April 2, 2015 | Sign up to receive THE TEACHERS EDITION.
 Reason #3: "To live with a DEEP SENSE OF PURPOSE." Alma Suney Park teaches sixth grade at Eastside College Preparatory School, East Palo Alto, Calif.
21 REASONS
Time to Quit Your Job and Teach
Educators already know the payoffs for teaching, but reading this gem by Katrina Fried will be downright cathartic for most (Huffington Post). Plus, the next time a relative or friend questions your choice to be an educator, ask them if their vocation comes with these benefits.
Some of our favorites: "To help the underdog" and "To be THE OBJECT OF THE CUTEST COMPARISON you've ever heard."
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COOL SCHOOL
Pinehurst Personalizes Learning
They've always been smart, but children began to really take ownership of what they learn at Pinehurst Elementary School (Charleston, S.C.) when the school
became a Personalized Learning School this year. Watch the video as third grade student TyReeq Wilson testifies, "This school is actually the best school I've ever went to."
The
recipient of two federal grants -- Race to the Top District and Teacher Incentive Fund -- the school is a diverse place with a large Hispanic
population, and it is helped by a full time translator and parent advocate.
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 O, Canada!
Leading and Learning
in the Global Sphere
How can high-performing and rapidly improving
education systems teach us about ways to elevate and enhance the teaching
profession?
In this reflective blog by ED’s Director of International Affairs, Maureen
McLaughlin explores what attendees planned to focus on at the 2015 International
Summit on the Teaching Profession. This year, six teachers who
attended the Teach to Lead summits including Natalie McCutchen (Kentucky), Mark
Sass (Denver, Colo.), Jennifer
Aponte (Boston, Mass.), Pam Reilly
(Illinois), Joe Fatheree (Effingham,
Ill.), Wendy Bandi (Fall River,
Mass.) and Philadelphia principal Sharif
El-Mekki (Principal Ambassador Fellow), were invited to accompany Secretary
Duncan and McLaughlin on the trip to Banff, Canada where the summit was
held.
Learn more about this important global forum that
is tackling what’s next for teacher leadership, one of the
highlights of this year’s summit. Read an article about the teachers attending the summit and what they expected to learn from Canada’s fast-improving
and high-performing school systems (iSchool Guide).
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 Editor's note: The following is part of a series reporting on excellent African American educators. Educators were selected by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.
VALERIA BROWN
Celebrating African American Educators
Valeria Brown is a Teacher on
Assignment working on professional development for Seminole County Public
Schools in Sanford, Florida, where she also teaches middle school Language
Arts. She was named SCPS
Teacher of the Year in 2013.
What is the one
thing you most celebrate about your students?
I
celebrated my students’ voices. Each human being has something significant to
contribute to the world. As a middle school teacher, I wanted my students to
find their voice early and share it with the world.
In what ways do
you encourage parents, family members, and other caring adults to support the
learning and development of African American students?
I
am the founder of the Diversity in Education Initiative for my school district.
Our goals are to recruit and retain teachers of color and close the
achievement gap for the students of color. We are deeply committed to the
success of all students and believe that if educators work together, we will
get the job done.
Read Valeria’s blog for the Center for
Teaching Quality.
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A LEADER AMONG YOUR PEERS
Hope Street Fellows Deadline Extended
Hope Street Group (HSG) is
looking for great teachers all across the country to be Teacher Fellows. HSG
Fellows collaborate with state and national leaders, as well as their
colleagues, to develop strategic, practical solutions that address public
policy challenges related to education. Check out the application and find out more.
Deadlines:
•North Carolina: April 10, 2015; •National Teacher Fellowship: April
17, 2015; •Kentucky: April 17, 2015; •Hawaii: May 1, 2015.
 FIXING NCLB
Crafting a More Useful Title II
Most educators don't know that Title II-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provides states with funds for training, hiring, and retaining skilled educators -- much less that the funds are distributed by formula based on enrollment (20%) and the number of students below poverty line (80%). Why would they, right?
A new report by the Education Policy Center at the American Institutes of Research argues that Title II, Part A deserves a serious look. In fact, because it provides important funding for schools to develop teachers and leaders, it needs a serious overhaul.
The authors of Title II, Part A: Don’t Scrap It, Don’t Dilute It, Fix It ask educators and leaders to “redefine professional development and
re-engineer Title II-A to focus strictly on continuous performance improvement—of
people and organizations—while keeping implementation flexible. A new Title II-A
would make certain that state, district, and school leaders have the capacity
required to manage professional development activities and resources more
effectively to achieve Title II’s vital student achievement goals.”
