NEA Endorses PAR, Performance Assessments

Education Daily (12/14, Njuguna) reports that the NEA has announced "its support for peer assistance and review, higher standards for new teachers entering the profession, and expanded teacher leadership roles. 'We must take responsibility for our own profession; we know what has to get done,' NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said announcing action the union is taking to carry out recommendations from an independent, 21-member NEA Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching." The piece notes that "Van Roekel acknowledged in his speech that NEA has in the past been 'schizophrenic' about whether PAR is a good idea, but now recognizes there are examples where the evaluation model has worked."