In early 2012 The California Teachers Association embarked upon a strategic planning process at the direction of its State Council of Education, and under the guidance of the Labor Education and Research Center (LERC) at the University of Oregon. The process – called “Your Voice, Our Union, Our Future” – has been designed to build a long?term plan for CTA that will engage all members and staff, look at what we are doing now and where we want to go, embrace new ideas, set priorities and focus organizational resources, and build the CTA we want for our future. The resulting strategic plan will be a “road map” for CTA’s future.

In order to accomplish this goal, CTA relied on the people that know the organization best—the members and the staff Throughout in the process CTA reached out to CTA members in several different ways: two member surveys, including an online survey that was open to ALL CTA members, retired members and student members; discussions at CTA conferences, State Council meetings, Service Center Council meetings and local chapter meetings; and one-on-one interviews. CTA’s current practices and structures were also reviewed and conversations were held with parents, education partners, community groups, state labor unions and business groups.

After months of talking with, listening to and getting input from CTA members and staff, committees were formed correlating to eight key areas identified upon which to focus and build a strategic plan to lead CTA for the next three to five years. These committees developed goals and tasks in each focus area. Out of those goals and tasks, a final Strategic Plan was developed and was submitted in October to CTA State Council for review. Council will vote on adoption of the plan in January 2014 after additional presentations and discussions with members at Service Center Council meetings, CTA trainings and conferences, and local chapter meetings.

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Rep Council minutes for Dec. 17

Formative Assessment Plan draft mentioned in the minutes

Rep Council Agenda Dec. 17

Your voice is important in today’s national day of awareness

A long journey begins with a single step. Today, educators, parents, and community members are taking that step in local actions across the country to say collectively and clearly that our students deserve better than “market-driven” reforms. We’re saying “no” to a corporate takeover of our education system and “yes” to community-driven, student-based decisions.

That’s why CTA, NEA, and the AFT have declared December 9, 2013 as a national day of awareness. We are asking everyone to Raise Your Hand for Great Public Schools.

Our schools belong to all of us: the students who learn in them, the parents who support them, the educators and staff who work in them and the communities that they anchor. We cannot allow ourselves to be divided. Corporate-style reforms that disregard our voices, and attempt to impose a system of winners and losers must end. None of our children deserve to be collateral damage.

We have developed principles and are committed to working together to achieve the policies and practices that they represent. Read and sign on to the principles.

And you can join in by lending your voice, post or tweet. Please consider joining me and other educators across the country by donating a Facebook post or tweet. Here are a few samples you could share with your friends.

Sample Facebook Posts:

· Our schools belong to all of us: the students who learn in them, the parents who support them, the educators and staff who work in them, and the communities that they anchor. We demand direct involvement in the decisions that affect our schools. www.edvotes.org/ourschools.
· I raise my hand and say YES to great public schools in every neighborhood!
· I demand more for America’s students than the current market-driven reforms that proliferate rather than address inequity. www.edvotes.org/ourschools.
· Quality public schools should be community-led and student-centered.
· Raise your hand to stand up for America’s students rather than market-driven reforms that don’t address inequity and join others who are taking action to strengthen public education.
· Today I stand with parents, educators and students united by a vision of public schools where local solutions and student-centered approaches are recognized and favored over top-down strategies that don’t benefit all students.

Sample Tweets:

· Raise your hand and say YES to great public schools in ALL neighborhoods. #OurSchools
· YES to investing in our children’s future; NO to corporate tax breaks, underfunded schools. #OurSchools
· YES to teaching kids to be critical thinkers; NO to teaching them to fill in bubble tests. #OurSchools
· YES to educator, parent and community partnerships that focus on what’s good for students. #OurSchools
· Sign on to reclaim the promise of public #education as our nation’s gateway to social justice http://bit.ly/1gBH81C #OurSchools
· RT to stand up for America’s students rather than market-driven reforms that don’t address inequity. #OurSchools

Hopefully, today helped ignite a much larger conversation about community-led and student-centered schools.

On December 9th, parents, students, educators and community leaders across the country will raise their hands and demand more for America’s children. On the National Day of Action: Raise Your Hand for our Schools and our Solutions communities will demand that those who know students best devise and implement community-driven solutions to tackle the opportunity gaps in American education.

The day of action is an outgrowth of ongoing collaboration among the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and several key community partners to mobilize support for public education, pushing back against the corporate takeover of our public schools and lifting up the voices of practitioners and communities about what is best for our students.

In Vacaville, today, we’d like to ask you to share your thoughts on school reform. Specifically, we’d like for you to share how schools would be reformed if you were in charge. Please share your ideas on our Facebook page, in the comments section below or email your comments to the VTA webmaster. He may be reached at coreypenrose@yahoo.com.