well-served

A New National Board Certified Teaching grant, geared at BIPOC and Early Career Educators, is ensuring equity in high quality teaching across Oregon

BY MEG KRUGEL

Puilan Cheng

High School Math Teacher, Woodburn 2021 NBCT BIPOC Cohort Grantee

There’s something special about the students who sit in the back of the room.

At least for Puilan Cheng, those students remind her of her own story.

When she immigrated to the US as a high-schooler from China, Cheng dreaded the idea of being called on. The language barrier felt overwhelming — she would try to hide in the back of the room, hoping her teacher would look past her.

Now, as a teacher in Woodburn, where many of her students are from predominantly Spanish or Russian-speaking homes, Cheng connects to their experiences. Though they come from different language and cultural backgrounds, she understands what it’s like to be a student in a system that hasn’t always been designed with ESOL students (English for Speakers of Other Languages) in mind.

Cheng is setting out on a journey to change that.

“I can relate to their stories. I didn’t want to be asked a question because I might feel embarrassed. I was that person. But as a teacher, I believe learning should come with joy. It should not be painful,” she says.

Through a new opportunity grant she’s received from OEA geared specifically to BIPOC and Early Career educators, Cheng is in her first year of pursuing the National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) program — a national endeavor to develop, retain and recognize accomplished teaching through a practice-heavy certification process. She’s been interested in the program for years, having first heard about it when she was a teacher in Florida about ten years ago. The cost of the program was prohibitive – around $5,000 at the

A right triangle of sunlight frames Woodburn High School math teacher Puilan Cheng, who is on a journey to pursue National Board Teacher Certification to improve the effectiveness of her teaching.

time, self-funded. (The cost in Oregon is now $1,900 for the four components, plus a $75 registration fee). Now, five years into her teaching career in Woodburn, Cheng was able to apply for a BIPOC grant to have the cost of the NBCT program paid for by her union.

“I said to myself, ‘Puilan, you have no excuses. You have to take the opportunity and go through the process.’ That’s one of my driving forces - because I received the grant. In terms of the inspiration, it’s mainly my curiosity about the National Board process and that journey. And also… how can I [use it to] improve my teaching skills and increase student learning, and meet their needs?”

For Cheng, serving her students in culturally appropriate ways seems to be the ultimate motivator. She’s currently pursuing Component One of the 4-part NBCT program, which focuses on her knowledge and content of her subject area (math). She studies calculus, geometry, algebra and linear math in the evenings at home. “I’ve always been good with numbers. My husband will ask me, ‘do you really want to do math at home in the evening?’ And the answer is yes. And then he’ll say, ‘there’s something wrong with you…’” Cheng erupts into laughter, before offering a sound piece of teaching advice: “If you’re really passionate about something, then it’s not work. And I’m really passionate about math, so it’s not really work for me.”

She next plans to tackle Component Four — assessment. “I’m really looking at what I want my students to learn and [how I] meet their needs and provide the opportunity for them to grow and learn. I look at things like: did I differentiate my instruction properly so that I can help my struggling student, my IEP student, and my ESOL student? Now, every time I create an assessment, I can look at it like a checklist. Did I cover every student, or do I have an alternative way for them to share with me what they learn or what I can assist them with?” Cheng says every educator, whether or not they pursue National Board Certification, would benefit from the principles embedded in this component.

For Cheng, the motivation to pursue National Board Certification stems from a deep desire to serve her students in the most effective way possible. “That’s one of those things that gets me thinking as I’m going through this process. Yes… I know I am a good teacher. But am I an effective teacher?” she says.

She uses the example of her language background as a learning tool. “I do have a heavy accent, and I know my instruction needs to be written down or made into a poster. I need to give extra time and repeat myself frequently. Those are the things that I know [are] very essential for my students, and also how I, myself, learn,” Cheng says.

“I see how I learned English, when I was in high school and first

“That’s one of those things that gets me thinking as I’m going through this process. Yes… I know I am a good teacher. But am I an effective teacher?”

Puilan Cheng

Dannika White, an Early Career Educator at Pine Ridge Elementary in Bend, teaches her students in their outdoor classroom as a COVID-19 precautionary measure. The new environment has inspired additional opportunities for engaging her students in their hands-on learning.

came to this country and didn’t know any of the alphabet. How did I learn? That’s pretty much how I reflected about how my students will need me to help them. I do see the connection between me being a BIPOC teacher and connecting to my students who aren’t native speakers of English.”

