Blog Addresses Fundamental Teaching Issues
As a foundation committed to helping Delaware create world-class public schools, I was pleased with the recent state and national assessment results. Yet to see the lasting changes we really need to see, I believe we need to fundamentally rethink our state’s whole strategy to finding and keeping its best teachers. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to read Maddie Fennell’s guest blog posts on Rick Hess’ “Straight Up.” Ms. Fennell (former Nebraska Teacher of the Year and chair of the NEA’s Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching) and the NEA report her commission wrote address many of the core issues and seismic shifts that I believe we need to wrestle with as a state. I encourage you to read her blog posts “Transforming Teaching,” “How Do We Measure and Value Effectiveness?” and “A Final Trio of Thoughts.”
These core issues are complex work and where to start is always a tough question, yet next month I am traveling to Finland to learn more about its education system, joining a small group of Delawareans as part of a U.S. delegation. One of our primary objectives is to dig deeper into what it looks like to be a teacher there versus here. Ultimately, our hope is to begin unpacking what we could do to inform the long term shifts Delaware needs to ensure the gains we saw this year become part of a long-term trend as opposed to a short-term bump. (If you are interested in Finland’s work, you might want to look at this article.)
Related Topics: international competiveness, Teacher Compensation, Teacher Effectiveness, teacher pathways, Teacher Preparation