The
Advocate The official publication of the Knox County Education Association February, 2011 Volume XXIV Issue 5
United Way Listens to the Community about Supporting Effective Teachers
KCEA Officers President Jessica Holman Vice-President Sherry Morgan Secretary Jennifer Owen Treasurer Tanya T. Coats
Executive Board Representatives Support Personnel Open Seat High Schools Emily Dalton Lisa Thomas Middle Schools Karen Peterman Kim Waller Elementary Schools Judy Barnes Kelly Keen Heather Wallace Alternative Schools Amy Arnold Administration Dr. Rodney Russell Minority Member at Large Benny Perry Parliamentarian Paula Brown
TEA / NEA TEA East TN Minority Tanya T. Coats TEA East TN Administrator Carmelita Perry TEA Board, District 4 Jessica Holman TEA-FCPE, District 4 Bill Bell NEA Resolutions Committee Anthony Hancock
TEA Staff Uniserv Director Jim Petrie Administrative Assistant Abbie Hoover
Gavin Luter, United Way of Greater Knoxville Over the last 10 months, the United Way of Greater Knoxville has been working with a variety of community partners to rally around education, but specifically teachers. We are not only trying to advocate on behalf of teachers, but we are also trying to talk to the community about what it means to be an “effective teacher,” a word that keeps coming up in a variety of education reform circles. Why? Because teachers REALLY MATTER when it comes to student learning. We want to get the community to recognize the critical role teachers play and then be there to help support where ever possible. One major project undertaken by the United Way of Tennessee―and driven locally by the United Way of Greater Knoxville by Gavin Luter―was doing a series of “listening sessions” with parents, teachers, students, and others in the community to ask them about effective teachers, barriers to effectiveness, and what the community could do to support teachers. We talked to over 700 Tennesseans about what the community expects from effective teachers, and we learned a lot. Across all 3 groups, high standards and holding students accountable for true learning really matter (Students/Parents don’t just want teachers who will give easy A’s…it hurts in the long run; Teachers want to hold their students to high expectations). Parental involvement also matters to all groups, but rarely do people agree with what that looks like. It seems like there’s a Catch-22 when it comes to parental involvement. Teachers always want more parental involvement. Parents always want to learn about how they can be involved. Some parents are overbearing when volunteering. Some parents feel like they get almost TOO much from teachers. We hope we can work toward a resolution of this complex issue with a variety of community partners at the table and no longer in isolation. Other main outcomes from the groups are: 1.
Teachers: Want to have ongoing, embedded professional development that is TRULY MATCHED with their strengths and weaknesses which could be uncovered by an improved evaluation system. Teachers don’t want one-out, sitand-get lectures that are pointless. Teachers also want a voice in the process of education reform, because they often feel left out of conversations due to already-busy teaching schedules. If we say we respect teachers as professionals, we should value their thoughts about formulating rules that regulate their profession.
2.
Parents: Parental involvement is difficult when (1) they don’t have specific strategies to help their children and (2) there’s no consistent communication s t r a t e g y. Sometimes parental involvement is a Catch 22 in that sometimes parents can be overbearing―and they know that―yet they need to be involved.
3.
Students: They want to be asked to help evaluate their teachers and give specific feedback to teachers about how to better reach them.
What do we hope to do with this information: 1.
Shape the way policy around education is being formulated: This is the prime opportunity within the state of TN to include these major groups into conversations related to how education is reformed. If we change the teacher evaluation and PD session, and we don’t ask teachers how to best do that, we’ve missed a huge opportunity
2.
Encourage consideration of student feedback in the new evaluation system: Students hold valuable information about the effectiveness of teachers, and we want to make sure that information isn’t overlooked.
3.
Community call to action: We hope people realize that effective teachers don’t exist in a vacuum. The community needs to be involved in helping support and empower teachers as they go about trying to be most effective as possible.
United Way wants to make sure we are working alongside teacher groups throughout this process. If you want to help with this effort, please contact me: Gavin Luter, luterg@unitedwayknox.org (865-521-5575). We are encouraged by the amount of community support we’re bringing to education. With your help, we can continue these efforts! Lastly, thank you to all the teachers reading this! As we are just finishing up the holiday season, I truly believe that teachers provide the gift that keeps on giving―a quality education! Thank you for your dedication to ensuring that all students have an excellent and quality educational experience in Knox County!