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 * Letter of Interest **
 * 2010 AFT Innovation Fund **
 * March 15th, 2010 **

**Boston** **Teachers Union, AFT Local 66**
 * Submitted by the **
 * 180 Mount Vernon Street**
 * Dorchester, MA 02125**
 * Main Phone Number: 617-288-2000 **
 * FAX #: 617-288-0024 **


 * President: Richard Stutman **
 * Email: **** rstutman@btu.org **


 * Project Coordinators: **
 * Kathy Aldred, Co-Chair, Boston Teachers Union Professional Issues Committee **
 * Email: **** kaldred@bostonpublicschools.org **


 * Ted Chambers, Co-Chair, Boston Teachers Union Professional Issues Committee **
 * Email: **** echambers@bostonpublicschools.org **


 * Kevin Qazilbash, Boston Public Schools Math Coach and Math Teacher **
 * Email: **** aqazilbash@bostonpublicschools.org **


 * Amount Requested: $198,000 **

**Introduction:**

The following is a proposal for a collaborative professional development project between the Boston Teachers Union and the Boston Public Schools. Our primary objective is to use a new innovative method for lesson planning and professional development to ensure the delivery of the highest quality lessons and instruction in every classroom, in every school, every day. In the initial year, this model will support teachers of math across multiple grade levels. It will increase student achievement in math in schools across the district and state with a particular focus on schools that have been designated chronically under-performing or have been targeted for intervention.


 * Description of the Proposed Innovation:**

Our goal is to organize a two-part initiative:


 * //Part I//.** Recruit the most effective teachers from the Boston Public Schools, other traditional public schools, and charter schools, and have them work collaboratively to create lesson plans in curricular units that are highly engaging and embedded with best practices. The lessons in these units will be aligned to the Massachusetts curriculum standards and frameworks and will use research-based best practices. Lesson plans will also include links to relevant and engaging multi-media PowerPoint presentations, as well as videos of highly effective teachers teaching the lessons to classes of real students in urban settings.

Our first-year goal is to design highly-engaging research-based curricula for math teachers at four grade levels ranging from elementary to high school. Grade levels and units will be determined based on need according to results of district and state assessments as well as other factors. These units will be designed and created by teams of three exemplary lesson-designers/teachers from each grade level, with one acting as the curriculum coordinator to ensure quality control and implementation.

In addition, once these units are completed we intend to distribute them as widely as possible to teachers and schools across the state and country under the AFT and BTU brand/logos.


 * //Part II.//** In addition to making these highly-engaging and research-based lessons available to math teachers across the country (at no cost), we also plan to use these units as the cornerstone of a district-wide professional development program. Program participants will engage in a number of pre- and post-lesson activities collaboratively with lesson designers as well as staff from the BPS Office of Teacher Advancement and Development. Pre- and post-lesson activities will encompass a variety of approaches, ie. face-to-face seminars as well as e-learning webinars, on-line discussions, viewing of videos and completion of online surveys and reflections.


 * Needs This Initiative Will Address: **

This initiative will address a number of needs that are critical to supporting teachers as they work to increase student achievement in key areas. It will also counter many of the traditional criticisms that are often directed at teachers unions and collective bargaining.

1. This initiative will increase student achievement in math, particularly in under-performing urban schools and districts.

2. This initiative is a step toward ending the cycle of 'reinventing the wheel' in lesson planning, whereby new and veteran teachers across the country are continually forced to design and author lessons individually. Our goal is to create a bank of great research-based instructional units that all teachers can access free-of-charge. This will allow teachers to spend more time working collaboratively on improving instructional practices.

3. This initiative seeks to change the narrative around unions and education reform in a number of ways by using technology to deliver the highest quality lessons and instruction into every classroom, in every school, every single day. Teachers unions are often criticized as obstructionist and archaic bastions of the status quo. Our goal is to combat this mis-perception by combining 21st century technologies with engaging lesson ideas and research-based best practices. We want to demonstrate that unions and union teachers can successfully lead cutting-edge initiatives that deliver the highest quality instruction using state-of-the-art methods.


 * Objectives:**

1. Develop comprehensive, research-based, world-class lessons along with supporting multi-media resources for four instructional units (approximately 20 lessons per unit) for four grade levels.

2. Disseminate all instructional units and accompanying resources free-of-charge to at least 500 teachers nationwide.

3. Provide highly-practical and relevant professional development for approximately 50 novice and experienced teachers in Boston and across the state.

4. Supply all teachers participating in the Boston based professional develpment with LCD projectors to present project lessons.

5. Produce 16 professional development videos (as part of the four instructional units) of exemplary teachers that can be used nationwide as a model for how to teach one of the lessons included in the instructional units.


 * Desired Outcomes:**

1. To begin the first stage of production of a comprehensive K-12 unit plan bank that provides all teachers with the resources and training to deliver world-class, culturally relevant and engaging lessons plans that address the learning styles and needs of all students.

2. To increase the use of technology in classrooms in a manner that supports student achievement.

3. To promote the role of unions in the real and practical educational reform beyond the traditional areas of reform that unions often promote (class size, etc.)

4. To share world-class unit lesson plans as well as teaching videos and corresponding professional development systems with all schools in the country. 5. To help address the number one reason teachers leave the profession, lack of planning time (NCES cite), by providing world-class quality lessons in a manner that can be thoughtfully and effectively delivered by well trained and qualified teachers.

**Additional Information:**

1. Who will staff this effort? This initiative will be jointly managed by the BTU Professional Issues Committee and the BPS office of Teacher Advancement and Development.

2. What is the capacity/willingness of the district and/or other partners to support your idea with resources? In addition to the staff assistance from the BPS Office of TAD, the district will help us identify additional resources as we move through the second phase of the grant application process.

3. What new partnerships will you build or how will you expand current partnerships through this initiative? We will reach out to other AFT locals/districts across the state to encourage active participation. We will also seek outside partnerships with colleges and universities in the area as well as a number of websites to help distribute these lessons both locally and nationally.

4. How will you measure the success of your innovation? We will rely on a number of measures of success including; the number of lessons we are able to complete and make available; the impact upon pre- and post unit tests as well as state standardized test scores, and; participation in and feedback from the professional development.