A Look at Steven Brill’s Book, ‘Class Warfare’

You nailed it! We launched The VIVA (Vision Idea Voices Action) Project, www.vivateachers.org last year because we were exhausted by and frustrated with the management/labor “debate” in public education. We’ve listened to thousands of teachers who know that the rubber hits the road (apologies to Steve Brill) every day in their classrooms. And, they know that the big debates between “reformers” and union leaders are skirting the margins at best. So, The VIVA Project enables them to collaborate and create actionable solutions that would actually have positive influence in their classrooms and for their students.

VIVA teachers know that the public education system must give more authority to classroom professionals and that professionals internalize responsibility for the outcomes of their work (not just inputs). For classroom teachers, the big questions are about how we measure learning and what a great teacher looks like. As the reviewer suggests, we need to spend a lot more time on those questions. The VIVA Project is in the midst of a lively, rich and productive exploration of these issues from those who actually grapple with them every day in classrooms all across the United States. We invite you to join and to pay more attention to what classroom teachers have to say.