I will be in Raleigh, North Carolina, on February 11 to participate in the Emerging Issues Forum. It brings together strong partisans from very different perspectives. The focus seems to be about recruiting and retaining the best teachers. It is an ironic time to discuss this topic when North Carolina teachers are feeling besieged by punitive legislation that is encouraging senior teachers to leave not only the profession, but the state. After I speak in Raleigh, I will go to Durham to the Holton Center for a conversation with parents, community leaders, and educators, from 1:30-3 pm.
Here is the agenda for the two-day forum:
29th Annual Emerging Issues Forum
Teachers and the Great Economic Debate
Raleigh Convention Center, February 10-11, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
8:00 – 8:20 a.m.Opening Session
W. Randolph Woodson, Chancellor, NC State University
James B. Hunt, Jr., Former Governor, State of North Carolina & Chair, Institute for Emerging Issues
Anita R. Brown-Graham, Director, Institute for Emerging Issues
8:20 – 9:00 a.m.Where are the Smartest Kids in the World?
Goal: To remind the audience why teacher quality is an emerging issue, and why it demands North Carolina’s attention. Rather than providing specific policy recommendations, the goal of this session is to demonstrate ways in which other countries have approached the issues of teacher quality and its impact on student performance and ultimately economic development. It will also be a “call to action” for the audience to begin thinking about how they can contribute to the broader discussion.
Introduction by Walter McDowell (Confirmed), Board Chair, BEST NC and Retired Executive, Wachovia Bank
Amanda Ripley (Confirmed), Author, The Smartest Kids in the World – And How They Got That Way
Having most recently authored The Smartest Kids in the World – And How They Got That Way, Ripley will share international comparison data as well as patterns of transformation within the teaching profession that have led to positive change in other countries.
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.Lessons from Finland
Goal: To connect national and North Carolina stories to those of other nations. This session will highlight what leaders in Europe and Southeast Asia are doing to address teacher quality with an eye toward improving their nation’s overall competitiveness.
What is it about the teaching profession that impacts every industry and every individual? How are other countries tackling this issue? What potential impact can focusing on improving teacher quality have on student performance and ultimately a nation’s competitiveness?
Introduction / Moderation by John Tate (Confirmed), Member, NC State Board of Education and Retired Executive, Wachovia Bank
Pasi Sahlberg (Confirmed), Director General of the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation (CIMO) in Helsinki, Finland
In recent years, the country of Finland has produces out some of the
highest test scores in the world. This is due to the country’s investment in a knowledge based economy and a conscious strategy, developed in the 1970s, to be globally competitive. As a result, Finland has a tremendous commitment to highly trained teachers and they have committed to an equitable foundation of learning for all citizens regardless of family background, socioeconomic status or learning ability. Finnish teachers have a highly individualized focus on students with an array of options available to them. Salaries are benchmarked with other white-collared professions and assessment of learning is done for the application of knowledge, not memorization. Teachers assess students with independent tests they create themselves rather than high-stakes standardized tests. With all of these strategies, Finland’s educational results outperform other countries with lower per pupil funding.
9:30 – 9:40 a.m.Technology / Collaboration: What is a World Class Teacher?
Forum attendees will engage in table discussions about what they just heard, how it resonates with their current beliefs and where the opportunity is for consensus on NC’s direction moving forward. Discussion items will be captured through technology.
9:40 – 9:50 a.m.Break
9:50 – 10:40 a.m.Who are These Teachers and What is Their Value?
Goal: How can we identify world-class teachers? What is the link between high-quality teachers and a well-educated and well-paid workforce. What impact do high quality teachers have on our state’s economy?
Introduction by Phil Berger (Invited), Senator, North Carolina General Assembly
Raj Chetty (Confirmed), Bloomberg Professor of Economics at Harvard University
Chetty’s study on the long-term economic impact of high value-added educators shows that students assigned to high value-add teachers are more likely to have higher lifetime earnings. Other students outcomes influence by a quality teacher include the opportunity to attend college, live in higher socioeconomic status neighborhoods, and save more for retirement.