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PRESIDENT'S AWARD FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Nominate and Recognize your Students
Last year, nearly
three million students from over 30,000 schools were recognized by the President’s Education
Awards Program (PEAP). There were 1.7 million students honored for educational
excellence and 1.1 million cited for outstanding educational achievement.
This blog
tells educators four great reasons to nominate students from their schools for
the awards. Since 1983, PEAP has honored graduating
elementary, middle and high school students for their achievement and hard
work. Learn more.
 NEWS FLASH:
Teachers Are Not
Abandoning their Profession
There is no systemic
evidence that all the best teachers are leaving. In fact the opposite appears
to be true.
Read more
about teacher retention and retirement rates in the commentary by Luke Kohlmoos (Real Clear Education).
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MYTH BUSTING
Teachers’
Effectiveness Gets Better With Age
Several new studies
suggest
the average teacher's ability to influence student achievement increases for at
least the first decade of his or her career—and likely longer. A similar
finding in more than one research study dispels the myth that after the first
three years in the classroom teachers hit a plateau.
In one study
(Papay and Kraft, Brown University) researchers found teachers' ability to
improve student achievement continued well beyond the three- to five-year mark, and improvements were seen in both reading and math teachers, but were stronger
in mathematics.
In another study
(Ladd and Sorenson, Duke University) the researchers found that, on average, teachers continued to improve their effectiveness in boosting
academic outcomes for at least 12 years. These studies align with
growing research that shows high quality professional
development and coaching will help teachers grow (Sawchuk, EdWeek).
 ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Signing Day Celebrates Seniors' Success
On May 1, First Lady Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher Initiative is
celebrating its one-year anniversary. To support
the President’s North Star Goal of the U.S. having the highest proportion of
college graduates by 2020, the Reach Higher team invites educators to celebrate the
students in their local community with a Signing Day celebration in May.
Check out the Signing
Day Toolkit filled with resources and examples of how to celebrate the accomplishments of high
school seniors in your community. Mayors, principals, high school faculty
members, community organizers, and anyone who wants to see students succeed is
encouraged to get involved. If you would like to invite a member of the administration to your Signing Day event, submit the Signing Day speaker request form to www.reachhigher.gov.
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 Principal Chat
RAMPING UP PD. How well does your professional development system align with Learning Forward's Standards for Professional
Learning? Take the test and learn more about how the Standards Assessment Inventory 2 can
evaluate your data and help with a plan of action. Systems
can leverage data from the assessment to guide the planning, facilitation,
implementation, and evaluation of professional learning to maximize its impact
and investment.
SUMMER EATING. Get great resources, technical
guidance, and best practices that can make a Summer Meals Program
successful from USDA’s webinar.
SAFETY BY DESIGN. Learn how to make your school safer
when building, renovating or improving in this one-hour Safe Schools by
Design webinar. The webinar will provide participants with an overview of important safety
and security features to consider for school buildings and grounds.
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 CORE VIDEOS. Want
to see examples of Common Core-aligned instruction in a real classroom? The Teaching the Core Video Library is a
growing collection of more than 60 video lessons featuring real teachers and
students. Each video has been annotated by teacher reviewers to call out a
teacher action, student behavior or lesson element that supports Common Core
learning. Each lesson also includes a complete set of lesson materials,
examples of student work and interviews with the teacher featured in the video.
Sign up here.
YESTERDAY’S
GONE.
In her blog, Angelle Lailhengue remembers the old days of teaching to tired bubble tests (New Orleans Times-Picayune). Now, as an instructional coach (Lacoste Elementary School, Chalmette,
La.), she helps
teachers prepare lessons on critical thinking, text analysis and
problem solving – skills she knows will prepare students for college and
careers, as well as the skills they need to pass this year’s assessment.
RUNNING FOR
OFFICE.
Find out how presidential candidates (and educators!) can refute the ten spurious claims being made about the Common Core in this interesting blog by Tim Shanahan (Education Gadfly).
MASS APPEAL. Twenty-three Massachusetts
Teaching Policy Fellows at the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education released a report recommending statewide adoption
of the Common Core-aligned PARCC assessment. Find out why 351 teachers in 74
districts say the PARCC is best.
WORTH THE EFFORT.
There’s a struggle going on about teaching to higher standards, but it’s worth
it, according to Doull Elementary School (Denver, Colo.) teacher Kyle
Schwartz. Read more (Washington Post).
TEACHABLE MOMENT
"A lot of my friends' parents, instead of talking to their kids about the birds and the bees, they're telling them about how to go out and come back alive."
