Today's OEA - Winter 2016

A PUBLICATION FOR MEMBERS OF THE OREGON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

TODAY’S

SPECIAL SECTION

OEA CANDIDATES INSERT PAGE 34

OEA

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

» EUGENE MEMBERS ORGANIZE TO WIN » REMEMBERING BOB CRUMPTON » A NEW DAWN COMES: EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT WINTER 2016 | VOLUME 90 : NUMBER 2

The Board National process n o i t a c fi i Cert but its , y s a e t ’ isn have benefits raving s r e h c a e t

CONTENTS / Winter2016 VOLUME 90 : ISSUE NO. 2

Features

Departments President’s Column

05 / on the precipice of change

By Hanna Vaandering, OEA President

Upcoming

06 / Events for OEA Members Newsflash

26 On the Cover

26 / Certifiably Better

The national board certification process isn’t easy, but its benefits have most teachers raving.

By Jon Bell

Profile

22 / the toughest challenge

07 /moving schools out of tsunami zones 09 / Stopping chronic absenteeism » Teaching & Learning

10 / traveling down the "new path" 12 / Good Riddance, NCLB Inside OEA

13 / putting the 'u' in union school Opinion

First-year teacher Kelly Cowgill takes it to the next level in the second installment of this four-part series.

By Laila Hirschfeld

14 / Making the Case for Divestment Organizer's Toolbox

16 / Organizing to win » In Memoriam

20 / Remembering Bob Crumpton Sources + Resources

32 / Books and Opportunities

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Special Section

34/ OEA board & NEA RA DELEGATE candidates On the Web

38 /every Student Succeeds Act resources

ON THE COVER: Oregon City High School teacher Ed Kline has undergone the National Board Certification process - and says he's a better teacher because of it.

PhotO by THOMAS Patterson Credits: Thomas Patterson, Paweł Zawistowski/FreeImages.com, Chris Becerra

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

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Join us for t

he 5t

Conference ess lln

School Emp n o g e r O l l oye a u eW n n e hA

MARCH 20-22, 2016 IN BEND, OREGON TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE: THE POWER OF US!

FULLY CHARGED MOVIE SCREENING Come to the Healthy Happy Hour on Monday, March 21st for a screening of best-selling author Tom Rath's recent film Fully Charged — you won't want to miss it!

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: KEVIN CARROLL Kevin Carroll is the founder of Kevin Carroll KatalysULLC and the author of three highly successful books. As an author, speaker and agent for social change (a.k.a. the Catalyst), it is Kevin's "job" to inspire businesses, organizations and individuals — from CEOs to school children — to embrace their spirit of play and creativity to maximize their human potential and sustain more meaningful business and personal growth.

• Fuel your passion through networking and learning how others are igniting wellness in their schools and districts • Get practical information and tools to start and sustain school employee wellness in your communities • Rejuvenate yourself with the numerous opportunities to be active, eat well, and relax in scenic Central Oregon • Hone your personal skills as a leader in school employee wellness • Connect with community health partners • No Registration Fee • Earn 1 CPE credit from PSU and/or 10 CPDUs sponsored by OEA

IT PAYS TO REGISTER AS A TEAM! When you register as a school district, ESD, or community college wellness team and attend the conference together, your team will be entered for a drawing to win $200 to support school employee wellness at your workplace! If your team also attends a School Employee Wellness 101 or 201 action planning session, it will be given a second entry in the drawing. Three lucky teams will win!

THE FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES CAMPAIGN IS BACK When 4 or more colleagues include your name when they register for the conference, your name will be entered into a drawing for free lodging in a Riverview Suite at the Riverhouse Hotel for both nights of the conference, so spread the word and bring a friend!

Register at http://beattygroup.cvent.com/d/2fqJtd For more information: Maureen Caldwell • OEA Choice Trust • (503) 495-6262 • (503) 624-3994 • maureen@oeachoice.com Inge Aldersebaes • OEA Choice Trust • (503) 495-6254 • inge@orechoice.com

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE / Winter2016 Hanna Vaandering OEA President

Hanna Vaandering, left, and fellow OEA Board Directors Helen Jacobs, Tina Leaton, and Scott Wallace organize to collect signatures for the Better Oregon campaign at Beaverton High School.

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et’s make this happen.

Educators across this state are the answer we have been looking for (and we've been looking for more than two decades!). Right now, we’re poised to lead on three key issues that will ensure our students have the schools they deserve.

This Spring presents historic opportunities to make change for our students and our schools, but we can’t do it without you.