Helen “Sunny” Ladd (Confirmed), Edgar T. Thompson Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy
Ladd has written extensively about teacher quality using longitudinal data in North Carolina. She will respond to Dr. Chetty’s session, addressing why value add is a limited way to determine teacher effectiveness and highlighting the importance experience plays in identifying world-class teachers.
10:40 – 10:50 a.m.Technology / Collaboration: _______________________
Forum attendees will engage in table discussions about what they just heard, how it resonates with their current beliefs, and where the opportunity is for consensus on NC’s direction moving forward. Discussion items will be captured through technology.
10:50 – 11:00 a.m.Break
11:00 – 12:35 p.m.The Pathways and Programs in the War for Talent
11:00 – 11:25 a.m.Building a Better Pipeline
Goal: To highlight the importance of having an effective talent development strategy for our state’s teachers, this TED-style session will have representatives of very different industries sharing best practices in talent development as it is done in other sectors.
Moderated by Tom Williams (Confirmed), President, Strategic Educational Alliances, Inc.
Virgil Smith (Confirmed), Vice President / Talent Acquisition & Diversity, Gannett
Willy Stewart (Confirmed), CEO, Stewart Inc. and i2 Integrated Intelligence
Director of Nursing at Duke University (Suggested)
11:25 – 12:00 p.m Recruiting the Best
Goal: To highlight several innovative approaches to recruiting, preparing and supporting high quality teachers. We will investigate what practices School of Education Programs are implementing to ensure teachers enter the classroom with the most effective pedagogical practices as well as alternative approaches to recruiting and preparing the best students and professionals into the field of teaching.
Glenda W. Crawford (Confirmed), Director of Teaching Fellows, Elon University, School of Education, National Teaching Fellows Program
Elon’s National Teaching Fellows Program is a national model for the preparation of teacher leaders and scholars who will contribute meaningfully and significantly to the quality of education in PreK-12 classrooms and who will be influential in political decision-making on the local, state, national, and international levels.
Tyronna Hooker (Confirmed), Director of District and Community Partnerships, Teach for America, Eastern NC Region
There are 230 corps members teaching at every grade level, and almost 500 alumni leading in a variety of sectors in the 10 counties that make up the Eastern NC region. Independent studies in North Carolina have demonstrated that TFA teachers have an immediate and pronounced effect on student achievement.
Commons Story: North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences’ Educator Treks.
• A program that takes educators from all fields for nature treks to experience hands-on learning experience, while delivering the curriculum materials for them to return to the classroom with their new knowledge.
• This story will demonstrate how professional development, especially professional development outside of the school environment, serves to strengthen the profession. Community-school partnerships like this provide development and experiences teacher do not normally find inside the school environment.
12:00 – 12:35 p.m.Keeping the Best
Ann Maddock (Confirmed), Senior Advisor, New Teacher Center
The Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies, recently recognized New Teacher Center (NTC) as one of five outstanding K-12 education programs that have demonstrated a strong potential for helping prepare more U.S. K-12 students for college and the workplace. NTC is committed to supporting on-going growth as a “teacher of teachers” through a comprehensive teacher induction program model and a wide range of available professional development, communities of practice, products, and free resources.
Elizabeth Kolb Cunningham (Confirmed), Director, NC New Teacher Support Program (NC NTSP)
The goal of the North Carolina New Teacher Support Program (NC NTSP) is to improve the effectiveness of beginning teachers through intensive induction support aligned to each teacher’s individual needs, teaching assignment, and school environment. NC NTSP serves beginning teachers in their first years of teaching by providing intensive institute “boot camps”, direct, individualized classroom instruction, and aligned professional development sessions.
Angela Hinson Quick (Confirmed), Senior Vice President for Talent Development, NC New Schools
North Carolina New Schools believes that real and lasting educational change begins and ends in the classroom, with teachers who know their subject as well as the skills that students need to succeed and thrive in a changing world. NCNS helps make this happen by providing intensive and proven coaching for teachers and principals in classroom instruction and supportive leadership. Educators benefit from well planned professional development activities that provide access to practical, challenging strategies and opportunities to collaborate with experts from across the state and nation.
