With new standards, curricular materials, assessments, and evaluations in many districts, the education landscape is changing rapidly. Feedback and leadership from teachers is essential to the profession at this critical time. In this month’s issue brief, we have assembled stories, survey results, and views of teachers reflecting on their own profession, as well as information Read more about May Issue Brief: Teachers on Teaching[…]
Through a first-of-its-kind exploratory survey, over 300 National and State Teachers of the Year reveal the professional experiences and supports that they believe most contributed to their growth and eventual excellence as a teacher. Reflecting back on their careers, from preparation through mastery and even into retirement, the teacher leaders surveyed in this study provide Read more about From Good to Great: Exemplary Teachers Share Perspectives[…]
Secretary Duncan announced that, over the next year, he and NBPTS President Ron Thorpe will co-convene a new initiative, Teach to Lead, to foster ambitious commitments on authentic opportunities for teachers to take up leadership roles without leaving the classroom. The goal is to ensure that when important decisions are being made about the work Read more about Teach to Lead[…]
Misinformation about the Common Core State Standards Initiative abounds. Those who seek to correct this misinformation might glean some insights from recent public health research about the power of disinformation campaigns. Navigator Communications suggests a new approach to communicating with parents and the public about the standards, based on communications work in the health sector. Read more about When “You’re Wrong” Isn’t Right: What Common Core Proponents Can Learn from the Anti-Vaxxers[…]
A consensus has emerged: In either their state guidance or Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waiver applications, 42 states say the goal of teacher evaluations is to improve teaching practice or explicitly link the purpose of teacher evaluations to professional learning. Is your state achieving this important goal? Do teachers in your state receive Read more about Utilizing Evaluation to Support Teachers[…]
In a new primary sources survey, 20,000 teachers provide powerful insights on teaching in an era of change. The verdict is: teachers want their voices heard in order to offer direction on student success, Common Core implementation, teacher evaluation, and parental support. Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released results from the comprehensive Read more about Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on Teaching in an Era of Change[…]
On January 13, 2014, Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave an address to the National Assessment Governing Board Education Summit for Parent Leaders. He highlighted the continual need for American parents to demand more from their children’s schools and teachers so that Americans can be prepared to compete in the demanding global business climate of the Read more about Secretary Duncan: Parent Voices for World-Class Education[…]
In a recent blog post, Marc Tucker of the National Center on Education and the Economy explains how fundamental changes in the way schools are managed could both attract better teachers and enable them to do their best work. Tucker’s blog post was motivated by the results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Read more about PISA On the Teacher as Professional[…]
How can we extend the reach of our most effective teachers? Are there ways to restructure their time, role, and pay in order to allow these teachers to interact with more students? In this month’s issue brief, we focus on new ideas for restructuring the role of teachers to allow the very best to “touch” Read more about January Issue Brief: Teacher “Reach”[…]
Who wrote the narrative, the frame through which we view the world of public education? Today the (often unstated) assumptions seem firmly in place: “America is losing the education race, test scores can be trusted, and teachers are the key to learning.” Once you accept all that, it’s logical to fire teachers whose students do Read more about Who created education’s narrative?[…]
Most every education official and pundit agrees that effective teachers are the largest determining factor of student success within control of the education system. Many have suggested various methods by which teacher training programs, principals, schools, school districts, and even states can act to ensure a greater number of quality teachers. What is the proper Read more about Giving Every Student Access to Excellent Teachers[…]
In the overwhelming majority of American classrooms, pupils are divided roughly equally among teachers of the same grade in the same school. Parceling them out uniformly is viewed as fair to teachers-and doing otherwise might be seen as unfair. Parents might wonder, too. But what if more students were assigned to the most effective teachers, Read more about Right-sizing the Classroom: Making the Most of Great Teachers[…]
In an age of Teach For America, value-added teacher evaluations, and new challenges for teachers such as teaching to Common Core, teacher tenure is as big of an issue as ever. Many studies show that experienced teachers are more proficient, although there is some evidence that teachers can stagnate over time. In addition, the baby Read more about At Charter Schools, Short Careers by Choice[…]
Many have made their careers in the field of education by comparing and contrasting the American education system with those around the world. Marc Tucker, of the National Center on Education and the Economy, is one of those. His book, Surpassing Shanghai: An Agenda for American Education Built on the World’s Leading Systems integrates a Read more about The Smartest Kids in the World[…]
Education Evolving wants to give teachers a larger role in their schools through a model that they call “Teacher Professional Partnerships.” Consider the following three propositions: 1. If teachers are to be accountable for student learning, teachers should control what matters for student learning. It’s a serious mistake to be trying to push accountability down Read more about Education Evolving Launches “Teachers in Partnership” Initiative[…]
TNTP has recently released the results of a new teacher survey, but it’s not your typical teacher survey. TNTP published “The Irreplaceables” in 2012 to look at how urban schools neglect top teachers. This study led to further questions concerning what high-performing teachers in high-need schools think about their classrooms and careers. So TNTP reached Read more about Perspectives of Irreplaceable Teachers[…]