What a startling admission of truth by an educator who spent decades working in schools as a teachers union member, before she had an epiphany. Those of us who are advocates for full scale public school transformation have known for years that the adults had substituted the academic needs of the students for their own agendas and concerns. It hasn’t been difficult to figure out that the unions and their members were more focused on securing tenure and benefits for all teachers, even at the expense of America’s schoolchildren. No one disagrees that teachers deserve to be treated as professionals and rewarded accordingly; however, it’s been revealing to witness over the past few decades how so many unions have been willing to effectively sacrifice and compromise the educational potential of so many students, in order to gain these advantages. Advocating on behalf of good and effective schoolteachers is both noble and necessary, but many of us have been wondering for years why this can’t be done without jeopardizing the academic success of our young people.

When you read between the lines of statements being made by union leaders and their allies, it is evident that they too recognize that the day of reckoning is upon us. While they may be speaking a language that is nuanced and different from what many education entrepreneurs advance, the issues and critical elements that need to be addressed are the same. For example, there is a real consensus that classroom teachers who are sufficiently competent, trained, compensated, and retained are the key for student academic achievement. Teachers unions and the entire public education establishment know with certainty that we must figure out how to properly evaluate, develop, promote, and incent teaching professionals so that they can be effective in their classrooms. While every stakeholder group acknowledges that teachers must be given the necessary tools and resources for classroom success, each group is approaching the task starting from a different set of assumptions and priorities. This is fine, as long as we all continue to move toward greater coordination and collaboration around those issues that relate primarily to the children and secondarily the adults. If education stakeholders can put aside their bureaucratic allegiances and political loyalties and focus solely on delivering a world class education to students across the learning spectrum, then we know that everything else will fall in place.