Ruben Carbonell (Confirmed), Director, Kenan Institute for Engineering Technology & Science, home of the Kenan Fellows Program, North Carolina State University
The Kenan Fellows Program improves K-12 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) teaching and education by providing relevant, professional learning and leadership development for exceptional teachers through innovative collaborations with research partners in industry, higher education, and government. Providing professional exposure opportunities for North Carolina teachers helps to bring relevancy into the classroom, connects teachers, and enriches learning opportunities for teachers and students.
12:35 – 2:00 p.m.LUNCH
What Drives Performance?
Goal: To explore the three elements (autonomy, mastery and purpose) of true motivation and what this means for how we pay our state’s teachers. What impact does “merit pay” have on student performance? How would raising the base pay for teacher affect prospective teachers? Existing teachers? What does this mean for poor performing teachers?
Introduction by Jayne Fleener (Confirmed), Dean, College of Education, NC State University
Daniel H. Pink (Confirmed), New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author
As presented in his book, Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink shares how research disproves the notion that the best way to motivate others is with external rewards like money. He will share with us how the secret to performance and satisfaction is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things and to do better by ourselves and our world. Dan Pink will share with us what all this means in regards to ways in which we best tackle the question of “how we train, retain, and support teachers in every classroom.
2:00 – 2:15 p.m.Break (Voting Closes for High School Prize)
2:15 – 3:20 p.m.Solution Sessions:
The solution sessions are focused on the four questions developed from the IEI Working Group. Forum attendees will be able to learn about initiatives across the state that are focusing on solving questions with the goal of training, retaining and supporting a world-class teacher in every classroom. These four sessions include:
(1) How can we design and fund a competitive compensation system that attracts and retains world-class talent in the teaching profession?
(2) In what ways can we ensure high performance standards for teaching are met from entry to retirement?
(3) How do we ensure enhanced societal value and globally competitive students by elevating the status of the teaching profession in North Carolina?
(4) How can we ensure access to comprehensive, high-quality and relevant professional development for teachers?
3:20 – 3:55 p.m. Charting a Path Forward
Goal: Governor McCrory will highlight the immediate action steps that the state is taking in education. He will also speak to his office’s future plans on public education in North Carolina, and his thoughts on the ideas from the Forum.
Introduction by James B. Hunt, Jr.
Pat McCrory (Invited), Governor, State of North Carolina
Governor McCrory has supported providing for Career and Technical Education pathways for students, including overhauling the way that CTE teachers are certified. Also in regards to North Carolina’s teachers, Governor McCrory has pushed for merit pay for teachers, as well as the expansion of charter schools and digital/online learning.
3:55 – 4:10 p.m.Awarding the Emerging Issues Prize for Innovation
W. Randolph Woodson
Governor Pat McCrory
Prior to announcement, video collage of finalists to be show
High School Prize Winner (show video)
Commons Story: Financial Literacy in the Classroom
• Fidelity Investments and the North Carolina Council on Economic Education have partnered to train Wake County educators in teaching financial literacy and money-management skills to high school students.
• This story highlights how Corporate-Teacher partnerships can influence the lives and education of students. The program has reached over 144,000 NC students through Career and Technical Education teachers.
4:10 – 4:55 p.m. Teacher Quality: Identifying Our Respective Responsibilities
Goal: To wrap up day one with a clear understanding teacher quality is something that should be important to all of us, no matter our background or profession. A transformational change will require support from all sectors. This session will respond also to the question: With so many aspects of education reform in debate, why focus on improving teaching / teachers?
Introduction by___________
Rex Tillerson (Invited), Chairman, CEO & President, Exxon Mobil Corporation. Exxon Mobile has identified K-12 education as an investment priority and, as a result, is investing its resources to support the professional development of teachers across the nation. Also, as chairman of the Business Roundtable’s Education and Workforce Committee, Mr. Tillerson has led the national conversation about the influence of exceptional teachers on student learning and its connections to the quality of our nation’s global workforce.
