On Tuesday night, I was really taken back by a meeting of interested community members in Loudon County. In a meeting room at a local church, about 15 - 20 people came together around making education a top priority in Loudon County.
Looking around, there are people from local banks, local businesses, retired teachers, people from Pellissippi State, the Loudon County Director of Schools, Health Education Alliance Loudon, current Loudon County School administrators, parents, the county property assessor, Leadership Loudon members, ETC. See where I'm going?
These people are coming together to try and formulate a P-16 Council. These councils are typically run out of community colleges (part of the Tennessee Board of Regents system of higher education) and offer a voice to the community in education. A very active regional group is the Mid-East P-16. They're also well-connected to the Hamblen County P-16...a group that literally painted the town with EDUCATION (legend has it that even grocery clerks were asking customers if they supported education!). They've helped to identify where the community can go with education as a connection point with many other things.
Everyone at the Loudon meeting had to decide on a vision for the group.
Within 5 minutes, it was clear: Making education a top priority in Loudon.
All coming from different perspectives, they all agree that education is necessary for an economically successful and healthy community that has a high quality of life. Their next meeting is in May...contact Debbie Henry from Health Education Alliance Loudon.
Conversations like these are happening all over the area. See groups like the Blount Education Initiative. With all these things popping up, the real challenge will be to ALIGN these conversations in hopes that we can help raise the bar for education in TN.
You, too, can help to lead some of these conversations in your community. Hopefully the United Way can be a part of unifying the community around the importance of education in TN.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
For Knox County readers... McIntyre Meeting Tonight
Superintendent McIntyre will be having a community forum TONIGHT at 6 PM. Here are the details:
Location: Karns High School, 2710 Byington-Solway Road
Date / Time: TONIGHT, 4/26, 6:00 PM
Description: To hear and discuss community, employee, parent, and student comments and insights about Knox County Schools.
Meetings like this give the community a voice in education! Hope you can make it!
Location: Karns High School, 2710 Byington-Solway Road
Date / Time: TONIGHT, 4/26, 6:00 PM
Description: To hear and discuss community, employee, parent, and student comments and insights about Knox County Schools.
Meetings like this give the community a voice in education! Hope you can make it!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Data-driven schools
Using data to make decisions is certainly not a new thing in society, but it's certainly a newER thing in education.
The business community has become increasingly involved (going back to the '80s in the Bush-1 presidency) in education for a variety of reasons, but one of them is certainly workforce development (see the Knoxville Chamber, Johnson City Chamber, the Roane County Chamber, and Sullivan County). I'm no "business in education" expert, but you can see from businesses like State Farm, Eastman Chemical, and Nuclear Fuel Service (see GOAL card program) that businesses have an increasing stake in education. Knox County has a "Partners in Education" program that allows businesses to get involved with education.
Data is something that is on the minds of a lot of people interested in education in East Tennessee.
- TVAAS: The TN Value-Added Assessment System, designed by a professor at UT, aims to show how much value-added gains students make in a year. This data system will now be used to evaluate teachers. Details are still being developed as to how... This system, along with the group Education Consumers Foundation, is receiving a lot of attention now that TN was awarded $500 million dollars to improve education in TN.
- Education Management Information System: Certainly related to TVAAS, this system is designed to make over 20 databases of information talk to each other in Knox County Schools in an effort to translate DATA into KNOWLEDGE. Knox County is still getting reports about the project's progress. Administrators and teachers in Knox County can seek training through the online professional development tool.
- Professional Learning Communities, or targeted groups of teachers in schools that collaborate about how they teach concepts to make sure students are learning the content, use this kind of data to tweak teaching strategies. Knox County wants to make sure these are used.
Education is changing.
How can we, as the community, best support these changes? It's all about making sure teachers are supported so that their students can succeed academically.
Join the discussion.
The business community has become increasingly involved (going back to the '80s in the Bush-1 presidency) in education for a variety of reasons, but one of them is certainly workforce development (see the Knoxville Chamber, Johnson City Chamber, the Roane County Chamber, and Sullivan County). I'm no "business in education" expert, but you can see from businesses like State Farm, Eastman Chemical, and Nuclear Fuel Service (see GOAL card program) that businesses have an increasing stake in education. Knox County has a "Partners in Education" program that allows businesses to get involved with education.
Data is something that is on the minds of a lot of people interested in education in East Tennessee.