Herein lies one of the principal goals of the new BIPOC and Early Career Educator cohort, says Michele Oakes, the state lead for Oregon’s NBCT program. “Our goal is to increase the number of National Board Certified Teachers of Color, as well as the number of early career educators who are in their first five years. We’re really trying to think about equity in our accomplished teaching in schools. How are we really supporting all of our kids, and supporting our teachers?” Oakes questions.

In 2017, HB 2763 funneled additional money — around $1.74 million — into Oregon’s NBCT program, reimbursing educators for a portion of the cost of the certification process. And yet, Oregon’s NBCT rate has lagged well behind neighboring states (there are around 300 current National Board Certified Teachers in Oregon, compared to over 1,000 in Washington, as an example).

“The student data out of Washington really reflects the impact that accomplished teaching has on education – so, Oregon is really trying to think about how we can do that with our educators, but especially our BIPOC and Early Career [educators], who have the most barriers. How can we alleviate some of those barriers – financial, time, and support?” Oakes says. “This grant is hopefully one way to do that.”

Dannika White

First Grade Teacher, Bend-LaPine 2021 NBCT Early Career Educator Cohort Grantee

Oregon has several districts that have fully embraced the NBCT process — offering stipends or bumps on the salary schedule to those who pursue certification. The Bend-LaPine School District has been especially supportive of teachers who are becoming Board certified. At Pine Ridge Elementary in Bend, a team of teachers is going through NBCT together as part of OEA’s Early Career Educator grant opportunity.

Dannika White is one of three educators in her building who are part of that cohort. The educators returned to their building for hybrid teaching about three months ago, and journeying through the NBCT process together and in-person has been rewarding, especially after the feeling of disconnect over the last year, White says. “We try to meet with each other once a week and check in and set goals – ‘let’s work on this until we meet next time…’ — having that accountability has been so important,” she says.

White is newer to teaching with her own classroom, but not necessarily new to teaching — she worked as a substitute teacher for nine years while her two kids were very young. She adores teaching first grade now and says the community at Pine Ridge is tight-knit, with parents who want to see their students do well.

As she’s begun the National Board process, she’s been able

to become more reflective about her practice with every student, and how it is differentiated between one student and the next. She is currently pursuing Component Two in the certification process, which is all about differentiation. She points to the experience of one of her ESOL students, who spent a year at home due to COVID-19 speaking little to no English. When he arrived back in the classroom, he lagged far behind his peers in writing. She conferred with his ELL teacher, and they developed a system to support him. He’d tell a story, and White would write where the words would go in the sequence; he’d say one sentence at a time and would be asked to physically touch where to place certain words. There was deep scaffolding going on to support him, but he made steady progress.

At the same time, White was also able to differentiate her instruction for students who were ready to expand on simple writing — building out supporting ideas, opinions, and conclusions as they moved into second-grade level writing skills.

While we often talk about burnout among newer teachers, there’s also an unspoken truth that shapes Early Career Educators’ willingness to pursue certification. “I think our beginning teachers are very hungry for the professional learning and want to think about what they need and what their students need,” says Oakes. She’s been inspired by the response of newer educators who are part of the grant opportunity and says the community of support (even in a Zoom environment) is palpable.

White’s experience reflects this reality — she’s been participating in Bend-LaPine’s PASS program (Professional Advancement and Support Systems) — and the journey into NBCT has been a natural progression. “The PASS Program already had me reflecting on my practice a ton. My drive home is always me asking myself, ‘what did I do today that I liked? What would I change?’ And now, with National Board, I’m working on putting those thoughts down on paper and reflecting on my own growth, just like my students are.” n

Learn more

National Board is a voluntary process in which educators analyze and reflect on their teaching practice while holding it against the National Board Professional Teaching Standards. Teachers spend 1-3 years working on their portfolio that provides evidence of their accomplished teaching. There are 25 certificate areas with varying developmental ranges which allows for most educators to pursue National Board certification as part of their professional learning journey. NBPTS is developed by teachers for teachers.

To learn more about NBPTS visit:

boardcertified

teachers.org.

To see upcoming NBCT information sessions offered through OEA, or learn more about the BIPOC and Early Career Educator grant opportunity, visit:

oregoned.org/

NBCT.