(Student from Cesar Chavez Parkside High School who visited the U.S. Department of Education March 17 to present her senior policy project about police brutality.)
 AFRICAN AMERICAN & LATINO EDUCATION
Improvement Narrows Gap
Graduation rates for black and Hispanic students increased by nearly 4
percentage points from 2011 to 2013, outpacing the growth for all students in
the nation.
(Read more from National Center for Education Statistics.)
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 RECOMMENDED READING
Dear Teachers Everywhere,
Former fourth grade teacher and current parent Jen Hatmaker penned this entertaining and insightful open letter to teachers everywhere. It begins, "I’ve calculated your earnings by adding your classroom hours, pre- and post-school hours, conferences and phone calls, weekend work, after-hours grading, professional development requirements, lesson planning, team meetings, extracurricular clubs and teams, parent correspondence, district level seminars, and material preparation, and I believe you make approximately 19 cents an hour."
As a parent, Hatmaker offers encouragement to teachers when she writes, "That high standard you set for our kids? We freaking love it. Thank you. Thank you for insisting on kindness and respect, excellence and persistence." Read the rest of the letter. Learn about the Teacher Salary Project.
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 DEEP DIVE
Good Stuff for Eduwonks
In
this Q
& A, Arne Duncan takes a pointed look at what’s right and what’s not right with education since he’s been at the helm of the U.S. Department of Education. Topics include ESEA reauthorization, rising graduation rates among “traditionally overlooked
populations,” and NCLB waiver renewals. Duncan also discussed the pushback
against standardized testing and school turnarounds (Klein, EdWeek).
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 Teachers' Notes
• GET SCHOOLED. This
guide to promote college access and completion
can help teachers, counselors and other stakeholders develop a communication
plan to encourage a culture of academic excellence, schedule events to
highlight college access and completion and more. Let Graduate! A Community Guide to College Access and
Completion help your high school students be prepared to succeed.
• WIDENING THE NET FOR GIFTED STUDENTS. Students often discover a safe space in their school's gifted resource room. But how can schools identify gifted and
talented students who may go unnoticed because they are African American,
Latino or low-income students? This blog explores a new way to determine who is gifted and provide them with the
right resources (Fishman-Weaver,
American Journal of Education).
• CONSTRUCTIVE PUSHBACK. Upset with an award-winning teacher who encouraged her students not to pursue the teaching profession, Future Educators Association Executive Director and former teacher Dan Brown pushed back. He penned an amazing blog arguing that it’s
time for teachers to stand up for their profession (Real Clear Education). "The teaching profession is not all roses and sunshine," Brown writes, "but let’s create a more perfect union, not stand back and declare failure. Kids need models, not martyrs in their classrooms."
• THE ART OF EVALUATION. In this compelling article, a music
teacher who was formerly evaluated as highly effective--but downgraded when
lumped with English teachers down the hall--advocates in this piece
for evaluations like ones in Tennessee and Washington, D.C. There, non-tested subjects, like the arts, are evaluated using student portfolios.
• HERDING CATS: A 21ST CENTURY SKILL. The ability to move a diverse group forward is just one of the new skills needed by workers in the global economy,
according to David Brooks in a New York Times column. It takes a
while before these new skills are defined and recognized, but others include making
nonhuman things intuitive to humans, the ability to simultaneously hold two
opposed ideas in mind and more.
• EVALUATING TEXT COMPLEXITY CAN BE MORE COMPLEX THAN EDUCATORS THINK. Some texts with minimalist information have the same Lexile measure as those with complex sentences and multisyllabic words. Author/consultant Stephanie Harvey cautions that to
understand either one, students need to “slow down, consider what they know,
ask questions, annotate, synthesize, think inferentially, and reread for
clarification.” Read a summary of her work (Marshall Memo).
• BEGINNING WITH THE END IN MIND. Backwards planning helps math
teacher John
Troutman McCrann (Harvest
Collegiate High School, New York City, N.Y.) develop effective teaching
strategies. It fits right into implementing higher standards, he
says. Read more
(EdWeek).
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 Top 5 Quotes
Wisdom from educators heard by ED
5. "You don't need to hold me
accountable. I go and do my dream job
every day." (Principal,
Pa.)
4. "Teacher leadership builds teacher efficacy." (Teacher, Florida)
3. "We need to be the quality control guardians of our own profession." (Teacher, Nebraska)
2. “I feel like educators are first responders.” (Teacher, Albuquerque. N.M.)
1. "Teacher leadership is contagious." (Teacher, Mass.)
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