- TVAAS: The TN Value-Added Assessment System, designed by a professor at UT, aims to show how much value-added gains students make in a year. This data system will now be used to evaluate teachers. Details are still being developed as to how... This system, along with the group Education Consumers Foundation, is receiving a lot of attention now that TN was awarded $500 million dollars to improve education in TN.
- Education Management Information System: Certainly related to TVAAS, this system is designed to make over 20 databases of information talk to each other in Knox County Schools in an effort to translate DATA into KNOWLEDGE. Knox County is still getting reports about the project's progress. Administrators and teachers in Knox County can seek training through the online professional development tool.
- Professional Learning Communities, or targeted groups of teachers in schools that collaborate about how they teach concepts to make sure students are learning the content, use this kind of data to tweak teaching strategies. Knox County wants to make sure these are used.
Education is changing.
How can we, as the community, best support these changes? It's all about making sure teachers are supported so that their students can succeed academically.
Join the discussion.
Friday, April 16, 2010
In the end, schools should be FUN, right?
Hey again, everyone. Lots happening.
For those of you interested in national stuff, Florida is a HOT place...not only for weather, but for teacher tenure. Guess what, though. Gov. Crist vetoed a bill that would have eliminated tenure (and done a bunch of other things that a lot of teachers seemed to not like).
Interested in Race to the Top implementation?
You can see an estimate of how much MONEY each district will get. Your school system would have to APPLY for how they plan to spend the money and an implementation committee will oversee that they money is being spent on those things that Race to the Top tries to target. According to the state, that means "provid[ing] a structure for struggling schools to have access to 'high quality' content and course delivery providers." The implementation team, from what I can see, hasn't been decided on yet.
Teachers, interested in how your evaluation tool will change?
The Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee has a website and is trying to make their process transparent. I'm trying to work with the KCEA to make sure local teachers can have input in this process. Still developing this...
The Coalition of Large Area School Systems (a group designed to make sure large districts talk to each other) will be holding a meeting this month in Knoxville to look at the Teacher Advancement Program and what it might teach TN about changing its evaluation system.
ALL THROUGH THIS, I've been meeting with a lot of people, from superintendents, teachers, business folks, etc. about so many things. Here are some things people have made clear:
- Teaching and learning should be FUN. But with teachers running 100 miles per hour every day, it's hard to just slap more requirements on teachers and expect them to be on board.
- Many people and groups try to SUPPORT teachers, but we don't stand together. Science and math teachers can look at Oak Ridge Associated Universities and Knoxville's Vols 4 STEM. Social studies, civics, and reading can look at innovative programs like the East TN Historical Society's programs. If you're a business and want to get involved, Chambers of Commerce and Partners in Education programs allow access. If you want after-school programs and other interventions, non-profits like the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club (excluding many here, I know, but it's long enough already) usually will help. BUT IT ALL SEEMS DISCONNECTED. How can we expect teachers to digest it all?
If you're interested in having a relaxed conversation about supporting teachers, I'll be at Barley's in the Old City in Knoxville on THURSDAY, April 22 @ 7 PM. Intimate discussions can help us all think through this stuff. Come one, come all.
If you're interested in holding a discussion about how we can work together to connect these dots, please contact me! luterg@unitedwayknox.org or call me directly at 865-521-5575.
This conversation can't only be driven by me. The community has to be leading it. Help me to get that going.
For those of you interested in national stuff, Florida is a HOT place...not only for weather, but for teacher tenure. Guess what, though. Gov. Crist vetoed a bill that would have eliminated tenure (and done a bunch of other things that a lot of teachers seemed to not like).
Interested in Race to the Top implementation?
You can see an estimate of how much MONEY each district will get. Your school system would have to APPLY for how they plan to spend the money and an implementation committee will oversee that they money is being spent on those things that Race to the Top tries to target. According to the state, that means "provid[ing] a structure for struggling schools to have access to 'high quality' content and course delivery providers." The implementation team, from what I can see, hasn't been decided on yet.
Teachers, interested in how your evaluation tool will change?
The Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee has a website and is trying to make their process transparent. I'm trying to work with the KCEA to make sure local teachers can have input in this process. Still developing this...
The Coalition of Large Area School Systems (a group designed to make sure large districts talk to each other) will be holding a meeting this month in Knoxville to look at the Teacher Advancement Program and what it might teach TN about changing its evaluation system.
ALL THROUGH THIS, I've been meeting with a lot of people, from superintendents, teachers, business folks, etc. about so many things. Here are some things people have made clear:
- Teaching and learning should be FUN. But with teachers running 100 miles per hour every day, it's hard to just slap more requirements on teachers and expect them to be on board.