4:55 – 5:00 p.m.Closing
James B. Hunt, Jr.
5:00 – 6:00 p.m.Open Reception
6:00 – 8:15 p.m.Leadership Dinner
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
8:00 – 8:10 a.m.Insights on the NC Strategy for World-Class Teachers
Anita R. Brown-Graham
8:10 – 8:20 a.m Recognizing the SECU Prize for Innovation Winners
(SECU Representative) (Suggested)
8:20 – 9:10 a.m.Teacher Town Hall Hosted by the 2013-14 NC Teacher of the Year
Goal: Recognizing that the voice of a teacher who has left the classroom is one that is rarely heard, this Teacher Town Hall conversation will engage several former teachers who were high performing in the classroom. It will help the audience appreciate that when a high-quality teacher decides to leave the classroom, we lose on student outcomes. While little room for career advancement and relatively low pay are often cited as the primary reasons teachers leave the profession, a non-supportive work environment as well as a lack of supportive and shared leadership has led some of the best and most passionate teachers to leave the classroom. This group will respond to questions around reasons they left the profession and what they think it will take to retain high-quality teachers in NC.
Moderated by John Merrow (Invited), Education Consultant for PBS Newshour and President of Learning Matters
Hosted by Karyn Dickerson (Confirmed), 2013-14 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, Guilford County Schools
Jen Colletti (Confirmed), Former East Chapel Hill High School Teacher
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9:10 – 9:50 a.m.Strength and Quality Through Professionalization
Goal: Diane Ravitch has recently written at length on the impact that professionalization has on teachers. She will speak to how strict professional standards, based in pedagogical research, should be applied to teachers and school administrators. She will also describe how standards for the teaching profession can be brought into alignment with other respected professional such as law and medicine.
Introduction by Karyn Dickerson (Confirmed), 2013-14 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, Guilford County Schools
Diane Ravitch (Confirmed), Research Professor, New York University
Diane Ravitch is an education policy analyst and historian at New York University. In addition, she served in the Clinton and G.W. Bush administrations. Her book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System was a national bestseller, which addressed issues with high-stakes testing and quantifying teacher quality. Her latest book, Reign of Error, warns against the privatizing of the public school system. She is being invited to share her thoughts on how high-stakes testing, the move to charter schools, and competitive teacher performance measures are damaging the teaching profession. Furthermore, she will argue that teacher de-selection is unfairly punishing teachers who are not given the tools to succeed or who are working with special student populations.
Commons Story: Project L.I.F.T.
• Project L.I.F.T., which is revitalizing 9 Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, shows how business partnerships and redesigned school policies can turn around failing schools. Project L.I.F.T. has raised $55 million in private funds to support its venture.
• More importantly though, it has restructured many of its teacher policies- allowing for teachers to be paid more, and pursue leadership roles without having to leave the classroom. Increases in teacher pay has not come through private funds, but rather the innovate structuring of their school’s personnel within normal salary funding.
9:50 – 10:40 a.m.Exploring the Choices Before Us
Goal: To make clear the places where we need to make critical choices in order to improve teacher quality. While the impact of a high quality teacher is clear, how we build a world-class teaching workforce is debatable. Do we remove low performing teachers? Or do we work to support and develop them? How do we think about pay? How do we assess?
Moderated by John Merrow (Invited)
Rick Hess (Confirmed), Director of Education Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Frederick Hess is an education policy analyst from the American Enterprise Institute. He has authored several books on education reform, as well as supporting a school district turn plan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mr. Hess has recently published a 9-point reform of the teaching profession, entitled Teacher Quality 2.0. He will speak on how his reform plan of de-centralizing education authority will improve the teaching profession. Some of his strategies include the use of charters and vouchers, de-selecting teachers, and reforming teacher tenure.
Bryan Hassel (Confirmed), Co-Director, Public Impact.
