Chicago Teacher's Strike 2012
Actor Network Diagram
Chicago Teacher's Union
Karen Lewis (Consideration 3)
Chicago Public Schools
Online Petitions
Grassroots Support Groups
Pro-Strike Parents
American Public
Anti-Strike Parents
Social Media
City of Chicago
Rahm Emanuel
(Consideration 1)
General Public
Civil Society Organisations
Government Agencies and
Political Actors
Democratic Party
Barack Obama
Issue Concept Map
Conflicts over Public Education Reforms
Teacher's Wages and Promotion Opportunities
CPS Proposes:
Lesser increase of wages
Rationale: CPS high budget deficit in
need of urgent funding cuts
A merit-wage model where salary is determined by teacher's performance in staff evaluations*
Rationale: Incentivises hard work among teaching staff
CTU advocates for:
Fair wage distribution among all teachers
Higher compensation for longer working hours, average 30% increase in teachers' wages
CPS to adhere to the Career Advancement Schedule established by the CTU's first contract
Teacher Evaluations
CPS Proposes:
An increase of teachers' performance evaluations based on their students' results in standardised test scores, to 45%
Rationale: Incentivises results-oriented teachers,
in order to boost grades and graduation rates in
Chicago's public schools, which are below national average
Criticism: all teachers, including teachers in lower-performing schools, are judged by identical benchmarks even if these teachers are of a comparable calibre as teachers in other schools.
CTU advocates for:
Less emphasis on students' standardised tests in teacher evaluations
Rationale: facilitating longer times for students' recess, allowing
more rest for more effective learning
Rationale: Preventing teachers in lower-performing schools from being unfairly allocated lower wages
Greater fairness and transparency in staff evaluations
School Hours
CPS/ Mayor Emanuel Propose:
An increase in school hours in public schools
(the state of Illinois has the shortest
school day on average in the US)
Setting up of year-round schools with lessons
resuming during the summer
Rational: An addition of 40+ more days of learning per year- contributes to greater learning and achievement of academic goals
CTU advocates for:
A greater raise in teachers' wages in proportion
to longer school hours
School hours and school year length to remain unchanged
Provision of Social
Services for Students
CTU advocates for:
Increased counselling and nursing services in
underfunded schools
Rationale: greater care for needy students in such
schools who need these services the most
Restructuring of CPS
CPS and Mayor Emanuel propose:
Increase in new Charter Schools, offering vocational education
programs in Engineering, Science, and Business, which are
privately-run, publicly-funded, yet employing non-union teachers
Closure of poorly-performing, inner-city public schools which
incur high costs to CPS's funds with low returns in academic results (only 2% of African American male CPS students graduate from college on time)
Implication #1: Retrenchment of many experienced, committed teachers in these public schools
Implication #2: Transfer of students from
closing public schools to new Charter Schools
Implication #3: Unionised Public School teachers with experience and political clout (through their affiliation with CTS) are effectively being replaced with lower-paid, nonunion charter school teachers as Chicago's high school educators
CTU advocates for:
Fair re-employment contracts for teachers retrenched
by public school closures.
Parents petition for
Higher quality of education, greater opportunities for
children to enter college
Class Sizes
CPS/ proposes
Class sizes to remain unchanged
CTU advocates for:
Smaller class sizes
Rationale: Elementary school and kindergarten
classes are overcrowded compared to
95% of Illinois schools
Rationale: Better student to teacher balance
for more effective learning, teachers are
less likely to be overworked
Elementary School Subjects
CTU advocates for:
Increased time and resources for the
teaching of art and music
CPS proposes
Cutting back on funding for non-core,
enrichment subjects in the arts