Lisle, Illinois (July 7, 2011) TURN Regional Coordinators met to review accomplishments under the Ford Incubation grant, coordinate regional efforts for the coming year, and frame a set of issues/questions for the National TURN meeting, in October.  All five regions were represented: CalTURN, Great Lakes, Northeast, Southwest, and Mid-Atlantic/Southest.

The meeting began with updates from the Regions: 

Mid-Atlantic/Souteast TURN (MASE) is concentrating on building membership through conferences on topics related to teacher quality, teacher compensation, and community organizing. The fall conference (Oct 15-16) will feature exemplary labor/management collaboration - a different proposition in non-bargaining states - as a means to address the critical need for deeper knowledge about models of teaching. Partners in this effort have included the Center for Teaching Quality, The Education Sector, and Shenandoah University School of Education.  

Southwest TURN used funding from The Rose Family Foundation and Ford to enable greater participation in National TURN meetings. Because the southwest region covers such a large geographic area most regional meetings are conducted via webinars -- one of the resources provided through a contract with A.P.A. Consulting. Also providing resources and intellectual capital for the work is The National Center for Time and Learning and The Frameworks Institute.  What began as a "better way" plan for school improvement evolved into a coherent set of messages around the theme of Results for Students.  

Northeast TURN has been primarily about networking, over its 5-year history.  Recently, Race To The Top (RTTT) and State Improvement Grants (SIG) have become the key convener, due to the fact that all states in the region are funded through one or the other of the federal programs.  NE TURN has strong connections and direct involvement of state-level union leaders throughout the region. Especially significant has been the influence of the Massachusets Teachers Association's Teacher Evaluation Model.  

Great Lakes TURN, the oldest and largest regional network, has attracted nearly 300 local leaders to one or more of the bi-annual ccnferences held over the past couple years. Pat Dolan has been a consistent and continuing critical friend through a series of topics: professional development standards, Peer Assitance and Review, instructional models, and multiple measures.  Each two-day workshop is designed for labor/management teams to gain knowledge, learn from the experiences of other teams, and develop action plans.  The next phase involves capacity-building for follow-up support and documenting the work using communication tools built into this website.  

CalTURN initially launched in 2000 with a focus on PAR in response to a recently-passed state law (with big money).  Thirteen locals came together, but the effort ended with the funding.  After nearly two years of planning, Ford Foundation funding was used to re-launch.  Most if the original member locals chose not to continue.  So, with assistance from WestEd School Turnaround Center, CalTURN initiated a new focus on collaboration, inviting "a coalition of the willing" and ultimately attracting a total of 14 local/district teams to address the overaching question: how unions and districts can collaborate to minimize the impact of severe budget cuts and assure the best possible conditions for learning? The fall conference will consider extending the collaboration to influence state policy.

Regional reports were followed by a live tour TURNexchange.Net to give the Regional Coordinators a deeper understanding of the design principles behind the website and create a context to discuss strategies for generating content from the work of TURN regions. Among the recommended enhancemetns:

• posting the TURN themes on the home page, 
• move regional content so that it is one click from the home page, 
• develop editorial teams for main topics, and 
• assure that controversial content is password protected. 

Other Issues:

• A soon-to-be published study of Peer Assistance and Review by Dan Humphreys & Julie Koppich with very positive findings about the role of teacher reviewers and governance teams. 
• Elements of TURN work that are examples of Fourth Way Unionism (e.g. self-governed, teacher-led, and union-designed schools; teacher cooperatives, union charters & union-authorized chaters)
• Common Topics to pursue in the coming year(s): teacher quality, remessaging and framing in response to anti-union policies, expansion of regional turns & funding sources, defining teachers' work, and communicating/networking.

The Regional Directors agreed to work together to develop and implement an organizing plan and "TURN Curriculum" to support the common needs and programmatic themes, while allowing flexibility for the regions to address their unique issues and concerns.