Bryan Hassel is director of Public Impact, an educational consulting group. He will speak about how extending the reach of quality teachers through technology, mentorships, and increasing their class sizes provide opportunities for teachers to be promoted. He will elaborate on how, through the work of Opportunity Culture, his organization uses differential pay to attract and retain the highest quality teachers, and how this translates into an elevated view of teachers as professionals. In addition, he will share how Public Impact works focuses on the policies and approaches to recruiting, selecting, evaluating, developing, compensating and retaining high-performing teachers and leaders.
10:40 – 11:00 a.m.What Are the Choices Before Us?
Anita R. Brown-Graham
Goal: To share the work of the IEI Working Group, what was heard during the breakout sessions and how the technology sessions are being used to collect their ideas on ways to address these important questions. During the final technology session of the day, attendees will be asked to prioritize these ideas, which will be used to guide the work of the Teacher Ambassadors throughout their post-forum MOOC-Ed experience.
Technology / Collaboration: Prioritizing Ideas from the Solution Sessions
Forum attendees will engage in table discussions about what they just heard, how it resonates with their current beliefs and where the opportunity is for consensus on NC’s direction moving forward. Discussion items will be captured through technology.
11:00 – 11:10 a.m.Break
11:10 – 12:00 p.m.State-Level Policy and Financing Our Options
Goal: To bring North Carolina leaders together to discuss policy options and how we finance the way forward. Any changes in public education regarding teacher pay, more individualized instruction or other policy options inevitably must include a discussion of how to fund the proposals. This session will feature North Carolina leaders in a discussion of how North Carolina should move forward in prioritizing its efforts to reform public education including financing the policy changes considered during the two-day Emerging Issues Forum. State leadership support must include identifying the resources to pay for initiatives.
Moderated by: Richard Stevens (Confirmed), Counsel, Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan, L.L.P.
Education Facts Presented by: Trip Stallings (Invited), Director of Policy Research, The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation
Rick Glazier (Confirmed), Representative, North Carolina General Assembly
Bryan Holloway (Confirmed), Representative, North Carolina General Assembly
Craig Horn (Confirmed), Representative, North Carolina General Assembly
Earline Parmon (Confirmed), Senator, North Carolina General Assembly
Jerry Tillman (Invited), Senator, North Carolina General Assembly
12:00 – 12:10 p.m.Technology / Collaboration: ______________
Forum attendees will engage in table discussions about what they just heard, how it resonates with their current beliefs, and where the opportunity is for consensus on NC’s direction moving forward. Discussion items will be captured through technology.
12:10 – 12:40 p.m.One State’s Approach to Teacher Quality
Goal: To highlight the comprehensive reform package for K-12 education planned by the State of Tennessee, particularly as it applies to teachers. How will decision on evaluation and compensation effect North Carolina? What strategies should North Carolina consider as it seeks to move forward?
Introduction by: James B. Hunt, Jr. (Confirmed), Former Governor, State of North Carolina & Chair, Institute for Emerging Issues
Bill Haslam, (Confirmed), Governor of Tennessee
Governor of Tennessee, Bill Haslam has made improvements to public education a top priority for his administration. Recently, Tennessee’s students were the most improved in national benchmarks. Gov. Haslam has made pledges to overhaul teacher evaluation systems, and to move teacher pay in Tennessee from the bottom 20% to the most competitive in the nation.
Commons Story: North Carolina Safe Routes to School
• A program that encourages children and parents to walk, or bicycle to schools, while facilitating projects that make pedestrian pathways to school safer.
• Embracing a whole school, whole child approach to child safety, healthy lifestyles, and community design. Safe Routes to School has provided improved school and community infrastructure where it has not existed before, especially for rural schools.
12:40 – 2:00 p.m.Lunch
The Influence of a World-Class Teacher
Goal: To wrap up all we’ve heard over the past two days and to provide proof that this work is possible. The influence of a world-class teacher does stretch far beyond the classroom, to our state’s future workforce.
