Ideas
After our Los Angeles Convening, on March 2, 2010, we sat down with nearly 200 attendees and collected some initial ideas, which we’ve posted below.
Participants from various walks of life in education-- K-12 teachers, school and district administrators, nonprofit and foundation directors, professors of education, representatives of teachers’ unions, and policy makers—responded to the question, “What will it really take to make sure every child has an effective teacher?”
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Leaders need to give teachers the time and opportunity to share ideas and to have leaders listen. The teachers’ voice in decision-making and policy-making must be heard.
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Create a teacher evaluation process that honors excellent teaching and learning, while also being productive and meaningful.
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Networks are needed to provide teacher support and mentoring so teachers can be empowered and motivated.
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There’s a low return on investment in focusing on the worst teachers. We need far more focus on the middle of the curve versus the bottom few percent.
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Change the structure of educational systems and the school year to allow greater teacher collaboration, reflection and discourse.
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Teachers need support, in the form of collaboration with colleagues, intensive mentoring, and constructive feedback.
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Schools need strong leadership: administrators who know curriculum, best practices, and who are instructional leaders.
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Focus efforts on creating professional learning communities and teacher leadership rather than teacher dismissal.
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Teachers need the ability to design and run their own professional development that is effective, meaningful and rigorous.
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Change needs to be made at all levels—classroom, school, district—and there isn’t one thing that needs to be changed. Collective action, networks, and mutual support are all crucial.
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Administrators and teachers need to have a common and open goal for their schools. Teachers must trust administrators and administrators must use teachers to develop policy.
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Institute year-round teaching—make teaching a “real” profession.
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Principals must change the school culture from blame and accountability to collegiality and mutual learning.