Teacher Quality: What are we talking about here?

There is so much going on in education this week, especially in Tennessee. This isn't a complete list of happenings, but it's a sketch.

NATIONAL STUFF: First of all, the Obama Administration releases its Blueprint for fixing No Child Left Behind. People are worried about what this law would mean (see the comments on that article) for our schools.

STATE STUFF: Next, Knox County Superintendent Dr. James McIntyre testifies (this link is about the process--the interviews aren't yet available online) with others on behalf of the Tennessee's application for millions of dollars to reform education in our state. The TN Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee met yesterday (according to this SCORE Blog post)--not sure what they talked about, though. The elected vs. appointed school superintendent bill always spurs controversy.

This is all interesting if you're REALLY INTO EDUCATION.

But, as I continue to talk to people in East Tennessee, especially some non-traditional parties who have a stake in education, it's not really at the top of the list.

One thing that IS of interest to a lot of people is what exactly we expect from our teachers. Do we have a definition of teacher quality in our state? The TN Advisory Committee will be dealing with that, but there other factors at play that will have a say (like the Memphis Gates grant, the Chattanooga Public Education Foundation, etc.)...

The United Way of Metro Nashville has been working with their school system to have a definition of "teacher effectiveness" that everyone can agree on (seems nearly impossible, eh?). I wanted to share it here...

"Effective teaching produces authentic and purposeful learning through which students gain an average of at least one year of academic growth as measured on standardized tests, and successful teachers possess the following characteristics:
- A strong belief that all students can learn along with high expectations of all students
- Knowledge of and enthusiasm for the subject matter and teaching
- Collaborates with other teachers, administrators, parents and education professionals to ensure student success; benchmarks against best practices already established in research.
- Utilizes effective communication strategies with students and parents
- Contributes to positive academic, attitudinal and social outcomes for students such as regular attendance, on-time promotion/graduation, self-efficacy, and cooperative behavior.
- Monitors student progress using both formative and summative measures and adapts instruction as needed.
- Employs multiple sources of evidence for use in grading and evaluating students.
- Uses diverse resources to plan and structure engaging learning opportunities."

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Is this reflective of what we expect from teachers in East Tennessee?

Of course, there are a lot of school systems that are trying to think about how to measure various dimensions of "quality teaching" (see Cincinnati, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, etc.). We'll get to that later, but I'm wondering if there's an agreement on what we expect from teachers. Stay tuned for Chattanooga, too. More to come on that...

Big wheels keep on turning...

Learning a lot...

I've now been in this position for about a month. One thing I've learned is: People in East Tennessee CARE about supporting quality teaching.

Just a short listing of all the organizations that care about supporting quality teaching (there are many more, but this is just a sampling):
- Public School Forum of East Tennessee
- Hamblen County P-16 Council (other P-16 Councils around the region exist)
- Blount Education Initiative
- Education Consumers Foundation
- Niswonger Foundation
- ALL THE SCHOOL SYSTEMS
- Leadership Knoxville (and organizations like it)
- Chambers of Commerce (the business community)
- Eastman Chemical Foundation
- Cornerstone Foundation
- PTA (local, regional, and state)
- The Literacy Imperative
- The Dollywood Foundation
- Tennessee Education Association (and local affiliates)
- Youth Action Council in Knoxville
- Public Education Foundations (Great Schools Partnership in Knoxville, Oak Ridge Education Foundation, Maryville City Schools Foundation, etc.)
- THE LIST COULD GO ON.
I'm hoping to compile all these groups with websites and contact information and link off of the United Way of Greater Knoxville website. Stay tuned to that.

Do YOU know of anyone that should be included? E-mail me! luterg@unitedwayknox.org

As I think about moving forward with this community-driven project to support teachers, I'm thinking of having people consider 3 things:

1. What are some successes in supporting teachers that you want to share?

2. What is it that we (as a community) want from teachers?

3. What is it that we (as a community) can give back to a school to make it successful?

If you want to get involved, comment! Contact me! We hope many people get involved in this discussion.

Let's hope this gray sky goes away. I'm ready for spring!

Welcome!

Welcome to the United Way of East Tennessee's blog about teacher quality.

The United Way of Tennessee is engaged in a project through the United Way Worldwide to support teacher quality. We are building regional coalitions of people interested in supporting teachers in their path to becoming the most effective and highest quality teachers possible.

This blog is designed to be a way to share information related to building the coalition, discover teaching strategies that are working, and encourage community discussion about teacher quality.

Please feel free to comment and recommend discussion pieces. You can e-mail me, the Education Project Coordinator for the East Tennessee region, Gavin Luter, at luterg@unitedwayknox.org.

Stay tuned. Thanks for your interest.