Introduction by: _____________________
Ron Clark (Confirmed), Founder and Mathematics Teacher, The Ron Clark Academy Ron Clark has been called “America’s Educator”. In 2000, he was named Disney’s American Teacher of the Year. He is a New York Times bestselling author whose book, The Essential 55, has sold over 1 million copies and have been published in 25 different countries. Ron Clark has directly impacted the community around his schools, his students, the state of Georgia and countless others through his educating teachers across the globe. He will share with Forum attendees how building a world-class teaching workforce is not only necessary, but POSSIBLE; leaving attendees with a charge to roll up their sleeves and do their part to improve teacher quality. Our students deserve it; our state deserves it!
2:00 – 2:15 p.m.Closing
James B. Hunt, Jr.,
Anita R. Brown-Graham
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Bill Haslam????? He must be positioning himself for a Senate or presidential election.
He cursed TN with Kevin Huffman and refuses acknowledge his TN reign of error.
He’s shields his personal wealth from citizens in one of the most secret administrations in the history of TN:
http://speaktopower.org/2014/01/dodging-obama-lays-bare-haslams-unprecedented-secrecy/
And the Haslam family business Pilot Oil/Flying J is under federal investigation for fraud:
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/01/pilot_flying_j_fraud_investiga_1.html
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For those of you who want to see it livestream you can watch it at: http://iei.ncsu.edu/emerging-issues/teachers-great-economic-debate/
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There is a lot going on at this. They have teacher ambassadors ( funded by Goodnight who own SAS considered a great company to work for but it is also the people that do the High Stakes testing on computers for NC).
IEI also have faculty fellows who are professors from across NC who have received stipends researching 4 topics and will be presenting white papers after the IEI Forum. The four topics may interest you.
Paper Topics: The following topics and related questions were generated by a working group of state K-12 stakeholders to support conversations and action to increase the numbers of world-class teachers in North Carolina.
K-12 Compensation Systems:
• What does the research tell us about the effectiveness of different compensation systems on increasing the retention and enhancing recruitment of highly effective teachers?
• How does North Carolina’s compensation system compare to those used in other states, countries and occupations?
K-12 Teaching Standards:
• What are the different ways in which highly effective teachers can be identified? (This question gets at different models for assessment, including value added)
• What are effective models for developing professional standards within K-12 education? What can we learn from how other professions set and administer theirs?
• What have initiatives in other states and nations shown us about what has worked or not worked with respect to improving teaching standards, from entry to retirement?
K-12 Professional Development:
• What does the research tells us about effective professional development models (e.g., structure, content, etc.)?
• What does the research say about the characteristics, career trajectories and outcomes for teachers who utilize effective and non-effective types of professional development?
• What are the current professional development mandates (state, local, school) in North Carolina, along with associated funding devoted to them? Additionally, describe the roles and responsibilities of all parties, including teachers, to fulfilling these mandates.
Status of the K-12 Teaching Profession:
• What models have been used for teacher involvement in structuring the professionalization and practice of teaching? To what degree did teachers feel appropriately included in them?
• What does the research tell us about the efficacy of different models for teaching schedules for attracting and retaining highly effective teachers, including part time and 12 month contracts?
• What are the key components and outcomes of successful professionalization initiatives in other states or countries?
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Unfortunately, despite some very nice invitations, I will not be going. I regret not meeting you in person Diane, and I will miss several of the other speakers like Pasi. But there are other speakers I am better off not meeting in person. I will be watching the livestream when time permits. Have a good time in NC, Diane.
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I am thrilled I will be in attendance.
My only comment: drama. high drama in NC right now. I don’t mean fake drama or “acting.” I mean there is tension in the air. You can taste it.
The heroes are the teachers who still put up delightful bulletin boards showcasing the work of students, the PTO parents who still have dinners and fundraisers to keep the momentum of school moving forward for their children, the true innovation such as dual language immersion programs in public school—these things happen despite what is said or done in Raleigh. Thank goodness.
I still don’t understand how you can engage leaders in a dialogue about public education, or trust them to deliver an address on its behalf or to even be at an event about that subject, when it can be assumed by some of their actions and associations that they don’t even believe in public education to begin with. Or at least they have not thought about if they really do or not. . .like REALLY thought about it (the kind of thought where you might actually get a panic feeling at the thought of something not exisiting). To me if you are too busy going to meetings in other states with mutual admiration and assumed back-slapping, grabbing the pre-written legislation on your way out the door, and bringing it back to your state, surreptitiously implementing it so as to avoid debate on either house floor, how can you stand up before a group of people assembled to honestly discuss and think about a subject such as public education?
