Fighting for equity, access, and excellence in our education system is hard enough; why would we ever want to do it with blindfolds on? Today during a state committee meeting to discuss teacher evaluation policy, Representative Jacques shared draft legislation (See here/ Update 6/14 - HB 339 can be found here) that eliminates the … Continue reading Why Fight for Educational Equity with Blindfolds On
Do education leaders really want parent involvement?
After four relatively flawless, under-the-radar years at the Delaware Department of Education, I made a "mistake": I invited parents to a public meeting. Education leaders were scheduled to hold a committee meeting to discuss the future of the state’s teacher evaluation system and I sent an email invitation to dozens of parents. These were a … Continue reading Do education leaders really want parent involvement?
Reflections after last night’s educator evaluation committee meeting
Imagine an evaluation system for teachers where a teacher is considered “Effective” after earning “Needs Improvement” ratings on both of their measures of student learning AND on each of the following criteria: managing student behavior, creating an environment to support learning, engaging students in learning, demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness, and using questioning techniques. Most casual … Continue reading Reflections after last night’s educator evaluation committee meeting
Urgency of Now 