While standards-based reform is now the law of the land, teachers often complain that they don't have the resources they need to make the reform strategy work. To help bridge the yawning gap between standards and what actually happens in the classroom, the United Federation of Teachers, the union representing New York City teachers, has spent $2 million to create a curriculum to match the state's standards in language arts. Resource guides for other subjects are in the works. The curriculum spells out state and city academic standards and provides detailed lessons for each grade level and examples of student work that meets the standards. Observers immediately labeled the effort an attempt by the union to boost its image as a professional organization devoted to enhancing education, not just a labor group out to protect the jobs of its members. A principal complained to New York Times reporter Abby Goodnough that it should be the role of the Department of Education to set instruction, not the role of a labor union that is also in the business of protecting teachers from bad ratings. Maybe so, but it's hard to fault the union for creating a useful resource for teachers, some of whom would otherwise struggle to implement New York State's standards in the absence of any real guidance from the state department of education or school district. If the curriculum doesn't quite measure up, then someone should step forward to produce a better one. "Teachers' Union Publishes Guide for Classroom and Stirs Debate," by Abby Goodnough, The New York Times, September 13, 2002