I am no stranger to drama, having witnessed it in other parts of my life growing up. I will be there with eyes bright, listening to everything.
(I wonder if Phil Berger will accept that invitation. . .I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one)
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Mendacious spent Pamper Phil Berger will doubtlessly fail to show up…I hope all in attendance are well aware that he is THE leader and spokesman for the movement to destroy public education in NC and has a pathological hatred of teachers that is of Christie-esque proportions. If there is one single enemy, it’s him.
If he does show up, be sure to bring plenty of Purell.
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The program appears to have been designed to give token representation of views that are at odds with the tsunami of reforms being marketed in this and many states by persons who have a greater interest in simplistic “performance measures” afforded by scores on standardized tests than acknowledging the complexities of teaching and learning, caring about the civic purposes of public schools, and thinking about what life offers and requires beyond acquiring skill for joining the workforce.
Your presence is surely needed.
Unfortunately, the frequent use of the term “impact” in this high-profile program reflects a poverty of thought about education and what is required for teachers to nurture a love of learning–perhaps the most important professional obligation of every teacher.
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“Poverty of thought”– great term, Laura.
Wonder how this corporate-reform-heavy conference will go over given the tensions over NC teachers’ being bashed by so-called reforms.
Will there be a police presence?
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Ah, Diane! Reading the list of workshops and participants, I fear your role will be that of Bilbo Baggins taking on Smaug, recapturing the mountain of public education so the Shire may rest easy and the evil cloud will pass! A description of Smaug might reveal some similarities:
“Centuries spent sleeping atop his gold hoard caused gold and gemstones to become embedded in the flesh of Smaug’s belly, augmenting the already essentially impenetrable armour of the scales that covered most of the rest of his body; however, when Bilbo observed him in his lair, he discovered a small bare patch on Smaug’s left breast.”
Bilbo seems at first an unlikely hero of middle age, living comfortably, but by the end of the tale he has traded respect for wisdom and experience. Beware of trolls, goblins and Gollum!
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Christine, I am not afraid. I will speak on behalf of the children, parents, and educators of North Carolina, who do not want to see their schools monetized.
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Hear hear.
I am still floored by the number of people I talk to who do not know what ALEC is.
Yesterday a Davidson grad. Tonight a Harvard grad.
No wonder ALEC has gotten hold of NC.
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We all know you are fearless. It is why you are our dear heroine!
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Christine Langhoff: ah hobbits and wizards and Sauron and such!
The little folk won against overwhelming odds.
I have a strong feeling that finally given a chance to speak for a few uninterrupted minutes—contrary to panels where she has been outnumbered by rheephormers by as much as four to one with a moderator openly friendly to everyone but her—she will make as much of a positive impact as is possible given the circumstances.
And Pasi Sahlberg is no slouch either.
I wonder if anyone will, er, school Amanda Ripley on the difference between a euro and a dollar?
Perhaps I am expecting too much…
😎
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I think I saw a few other elven allies.
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The easiest and best way to retain great teachers in high needs schools would cost no money. If you simply had pro-teacher principals and administrators in each school, who bonded with the faculty, there would not be a mass exodus of staff. I worked in an inner city high school in Jamaica, Queens for twenty years with extremely high needs and difficult to educate kids. What made the job intolerable was not the students; but the administrators.
The assistant principals wandered the halls all day with special notebooks in which to write up staff members. During the lesson it was common to see a chairperson’s head peering through the back door of the classroom, looking to CATCH you for some infraction they could write up. Negative letters, often based on purely fictitious incidents and events, were always being inserted in your file. A large part of the daily routine consisted of filing grievances (and attending grievance hearings) to remove documents chock full of untrue negative doggerel.
What if you had administrators who said something like the following? “We are in a very difficult school with hard to educate kids. We are all in this together. I will do all I can to help you and back you up.” I bet teachers would stay. I know that I would have stayed at Hillcrest High School in Jamaica if there were supportive administrators.