LIVING – &LEAVING – A LEGACY

As she steps away from the Oregon Legislature, Rep. Margaret Doherty ends a long career of pro-union and pro-education advocacy

BY MEG KRUGEL

Thanks to a political groundswell of up-and-coming progressive women who decided to run for office this year, for the first time ever, there are more women serving in the Oregon State House of Representatives in the 2021 Legislative Session than there are men. It’s an inspiring mark of progress toward gender equity in our state government. And yet, the foundation underscoring this moment was laid long before many of these newly elected women took office. For some, the groundwork was set by women legislators who’ve since left office but whose impact remain ever-present in the halls of the Capitol.

Oregonians undeniably owe some of this progress to the firey redheaded teacher and labor advocate from Tigard — Margaret Doherty, who ended her tenure as HD 35 Representative in December of 2020. During her 10-years of service in the Legislature, Doherty fought the good fight to ensure women — particularly those working in education – had a seat at the proverbial table when it came to education policy and legislation. As a teacher and OEA member, she knew the importance of ensuring educators' voices were heard. Her career in public service and education was extensive, taking her from the classroom, to the bargaining table as a union representative, to the Capitol floor as a State Representative. Through it all, she carried a unique blend of humor and tenacity, an ear always bent to the stories shared by the educators and OEA members she was so proud to represent.

How it Began

In prophetic fashion, Margaret Doherty graduated with her teaching degree in 1973, the same year collective bargaining became law in Oregon. She was first hired as a substitute teacher “I’d come out of Portland “I’d come out of Portland State University as an anti-war State University as an anti-war activist. During my first week of activist. During my first week of teaching, the President of the teaching, the President of the North Clackamas Education North Clackamas Education Association asked me if I’d Association asked me if I’d like to serve as a Building Rep. like to serve as a Building Rep. And I say, ‘well what do they And I said, ‘well what do they do?’ And I was told they fight do?’ And I was told they fight management, and I said, management, and I said, ‘I can do that.’ ”‘I can do that.’ ”

REP. MARGARET DOHERTY REP. MARGARET DOHERTY

in Beaverton — but after being asked to cross a picket line and refusing — she found her permanent post at Milwaukie High School, where she taught speech and debate. As a new teacher, she dove headfirst — almost literally – into union work.

“I’d come out of Portland State University as an anti-war activist. During my first week of teaching, the President of the North Clackamas Education Association asked me if I’d like to serve as a Building Rep. And I say, ‘well what do they do?’ And I was told they fight management, and I said, ‘I can do that.’ I didn’t realize until a year or so later that they had a thing called a probationary period, and I was in it that whole time – while I was taking grievances into my Principal,” Doherty remembers.

As a new teacher, she began cutting her teeth in politics, serving on OEA’s Legislative Advisory Council and the OEA-PAC (then called OEA-PIE Board). Doherty wasn’t shy about making the ask — she’d get on the school loudspeaker two minutes after the bell rang at the end of the day, urging her members to chip in $5 to help defeat anti-education ballot measures. By 1983, at age 31, she’d been elected President of the North Clackamas Education Association and was offered a leave of absence to help fight the ballot measure that would later be known as Ballot Measure 5. Soon after, she was offered a six-month internship with OEA to learn the ropes of being a union representative, or UniServ Consultant, as the position was titled.

“My district wouldn’t give me a leave of absence, so I had to quit. The worst day of my life was the day I had to quit teaching – but it was also one of the better ones, too. Teaching is a phenomenal profession, but it is so constricting.” Doherty admits. Yet it wasn’t the tight schedule or the long nights of grading papers that finally pushed her into a new career path. “After ten-plus years of teaching, one of my students looked at me and said, ‘you don’t smile as much as you used to.’ And it was then that I realized – maybe it was time to go.”

A Steadfast Labor Advocate

When she joined the Oregon Education Association as a UniServ Consultant in 1984, Doherty was assigned to organize a new bargaining unit of classified employees for OEA. From her first successfully negotiated contract in the Bethel School District, up to Lebanon, down to Southern Oregon, and over to the coast – a new faction of classified employees began joining the union, thanks to Doherty and her colleague, Mike Carter. The transition from teaching to the bargaining table wasn’t a big shock to the system. “The issues were the same – everyone needed and wanted good representation. They wanted a strong contract. It's just that their job was a little bit different. I wasn't used to hanging around a bus barn all day," she says.

Her 25-year career with OEA took her to every corner of the state, working with educators in every professional capacity. From organizing ESP units in Bethel, to representing teachers in Washington County, to bargaining contracts for rural educators outside of The Dalles, Doherty probably saw it all. Some of the stories of that time she says are definitely not fit for print. But, in all of the bargaining she did, she never once had a local go out on strike. “We came close, but I tried to keep good relationships with school administrators,” she says.

