2010: “Coalition 1.0”
Founded in 2010, the coalition originally focused exclusively on collective bargaining between the district and the teachers union, identifying teacher contract reform as a singular point of leverage within SPS to positively impact student outcomes. A case study analyzed the original effort. Both the Superintendent and union Executive Director credited OSC with a major impact on the final agreement, which for the first time connected student achievement to teacher effectiveness; replaced the binary “satisfactory/unsatisfactory” rating system with a 4-tier performance scale informed by data; and created new career and compensation pathways for teachers, among other changes. The National Council on Teacher Quality said, “Seattle’s new teacher contract is a big step forward and a vast improvement over what preceded it.”
2013: “Coalition 2.0”
The coalition engaged in a second round of contract reform advocacy in 2013. Results were positive but less dramatic relative to 2010. The ratified agreement sustained the changes made in 2010, but broke little new ground, largely due to the new SPS administration’s fairly narrow goals.
2015: “Coalition 3.0”
After the 2013 bargaining cycle, OSC members assessed a range of high-impact levers within public education systems. Compelled by the research demonstrating a clear correlation between School Board quality and student outcomes, the coalition elected to focus on School Board quality.