When I see documentaries on the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan I notice that the commanders bond with the troops and tell the soldiers how we’re all in these trenches together. It must work, as many men and women re-enlist to return to combat zones for second and third tours to duty. Why can’t we try emulating these positive supervision techniques?
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The Emerging Issues Forum is sold out. I am looking forward to your presentation. I met you many years ago with then-Governor Jim Hunt, when we came to visit you and some charter schools in NYC.
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“The Pathways and Programs in the War for Talent”
They should call it “the War on Talent”
This conference would be fun to attend. It looks like they are trying to tackle education policy from all perspectives.
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well, they have covered the waterfront. Perhaps it migtht be fun to simply put Govs Hunt and McCrory together and let them go at one another. They do have some people who in my mind lack credibility – I think by now the problems with Chetty’s work should be well known, but I do not see anyone there to counter him in real time. Govs Haslam and McCrory are quite frankly hostile to public education, as their policies have shown.
Not sure why anyone would grant a slot to Amanda Ripley. She is an expert how???
Hope you and Pasi can provide some balance.
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While you are there, promote this. Get a viable alternative from teachers across the nation and put it together to challenge the testing. http://savingstudents-caplee.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-call-to-action.html
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Please, Diane, read and share this article by a first year teacher. I sent it to you as tweet as well. Her message is clear and distinctly address the topic of this conference wherein I saw nothing that describes what she benefitting from as first year teacher. http://wapo.st/1aNE04a
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I am very disapointed with our current Governor, Pat McCrory, he is basically speaking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time, so I am not so sure I would enjoy listening to him either. He says he wants to give public school teachers a raise after he did away with tenure and increased the cap on classs size. He also supports charter school expansion and vouchers. The real elephant in the room is something you seldom hear mentioned when disussing education, poverty, which is very prevelant in this state. The only person I have heard speak about the effects of poverty on public education is Dr. Ravitch(Michelle Rhee completely discounts the impact of poverty). All one has to do is look at last years test results for Char-Meck schools to see the direct relationship between poverty and performance.
Dr. Ravitch, you should ask someone to show you the report from the Charlotte Observer, published Nov 11, 2013. The top 4 or 5 performing schools are the most affluent schools, starting with Audrey Kell and Providence ( CMS schools), then as the school becomes less affluent the test scores worsen, until you reach poorest school in Charlotte, West Charlotte High School. Since charter schools were also included in the list, you could see the same trend with the relationship between performance and poverty, affluent charters scored well (but not as well at the public school) while the least affluent charter performed very badly.
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If the title is, Teachers and the Great Economic Debate, why are there no teacher presenters (that I saw anyway)? Besides Diane and Pasi, all I saw were people with no educational background. So are they there just to talk about what they can do to teachers next?
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THANK YOU so very much for representing teachers in North Carolina. We need you. Just last night at a meeting of our local unit of NCAE where several representatives and future candidates were in attendance to speak to a room of educators, Rep BIll Cook, after reading a speech that was a recap of the republican war on education, actually answered “Charter Schools” when asked if he had any plans to help children living in poverty. That was it. We have many issues here in NC, many ways to help children living in poverty, from extending medicare, extending unemployment benefits for families, to fixing the issues with food stamps, housing help, and all he could come up with was Charter Schools. Educators here in NC are beyond fed up, the exodus has begun and our children are losing in so many ways. THANK YOU for your help and for traveling to Raleigh and I pray that there will be ears open to hearing your message.
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This is a focus group on how to attract the best teachers and retain them, and there is one 50 minute segment with actual NC teachers speaking. The “experts” will explain what needs to be done, while more and more teachers leave the state and/or the profession. Why not ask them what would make them happy? Why not ask them why they are leaving the profession? Why not ask them why they are leaving the state and taking their talents elsewhere? It’s not the incompetent teachers, for the most part, that leave teaching in NC. It’s the best and brightest that refuse to be treated like garbage. Why not speak to them?
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