The monumental reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has provided us with over 1,000 pages of legislation and the opportunity to have our voices heard. You’ll find everything you need to know about the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) on page 10. Our congressional delegation believes in educators and parents and has ensured, through this legislation, that decisions must be made with input from those who work directly with the students impacted by the new law. Please contact your local president or me (hanna.vaandering@oregoned.org) if you would like to be part of creating an implementation plan that truly focuses on our students and their success.

Among the core values of OEA is “Lifelong Learning,” and nowhere can we live this commitment more strongly than through our Better Oregon Campaign. Whether it is ensuring appropriate early

childhood education, quality funding for the arts, or equitable access to higher education, school districts and community colleges across the state have an opportunity to turn the tide and ensure that our schools are not only filled with amazing educators, but also funded at a level that creates the learning environment that allows students to thrive. You have the opportunity to be a part of building a Better Oregon. Please sign IP28 and ask your loved ones to sign.

This will take just 10 minutes of your time but will forever transform public education in Oregon.

Finally, round two of the TELL Oregon Survey is off and running.

Your administrator has the access code and you have the answers.

The teaching and learning conditions in your school impact your students every day. The results of this survey will be made available (provided your school meets the threshold for respondents) to celebrate the great things happening and craft a plan to address any issues getting in the way of student learning.

We are on the precipice: there has never been a time that our union has had a better opportunity to lead our profession and transform public education in Oregon. Together we can make this happen. I look forward to working side by side with you to be part of the answer and Build the Schools our Students Deserve.

WE ARE ON A PRECIPICE: OUR UNION HAS NEVER HAD A BETTER OPPORTUNITY TO LEAD OUR PROFESSION AND TRANSFORM PUBLIC EDUCATION IN OREGON. Credit: Hanna Vaandering

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UPCOMING Winter2016

TODAY’S

OEA

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE OREGON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION March 2, 2016

NEA’s Read Across America Day

WINTER 2016 VOLUME 90 : ISSUE NO. 2

n What: NEA provides all the resources and tools you’ll need to plan and implement a reading

celebration in your school, classroom, or community on March 2. n how: For more information and resources, go to www.nea.org/readacross.

March 4-5, 2016

OEA-PIE Convention n What: More than 300 member-delegates will gather to recommend candidates for statewide

and federal offices. The convention is filled with activities, candidate speeches, question and answer sessions, caucuses, and floor debates. n WHERE: Valley River Inn, Eugene n how: For more information and to register, visit www.oregoned.org/pie2016.

March 11-13, 2016

2016 NEA ESP Conference n What:

The NEA ESP conference is the premier professional development opportunity for Education Support Professionals across the nation. The goal of this conference is to enhance the skills and knowledge of ESP members to positively impact student achievement, build community relations, organize members, advocate for educators, build stronger locals, and help our members do their jobs better. n WHERE: Lake Buena Vista, FL n how: Go to www.nea.org/espconference for more information.

March 20-22, 2016

Oregon School Employee Wellness Conference n What: Participants learn how to create a culture of wellness, access state and national

resources to support school employee wellness, and learn how healthy school employees leads to greater student success. n WHERE: Riverhouse Hotel, Bend n how: Go to http://beattygroup.cvent.com/d/2fqJtd to register.

SAVE THE DATE! APRIL 15-16, 2016

OEA Representative Assembly n What: OEA member-delegates gather to elect new leaders, reform bylaws and policies,

propose new business items, attend caucus meetings, and celebrate member achievements. n WHERE: Red Lion Hotel on the River, Portland n how: Go to oregoned.org/action-center/events/representative-assembly.

OFFICE HEADQUARTERS 6900 SW Atlanta Street Portland, OR 97223 Phone: 503.684.3300 FAX: 503.684.8063 www.oregoned.org PUBLISHERS Johanna Vaandering, President Richard Sanders, Executive Director EDITOR Meg Krugel PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Janine Leggett CONTRIBUTORS Janine Leggett, Laila Hirschfeld, Andrea Shunk, Julia Sanders, Thomas Patterson To submit a story idea for publication in Today’s OEA magazine, email editor Meg Krugel at meg.krugel@oregoned.org PRINTER Morel Ink, Portland, OR TODAY’S OEA (ISSN #0030-4689) is published four times a year (October, February, April and June) as a benefit of membership ($6.50 of dues) by the Oregon Education Association, 6900 SW Atlanta Street, Portland OR 97223-2513. Non-member subscription rate is $10 per year. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, OR. POSTMASTER Send address corrections to: Oregon Education Association Attn: Becky Nelson Membership Processing 6900 SW Atlanta Street Portland, OR 97223-2513

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TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Francesca Genovese-Finch

Newsflash Salem Teacher Wins Milken Education Award

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ichard Larios, bilingual educator at Waldo Middle School in Salem, is the latest recipient of Oregon’s Milken Award for the most outstanding educator. According to the Milken Family Foundation, the annual $25,000 award “recognizes exemplary elementary and secondary school teachers, principals, and specialists who are furthering excellence in education.”

