Redesigning Professional Development
By Patricia A. Wasley, CEO, Teaching Channel
For years we have invested significant resources in professional development for teachers – somewhere in the vicinity of $16 billion per year. And please don’t forget the countless hours of time and energy that teachers spend in trying to move their practice forward. Unfortunately, the disappointing fact is that we have not seen the corresponding jump in student achievement that such an investment merits. It’s no surprise why when the common approach to professional development is revealed. More often than not, new strategies are demonstrated in front of groups of teachers who come from a variety of disciplines, grade levels, and school contexts. In this setting, teachers can observe and can ask questions, but they are sent back to their own classrooms to figure out how to adapt new strategies on their own.
Read More →RECAP: The 2014 Holshouser Legislators Retreat
By The Hunt Team
Sweeping education legislation in 2013 has resulted in monumental changes for teaching and student assessment in North Carolina’s public schools. Local school districts are working hard to implement these new policies and are calling on policymakers to re-examine the pace of change, the efficacy of these reforms, and the expectations being placed on classroom teachers.
Last month, The Hunt Institute convened North Carolina legislators in Greensboro, NC, for the 2014 Holshouser Legislators Retreat amidst this backdrop of trepidation and change. This bi-partisan group of 60 policymakers spent two days with national and state education experts discussing key topics such as teacher effectiveness and compensation, student assessments, school accountability, partnerships that promote college and career readiness, and the role rigorous standards play in securing North Carolina’s economic future.
Read More →Refining Educator Learning Through Effective Resources
By Joellen Killion, Senior Advisor, Learning Forward
As states and districts move toward full implementation of the Common Core Standards, developing educators’ understanding of the standards and building their capacity to revamp instruction to incorporate deeper and authentic application of learning is critical. Yet, despite educators’ call for professional learning, policy and decision makers repeatedly question the impact of professional learning and its ability to produce deep change in educator practice and student achievement. One reason for these questions is a commonly held misconception that all professional learning is equivalent in quality, regardless of its length, design, and alignment with educator and student outcomes.
Read More →Teaching is at the Heart of Education
By The Hunt Team
To round out Teacher Appreciation Week, The Hunt Team is digging in the Jim Hunt archives and posting an excerpt from the former governor’s speech to the National Board Certified Teachers and National Board For Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) Board of Directors on October 19, 1995. Though a small portion of his remarks, it is a testament to Governor Hunt’s long-time commitment to teachers and the teaching profession.
While the landmark 1983 “A National at Risk” report focused the national spotlight on the troubled state of American Education and provoked a wave of reform efforts, most of these initiatives left out a critical element of the education equation: the classroom teacher. Teaching is at the heart of education, and the single most important action we as a nation can take to improve our children’s learning is to strengthen the ability, knowledge, and professionalism of our teachers. Knowing this, the task force called for the establishment of a National Board for Professional teaching Standards, and there has not been a times since then that I have wavered in my commitment to see this idea turn into reality.
Read More →By Lisa Mount, Kevin Drinkard, and Alyson Mike
It used to be that only language arts teachers were expected to help students learn to read and write, as well as critically listen and persuasively speak. But Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have thankfully put that antiquated perception on final notice. Of course, all teachers should build their students’ literacy skills, including argumentation – defending a claim about any idea, process, or outcome – which is exactly what CCSS support.
Consensus on Essential Characteristics of Effective Professional Learning
Effective teaching and learning, not standards, prepare students for college, careers, and civic life. The Common Core State Standards and other rigorous college- and career-readiness standards, however, can contribute to effective teaching and learning by pointing to the centrality of educators in generating ever higher levels of student achievement. To support these higher levels of student achievement, schools and districts must support effective professional learning. Thirteen professional associations and education organizations have reached consensus about essential characteristics of effective professional learning.
Read More →New, Free Resource for Implementing the Common Core
By Ed Milliken, ASCD
We know that implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is a challenge for a lot of educators. That’s why we here at ASCD have created the new, free EduCore™ digital tool to help teachers and administrators implement the CCSS in both mathematics and literacy. Funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the EduCore tool is a repository of evidence-based strategies, videos, and supporting documents that help educators transition to the CCSS.
We’ve designed the EduCore tool for both the math and English language arts literacy standards. The math section of the EduCore tool supports CCSS implementation and features a variety of formative assessment lessons and videos ready for classroom use, including more than 20 formative assessment mathematics lessons. Developed by the Shell Centre these middle and high school Classroom Challenges include problem-solving and content-development formative assessments on subjects such as solving linear equations in two variables and applying angle theorems. Useful plans, student materials, PowerPoint slides, and other materials round out the many mathematics resources available.
Read More →The Case for Ongoing Professional Learning for State Boards of Education
By Elizabeth Ross, National Association of State Boards of Education
Nearly every state has embarked on the ambitious goal of ensuring that every child is prepared to enter the workforce and college with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful. In 44 states, Washington, D.C., and three territories, state boards of education adopted or recommended adopting the Common Core State Standards or the state’s own college/career standards.[1] Adoption, however, was the easy part; implementation brings its own set of complex issues.
One of these challenges is leadership turnover. Just on state education boards, more than 200 board members have served two years or less on their board, with more changes to come after the November elections. As a result, many policymakers are grappling with their new responsibilities in addition to the educational needs of students in their state
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