One thing I've heard a LOT in my conversations with teachers is that teachers cannot teach unless they are able to focus on TEACHING--not a bunch of other things (fighting obesity, serving as parents, serving as guidance counselors, etc.). I've written about this before. Teacher effectiveness has a lot more complex components to it aside from just professional development, and evaluation system, and student test scores.
So, let's try to do something about it.
In many cases, a LOT of human service agencies are involved within schools, but not everyone in a school knows all what happens within that school. An information management problem, right?
Dr. McIntyre, through his strategic plan, has tried to get the school system to address this. But we know that they need help and cooperation from human service agencies.
JUST YESTERDAY...
The United Way, along with MANY OTHER GROUPS in the Knoxville community, has been trying to pull together human service providers and put them in communication with the schools. In fact, just yesterday, several key groups came together at Tennessee Voices for Children:
- East Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth (Run by a man by the name of Lindsey Cody, Lindsey.Cody@tn.gov). Brings together over 150 people from various agencies who identify as "Child Advocates."
- K-Town Youth Empowerment Network (Run by a man named Mark Wolf, MWolf@tnvoices.org). Working to build a "System of Care" for 14-21 year old young adults who have been diagnosed with severe emotional disturbance.
- Knoxville Youth Transition Council ( run by a man named Jim Griffin, JGriffin@tnvoices.org). Focuses on how children transition out of state custody and into adulthood.
- Dept. of Children Services Community Action Board (run by a woman named Carren Pirtle, carren.pirtle@tn.gov). Focuses on how to bring community resources to children and families in need (everyone from the Sheriff's office to the Compassion Coalition).
- Knox County Schools (and their staff member, Missy Massie, who is over student support services)
- United Way and its partner agencies (who has a lot of partner agencies whose child and adult clients, in some cases, touch many human service providers).
- Knoxville Juvenile Courts
We're all sitting around the table, learning about one another, and figuring out that Knoxville has a lot happening already...but it's hard to get everyone to connect.
It seems that this conversation is getting larger and more inclusive...which will hopefully result in children getting the services they need...which will hopefully help take some things off of the plates of teachers...
Does your school system do anything like this? Leave a comment or e-mail me!
SOME UNLIKELY THINGS / NEWS I CAME ACROSS THIS WEEK
- Did you know that the Boys and Girls Club in Knoxville has access to teacher in-services and professional development? Thanks to Rodney Russell, the person in charge of Professional Development for Knox County, he connected with the B&G Club to make sure they had access to information that teachers had.
WHY? Since their staff do a lot of enrichment of kids who attend schools, they should have access to information that will help them reinforce what happens in the classroom.
Strange connection at first, but it starts to make sense. That's "thinking outside the box."
- Did you know that UT's Ag Extension is working with teachers across TN to help with financial literacy curriculum? The Ag Extension model of UTK has transformed and might surprise you. Tennessee's new standards require financial management classes to be taught across the state. UTK is helping teachers to be able to deliver such courses.
- Did you know that Kingsport is looking at switching School Board meeting forums to the evening? A recent town hall meeting held in the evening drew 180 people. More public support and awareness for education? Maybe evening meetings would help.
- Did you know that teachers were working on SATURDAY, JUNE 5 (a Saturday in the summer!!??) to talk about how their evaluation system will change? This article showcases how teachers voices are being heard as their evaluation system will change dramatically.
- Did you know that an accomplished and now retired principal will be helping to teach new principals what it takes to be successful? Betty Sue Sparks is helping to share her experiences in Knoxville's new principal leadership academy. Different skills are required to be a principal, and she's helping train new principals to get those skills.
SORRY THERE'S SO MUCH. It's just an exciting time to be involved in this as Tennessee's education system continues to improve. Stay tuned...
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