Michigan

National Council on Teacher Quality Report Card: Michigan Teacher Policy

Legend

	Best practices.
	State meets goal.
	State nearly meets goal.
	State partially meets goal.
	State meets a small part of goal.
	State does not meet goal.
Full Report – National Council on Teacher Quality

Meeting NCLB Teacher Quality Objectives: C

	Goal A Equitable Distribution of Teachers
	Goal B Elementary Teacher Preparation
	Goal C Secondary Teacher Preparation
	Goal D Veteran Teachers Path to HQT
	Goal E Standardizing Credentials

Teacher Licensure: C

	Goal A Defining Professional Knowledge
	Goal B Meaningful Licenses
	Goal C Interstate Portability
	Goal D Teacher Prep in Reading Instruction
	Goal E Distinguishing Promising Teachers

Teacher Evaluation and Compensation: D

	Goal A Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness
	Goal B Using Value-Added
	Goal C Teacher Evaluation
	Goal D Compensation Reform
	Goal E Tenure

State Approval of Teacher Preparation Programs: D

	Goal A Entry Into Preparation Programs
	Goal B Program Accountability
	Goal C Program Approval and Accreditation
	Goal D Controlling Coursework Creep

Alternate Routes to Certification: D

	Goal A Genuine Alternatives
	Goal B Limiting Alternate Routes to Teachers with Strong Credentials
	Goal C Program Accountability
	Goal D Interstate Portability

Preparation of Special Education Teachers: D

	Goal A Special Education Teacher Preparation
	Goal B Elementary Special Education Teachers
	Goal C Secondary Special Education Teachers
	Goal D Special Education Teacher and HQT

Political contribution statistics from 2004 political cycle.

Statewide Unions

Michigan Education Association
Total Revenue: $ 73,258,502
Total Expenses: $ 67,067,865
Total Assets: $ 52,270,168

AFT Michigan
Total Revenue: $ 3,672,541
Total Expenses: $ 3,685,784
Total Assets: $ 2,290,522

Data obtained from the Internal Revenue Service's Master Data File 2005-2006.

Teacher Contracts

Name	District	Occupation
Grand Rapids Education Association	Grand Rapids Public Schools	Teachers

(more)

For this massive new project, the Center for Union Facts filed freedom of information requests with dozens of America’s major school districts.

 From the stacks of paperwork that ensued, we have calculated a variety of statistics that document how teachers unions – and the laws and policies they defend – keep bad teachers in classrooms. Read on to discover just what all that dues money pays for in many cities around the country.

Detroit Federation of Teachers: Protecting Bad Teachers

The Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) is the exclusive bargaining agent for teachers from the Detroit Public Schools District. Policies defended by the DFT and its parent organizations (AFT-Michigan and the American Federation of Teachers) mean that practically no teachers are ever fired by the school system after they work for four years and thus acquire tenure.

A key feature of tenure is the incredible burden put on school districts trying to get rid of bad teachers. In fact, frequently it is so time-consuming and expensive to fire teachers that districts will instead offer these teachers settlements, essentially paying them to stop teaching and leave. To expose this disturbing, union-enforced practice, the Center for Union Facts performed original research into settlements made between Detroit Public Schools and teachers unionized under the Detroit Federation of Teachers for the 2002-03 through the 2006-07 school years. In exchange for promises to leave the district, tenured teachers have received:

• months of further pay (sometimes in exchange for staying home!);
• guarantees that the district won't tell future employers why those teachers left; and
• guarantees that their personnel files will be purged of any references to the district's reasons for pursuing termination in the first place.

Support for the unacceptable status quo also drives the DFT to reject hundreds of millions of dollars for public education -- that is, when those dollars pay for kids in non-unionized charter schools. In 2002 philanthropist Robert Thompson offered the city of Detroit $200 million to establish 15 charter schools. Until the fall of 2002, according to the Detroit Free Press, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick supported Thompson's offer. But on September 25 of that year, the Detroit Federation of Teachers led a one-day walkout that shut down the city's schools in protest of Thompson's offer. The deal collapsed immediately thereafter.

Source: Detroit Public Schools
Data current as of December 11, 2007