- Many people and groups try to SUPPORT teachers, but we don't stand together. Science and math teachers can look at Oak Ridge Associated Universities and Knoxville's Vols 4 STEM. Social studies, civics, and reading can look at innovative programs like the East TN Historical Society's programs. If you're a business and want to get involved, Chambers of Commerce and Partners in Education programs allow access. If you want after-school programs and other interventions, non-profits like the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club (excluding many here, I know, but it's long enough already) usually will help. BUT IT ALL SEEMS DISCONNECTED. How can we expect teachers to digest it all?
If you're interested in having a relaxed conversation about supporting teachers, I'll be at Barley's in the Old City in Knoxville on THURSDAY, April 22 @ 7 PM. Intimate discussions can help us all think through this stuff. Come one, come all.
If you're interested in holding a discussion about how we can work together to connect these dots, please contact me! luterg@unitedwayknox.org or call me directly at 865-521-5575.
This conversation can't only be driven by me. The community has to be leading it. Help me to get that going.
Friday, April 2, 2010
We need translation...
It's been a while since the last post--my apologies.
As a starter, I'd like YOU to be involved in this conversation. Please COMMENT on things that you think about as you read!
Probably the biggest news in education: Tennessee wins Race to the Top, or $500 million to improve education in TN. If you want to know what made TN so impressive, check out the comments by the grant reviewers. Straight from the horse's mouth! The teacher's union was on board and all school systems are signed on to mobilize the troops for education reform.
Onto more local interest stuff...
Having spent a lot of time traveling around the region to listen and learn from teachers, business, education, and community leaders, it it becoming clear that people interested in education speak a couple different languages.
1. Business and Education
When educators say words like "accountability," "curriculum," and "standards," they may be thinking of very different things than the business community. So when we're not necessarily speaking the same language, it makes things more difficult.
2. Rural, urban, and metro
We may think we know what these terms mean, but some of them are actual classifications. Some of them are a combination of rural AND urban. Teachers from more rural areas seem to be extra-worried that they will be "lost in the shuffle" with all the changes coming down the road (TN Diploma Project, new teacher evaluation system, salary schedules, etc.). At the same time, urban teachers seem to be extra-worried about the exact same thing. There seems to be a divide between these classifications, but there may be more in common than common knowledge may let on.
I continue to learn about all kinds of great things happening around the region, from the Academic Village in Kingsport to the Hamblen County Excel P-16 project in Hamblen County to the TeachHere project in Chattanooga and Knoxville. There also seems to be some great work going on through the Public School Forum of East Tennessee, a group that is very supportive of education reform that yields high standards in TN. A lot of people care about education in this area.
Let's continue to think about how we can all stay on the same page so that no one, including students, are left out of the picture...
Share comments, I urge you : )
As a starter, I'd like YOU to be involved in this conversation. Please COMMENT on things that you think about as you read!
Probably the biggest news in education: Tennessee wins Race to the Top, or $500 million to improve education in TN. If you want to know what made TN so impressive, check out the comments by the grant reviewers. Straight from the horse's mouth! The teacher's union was on board and all school systems are signed on to mobilize the troops for education reform.
Onto more local interest stuff...
Having spent a lot of time traveling around the region to listen and learn from teachers, business, education, and community leaders, it it becoming clear that people interested in education speak a couple different languages.
1. Business and Education
When educators say words like "accountability," "curriculum," and "standards," they may be thinking of very different things than the business community. So when we're not necessarily speaking the same language, it makes things more difficult.
2. Rural, urban, and metro
We may think we know what these terms mean, but some of them are actual classifications. Some of them are a combination of rural AND urban. Teachers from more rural areas seem to be extra-worried that they will be "lost in the shuffle" with all the changes coming down the road (TN Diploma Project, new teacher evaluation system, salary schedules, etc.). At the same time, urban teachers seem to be extra-worried about the exact same thing. There seems to be a divide between these classifications, but there may be more in common than common knowledge may let on.
I continue to learn about all kinds of great things happening around the region, from the Academic Village in Kingsport to the Hamblen County Excel P-16 project in Hamblen County to the TeachHere project in Chattanooga and Knoxville. There also seems to be some great work going on through the Public School Forum of East Tennessee, a group that is very supportive of education reform that yields high standards in TN. A lot of people care about education in this area.
Let's continue to think about how we can all stay on the same page so that no one, including students, are left out of the picture...
Share comments, I urge you : )
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