts like Worcester’s could help students learn more.
In most cases, Worcester’s students do need to learn more. Fewer than half of the city’s students can do grade-level math, barely more than half do grade-level English language arts work, and more than a third of students do not speak English proficiently, meaning teachers must address their language needs while teaching them core subjects, too.
Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell D. Chester challenged Worcester and other districts to look at their teachers’ contracts during a local appearance in January. Although the typical teacher salary schedule rewards years on the job and advanced college credits, those factors have only a “limited” relationship to how good a teacher someone is, he said.
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