We assert at Education|Evolving that the inability of teachers to professionally control what matters for learning is at the root of the K-12 system’s difficulty.
Having been unable to secure professional status and economic security for members through negotiation or legislation, it is in the unions’ interest to suggest the country cut this new deal with its teachers. For teachers the appealing opportunity is to re-frame the debate; to leverage the “accountability” pressure in a way that will help win them professional status for their members, and to take responsibility for student and school success in exchange for control over what matters for success.
Some teachers are already doing this via Teacher Professional Partnerships (TPPs). The TPP arrangement is a truly professional model that places the opportunity to design and to run the program of learning fully with an organized group of teachers. This is the partnership concept we see in most white-collar occupations we call professional (physicians, accountants, attorneys, architects, among others). It is now beginning to appear in K-12, with teachers formally organized as a professional practice getting the authority to arrange and operate a school, accepting collegially in return the responsibility for student and school success; then setting out to change schooling.
Building on what has been learned from existing TPPs and having documented rising demand to work in such an arrangement, Education|Evolving and our partners are preparing to launch TPP21. TPP21 is a new venture to provide assistance to teachers, school districts, and states to help them understand, support, and implement teacher professional partnerships.
TPP21now provides six support services, including:
- Cultivating the policy environment
- Education and advocacy
- Union and district relationships
- Instructional program design
- Corporate structure and formation
- Organizational management support
We also seek to respond to demand by advocating for broad-based, national systemic change. Further, we encourage research of this growing field.
Interested in more information on the Teacher Professional Partnership school model? Contact us.