“People don't realize what an unthankful job being in education is. I understood the struggle. When I started teaching, I was making just $8,100 bucks a year. I made more money checking groceries part-time than I did teaching full-time. So, if you can go in and get better working conditions, if you can get better salaries – it makes it worth it,” Doherty says.

She held the post of UniServ Consultant when there were few other women working in labor negotiations. “There were women working in communications… but in fieldwork? Not so much. So we just had to be a little bit tougher, a little bit sneakier. We got stuff done. But there was more than once that I was only woman in the room,” she says.

When she sat down with a member who was having performance issues, she always started with the same basic question: do you love going to work every morning? “If they said ‘no, I really hate it,’ then I would say, ‘you better find another job, because you have to love going to school every day. That’s the kind of profession we’re in.'” She learned quickly that there was a lot of counseling involved in grievance work, and representing members required a raw honesty and a heavy dose of humor.

What made her successful at it? “Well, I’m 100 percent Irish, to start. And when you’re Irish, you have the ability to tell somebody to go to Hell and have them look forward to the trip. And I’m really good at that,” she laughs.

On to the Capitol

By 2006, Doherty was ready to retire from OEA. But, her career in public service was far from over. She took a quick reprieve and went to floral design school, soon opening up her own florist business. And then her neighbor – Larry Galizio, who served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from 2004 to 2009 — announced he was stepping down from HD 35 and asked Doherty if she would be interested in an appointment to the Legislature.

“I thought about it – and knew I had the time to do it. I could afford to do it. And most importantly, I had the education and union background that was, at the time, lacking [in the Legislature]. I knew it was a good fit,” Doherty says. She had to run her first re-election campaign in November of 2010, but without any Republican challengers in a highly Democratic district, her win was decisive.

As a Legislator, Doherty was known for all of the same attributes that made her a good teacher and a strong UniServ consultant – a quick wit, a warm smile, sharp thinking, and an unflinching commitment to public education.

“It was such a breath of fresh air when Margaret entered the “Margaret Doherty and I were sworn into the Legislature on the same day and I immediately found a friend. We shared an Irish heritage and for a good while sat next to each other on the floor of the House. Margaret is funny, smart and most importantly, 100 percent committed to fighting for working people.”

VAL HOYLE, OREGON COMMISSIONER OF LABOR

Legislature in 2009," remembers State Senator Michael Dembrow. “Bringing her real-world experience as a teacher into the building was a relief. Bringing her real-world experience as a union organizer and negotiator was equally valuable—she knew how to build coalitions, build relationships, build support, negotiate stubbornly and strategically for the good of her members. On the gloomiest of days on the House floor, Margaret’s quick smile, even quicker jokes and sharp wit unfailingly kept us going."

As she looks back at her time in office, she’s proudest of her work on school nutrition programs. She had three bills that were encompassed in the 2019 passage of the Student Success Act, including the statewide free lunch program and the “Breakfast After the Bell” program, which allows districts with more than 70 percent of students on free-and-reduced-price lunch programs to serve breakfast after class begins. She served as House Education Committee Chair beginning in the 2015 Legislative session up through her retirement in December of 2020.

Notably, Doherty was also responsible for the life-saving decriminalization of Minor in Possession offenses. “I got a call from a constituent, whose son had been underage drinking while in college and was going into alcohol shock. His friends had been afraid to call 911 for fear of being under 21. And as a result, he ended up dying,” Doherty says. Now, thanks to her advocacy on the issue, “if you’re underage drinking, and you do the right thing and call somebody for help, you won’t get an MIP. This can really save a lot of lives.”

In January of 2020, after 10 years of service, Doherty made the bittersweet decision not to run for reelection. In her statement at the time, she said “I think the time is right for me to step aside, allowing someone else to serve this incredible community.” She had no idea last January that the world would shift so dramatically in the months to follow. From a global pandemic that would close the Capitol doors in Salem, to a national assault on the United States Capitol – the 78-year-old Doherty is grateful to be resuming a quieter life at her home in Tigard this year.

She trusts the newly elected legislators (as well as her longtime Democratic colleagues) in the House to take up the pro-public education mantle that she’s left but says there’s always space for more educators to find their place in state government. Offering some parting words of wisdom, she says: “It’s absolutely critical to keep educators’ voices front and center... to put people with classroom experience into office.” n