PESB News of Note March 2018

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Regular Board Meetings

March 2018 Board meetings and materials

Professional Educator Standards Board

March 15-16, 2018

Paraeducator Board

March 14, 2018

The March meetings will be held at the Radisson SeaTac.


Contact PESB

PESB@k12.wa.us

360.725.6275

www.pesb.wa.gov


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PESB News of Note

for March 2018


March is Board Meeting Month

The Professional Educator Standards Board and the Paraeducator Board will both meet during the second week of March. 

The agendas for these meetings (PESB; Paraeducator Board) list the items to be discussed and link to the materials for each item. 


Share Your Thoughts Through Public Comment

Each board meeting day begins with the opportunity for public comment from stakeholders and interested members of the public. 

Both the PESB and Paraeducator Board welcome comments about items on a current agenda, as well as comments on other areas over which each has authority. 

When individuals take time to bring their comments to the boards, members want to ensure that the input is heard. They consider comments in their decision making and initiative efforts, and public comments become part of the meeting record. To ensure the boards have accurate information for their reference and the public records requirements, the boards request all public comments also be provided in written form.

Here's how to bring your comments to the board:

  • Speak at a meeting - Add your name to the sign-in sheet at the meeting. The Board Chair will use this list to call speakers. Please leave written copy of your comments with the Executive Assistant or email them to either PESB@k12.wa.us or Paraboard@k12.wa.us before you leave the meeting. 
  • Email - Email public comment at any time to either PESB@k12.wa.us or Paraboard@k12.wa.us, depending on which board should receive them. Please include the term Public Comment in the subject area. Comments on a meeting agenda item received on or before 8:00 am the Monday before a board meeting will be provided to members at that meeting. Others will be forwarded to a future meeting.
  • Postal service - Send your comments to the board at PO Box 47236, Olympia, WA 98514-7236. Identify as public comment for either the PESB or the Paraeducator Board. Comments on a meeting's agenda received on or before 8:00 am the Monday before the boards' meetings will be provided to members at that meeting. Others will be forwarded to a future meeting.

Links to public comment guidance are found in the Contact section for each board on the PESB website - www.pesb.wa.gov.


Recruiting Washington Teachers New Online Professional Development Resource

The Recruiting Washington Teachers (RWT) program has an exciting new resource for teachers of this course or those interested in starting their own teacher academy! RWT now makes online professional development available to all Washington teachers. More information can be found on the Recruiting Washington Teachers section of the PESB website.


Apply Now! Pipeline for Paraeducators Conditional Loan Scholarship

The next deadline, March 6th, is less than a week away. Please pass this message along to any and all interested paraeducators.

Details of this scholarship program:

This program can provide funding for paraeducators interested in earning their residency teaching certificate, who have a minimum of three years classroom experience and no college degree, with up to $4,000 towards earning their Associate of Arts (AA) degree from a Washington community or technical college. Those awarded will be required to complete their AA within two years of award date, making them eligible to enroll in an Alternative Route 1 program to earn certification, and teach for a minimum of two years.

More information on the requirements and responsibilities of candidates are now available on the Pipeline for Paraeducators Conditional Loan Scholarship page of the PESB website.

We look forward to your application!


PESB Legislative Updates

Visit PESB's 2018 Legislative Priorities page to read legislative updates (see right side bar) prepared by PESB Governmental Relations staff, Justin Montermini. Session is approaching closure, and the recent weeks' updates provide background on PESB's efforts to further our legislative agenda during 2018. If you have any questions, please contact Justin at justin.montermini@k12.wa.us.


Research of Note

Each month, PESB identifies and shares research related to its work. These articles are intended to spark thought and discussion only and do not imply an endorsement of the research position or findings. 

Teacher Applicant Hiring and Teacher Performance: Evidence from DCPS. Jacob, B, Rockoff, J.E., Taylor, E.S., et al. March 2016.

Selecting more effective teachers among job applicants during the hiring process could be a highly cost-effective means of improving educational quality, but there is little research that links information gathered during the hiring process to subsequent teacher performance. We study the relationship among applicant characteristics, hiring outcomes, and teacher performance in the Washington DC Public Schools (DCPS). We take advantage of detailed data on a multi-stage application process, which includes written assessments, a personal interview, and sample lessons, as well as the annual evaluations of all DCPS teachers, based on multiple criteria. We identify a number of background characteristics (e.g., undergraduate GPA) as well as screening measures (e.g., applicant performance on a mock teaching lesson) that strongly predict teacher effectiveness. Interestingly, we find that these measures are only weakly, if at all, associated with the likelihood of being hired, suggesting considerable scope for improving teacher quality through the hiring process.


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