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When careers hinge on statistics, corruption is never far away. Last month Bronx high school principal Janet Saraceno resigned in the midst of a grade-changing scandal in which dozens of students allegedly received credit— and then diplomas— that they didn’t really earn. Improving the graduation rate would have earned the principal a $25,000 bonus.
In districts across the country— most notably in Atlanta— cheating scandals in schools are shocking and outraging the public. The outrage is justified— cheating is wrong— but what if the rules of the game are crooked? What if these scandals don’t represent isolated bad...
On October 5th, I testified in front of the Colorado State Board of Education. Though the audience I spoke to was a bit different than the elementary students I am used to talking to (though just as fidgety at times), I understood the importance of having a teacher’s voice about issues that have such huge impacts on the classroom.
Colorado is on the brink of implementing the EQuITEE Act, which changes the way teachers and principals are evaluated. Along with co-authoring the Denver NMI Report: Voices from the Classroom, which makes recommendations about this law, I felt the need to speak about peer evaluation to policymakers. In an early...
I just got done watching Mitchell 20, and I am just overwhelmed with emotion.
The new film is a documentary about twenty teachers at Mitchell Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizona. Like many urban schools, Mitchell is grappling with high poverty and violence in its neighborhood. According to one of the film’s teacher-stars, “To be a teacher at Mitchell, you have to be a special person. You have to get to know the children and the challenges they face every day.”
The storyline of the film is straightforward. One of the teachers at Mitchell inspires her colleagues to join her in going for National Board Certification. National Board Certification is the gold standard for teaching. It is a rigorous and demanding...
Just recently, the U.S. Department of Education released its plan for teacher-education reform, pointing out that too many university-based programs “do not provide teachers with a rigorous, clinical experience that prepares them for the schools in which they will work.”
In an ironic twist, however, the Department’s Race to the Top guidelines have promoted the proliferation of alternative certification programs that shortcut pre-service training for new recruits. These programs...
One of the best professional experiences I've had in a long time happened at my Teaching the iGeneration workshop in Cincinnati this week.
You see, I had the distinct pleasure of working with a super motivated team of teachers from Westfield High School in Westfield, Indiana. They were remarkable---both as professionals and as people---reminding me of just how much powerful teaching can be when educators enjoy their work AND their peers.
Over the course of our time together, we got to talking about the different ways that...
Recently, I heard about a study on National Public Radio about how 4-year-olds had a harder time focusing on a single task after watching the fast-paced television show, “SpongeBob SquarePants.” Though this study was criticized for how the results were found, it made me think about the uphill battle schools are facing to try to hold students’ attentions because they are used to the fast-paced input of television and technology.
We live in an age where input is constantly charging at all of our senses in a persistent way that is unparallel with times past. With technology, doors to information...
I found Stephen Sawchuk's Education Week article "New Groups Giving Teachers Alternative Voice" a well-needed introduction to some of the other groups in the country working to include teachers in policy decisions.
One of the issues facing these groups, the Washington New Millennium Initiative included, is establishing a relationship vis a vis the unions. Some, such as Educators 4 Excellence, are very clear in setting themselves up as an alternative to the union. NMI's position is more complex. I believe it is possible for my work in NMI to support and improve my involvement in the union. Indeed...
By Mermuda Wilson
Mermuda Wilson, a policy assistant at CTQ, has been using her video-editing expertise to share teacher voices in an online video series. In this guest post, she describes her experience working with these teacher-submitted videos.
Relationships. AP scores. Graduation stoles. “Fast food” learners. Empowerment. Community partnerships.
These are a few of the topics broached by teacher leaders highlighted in our CTQTube series. The series, which runs until mid-November, features Teacher Wall submissions from teachers in CTQ's...
Teaching can often feel like a lonely job, but there are nearly 4 million of us in the U.S. plugging away at it everyday.
Having trouble getting your first-graders to transition from recess to class? Want some tips on how to teach the concept of density of middle-schoolers? There are many thousands of other people dealing with the same thing. Teacher need to connect with each other and the technology exists to do it.
Teacher Wall, backed by the Gates Foundation, is it. The press release describes it...
Jose-
I recently attended the NYT Schools for Tomorrow conference that you called out for not acknowledging the expertise of teachers as innovators and change agents in the national debate on the direction of educational technology innovations. I wanted to say thank you. I am not sure I would have been able to attend if you hadn’t spoken up. I was happy to learn that most of the crowd in attendance were...
Blogs
The Implementing Common Core Standards (ICCS) team blogs about best practices for integrating common core standards into the classroom.
The TeacherSolutions 2030 team blogs about improving the teaching profession between now and the year 2030.
Megan M. Allen is a National Board Certified Teacher and the 2010 Florida Teacher of the Year. She is a proud fifth-grade teacher in Tampa and a 2012-13 CTQ teacherpreneur.
Barnett Berry is the Founder and President of the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), Inc., based in Carrboro, NC. CTQ seeks to dramatically improve student learning by advancing teaching as a 21st-century, results-oriented profession. He wrote TEACHING 2030 with 12 accomplished teachers.
Dan Brown is a teacher and the author of The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle. His writing has also appeared in The Boston Globe, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, and Education Week. He is a co-author of TEACHING 2030.
Jessica Cuthbertson is a teacherpreneur who divides her time between teaching 6th-grade literacy in Aurora, CO, and supporting teacher leadership through the Denver New Millennium Initiative.
Bill Ferriter teaches 6th grade language arts in North Carolina, where he was named a Regional Teacher of the Year for 2005-2006.
John Holland is an artist, a teacher, a writer, and an innovator. After 12 years as a preschool teacher, John began working at Early Head Start/Head Start Program as a child development specialist. He is a co-author of TEACHING 2030.
Jessica Keigan is a secondary language arts teacher at Horizon High School in Thornton, CO, and a teacher leader for the Denver New Millennium Initiative.
Ryan Kinser is a 6th grade English teacher in Hillsborough County, Florida. After a career in television production, Ryan taught in urban Washington as a D.C. Teaching Fellow. He is a member of the Hillsborough New Millennium Initiative.
Renee Moore has taught English and journalism for 20 years in the Mississippi Delta region at both high school and community college levels. She is National Board Certified, a former state Teacher of the Year, and a co-author of TEACHING 2030.
Dave Orphal is a teacher in Oakland, CA. Dave serves as a veteran teacher leader for the Bay Area New Millennium Initiative and works with the California Teachers Association's Institute for Teaching.
Ariel Sacks teaches eighth grade English at a middle school in Brooklyn, NY. She has published articles about her work in Teacher Magazine and is a co-author of TEACHING 2030.
Mark Sass has taught public high school for 18 years and has been involved in various leadership positions and policy discussions in Colorado. Mark is a member of the inaugural Aspen Teacher Leader Fellows.
In addition to our regular transformED bloggers, we frequently feature guest posts written by teachers involved in CTQ communities. We welcome teachers to share their reflections and expertise on transformED.
Jose Vilson is a math teacher, coach, and data analyst for a middle school in the Inwood/Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. He is a co-author of TEACHING 2030.
Noah Zeichner is a National Board Certified Teacher in Seattle. He currently serves in a hybrid teaching role, dividing his time between teaching social studies and supporting CTQ's global teacher leadership initiatives.
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