Larios is a Salem native whose parents emigrated from Mexico. He was the first of his family to graduate from high school.

“When I became a teacher, I didn’t really know why,” he said. “But when I got older, I thought, when I die, I want 10,000 people to show up at my funeral and say, ‘That man changed my life.’”

Milken prize judges have said that Larios is known for the relationships he has built with the students and families of Waldo Middle School, a low-income school where over 60 percent of students speak Spanish.

“Mr. Larios is committed to developing the hearts and minds of all students — particularly those who are underrepresented and historically underserved — by teaching students that setbacks in life are merely setups for greatness,” said Tricia Nelson, Principal at Waldo Middle School. “He can turn every moment into a lesson and every child into a learner.”

Credits: Milken Family Foundation, Tom Banse, KPLU

Seaside High School students and staff flee to higher ground during a tsunami evacuation drill.

Seaside Students Fundraise to Move Schools Out of Tsunami Zones

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fter learning that their community would be in jeopardy in the event of an earthquake and tsunami, Seaside High School students decided to take matters into their own hands, and set up a tsunami prep fund.

With an estimated one in three chance of a large-magnitude earthquake occurring in the next 50 years, the students have wellfounded concerns. According to scientists, students would have about fifteen minutes

to get to higher ground before a tsunami would reach land.

The students' tsunami preparedness project aims to raise enough funds to help relocate schools within the Seaside School district to outside the tsunami zone - a project with an estimated price tag of $128 million. Currently there are four schools in need of relocation.

To donate to the cause, visit www. gofundme.com/cascadiaevent.

New Education Innovation Advisor announced

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hile speaking at the Oregon Business Summit, Gov. Kate Brown announced the addition of a new Education Innovation Advisor. The announcement was made while Gov. Brown spoke as part of a panel on career and technical education.

“Working with local schools and parents, the Innovation Officer will help implement a more balanced system of assessment, and make sure that we are investing in practices and programs that foster student success,” said Gov. Brown. “This position will assist me, my education team, and the Legislature in dedicating resources to increase the number of students who graduate from high school with a plan for their future.”

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Newsflash DID YOU KNOW? » The deadline to turn in signatures for the Better Oregon Campaign is coming up on April 15, 2016. Haven't signed the petition yet? Contact your local UniServ office to get your hands on a copy: www.oregoned.org/locations.

Grant Gives Southern Oregon Students Access to Technical Education

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hanks to a $480,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Education, students in the Southern Oregon Education Service District will get exposure to cutting-edge technology, preparing them for future job markets.

Students in the robotics class at North Medford High School will have the opportunity to use 3D print technology and will get hands-on experience building robots.

Grants Pass and Medford School Districts will also have access to new mobile labs,

increasing student access to technology.

“By having students engaged in career paths early,” said SOESD Superintendent Scott Beveridge, “we hope to jettison them past high school graduation into college and career increasing attendance and graduation rates.”

Oregon Student Attends State of the Union Address

OSU Store Will Accept SNAP

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O

hen Lydia Doza saw the text message she received while in class at Oregon Institute of Technology, she almost ignored it out of disbelief. "I thought, no one gets texts messages from the White House," Doza said. "This can't be real."

Fortunately, her curiosity led her to pick up the phone and call the White House back. It was then that she realized she was being invited to the State of the Union address to sit with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Doza, a Klamath Falls resident, grew up

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TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

in Alaska and is part of three native tribes — the Tsimshian, Haida and Inupiat. She is currently studying to be a mechanical engineer. The 24-year-old was selected for her work exposing Native American youth to career paths in science, technology, engineering, and math.

While in Washington, DC, Doza participated in a panel about helping kids access STEM fields. "I'm hoping to be able to bring new ideas back here to Oregon, and especially Klamath Falls," Doza said. "I'm sure my professors will understand if I'm a little late on my assignments this week.”

n Jan. 6, Oregon State University became one of only a few colleges and universities to accept federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cards on campus. The cards can be used at Cascadia Market, a 1,100 square-foot store that offers healthy staple foods, a requirement for any store accepting SNAP. A 2014 OSU study showed that 59 percent of students surveyed had experienced food insecurity in the previous year. “We wanted to have a location that was convenient. We wanted students to be able to use SNAP while on campus,” said OSU nutritionist Tara Sanders.

Newsflash WILL YOU BE THERE? » The OEA-PIE Convention is fast-approaching! Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to make recommendations for Oregon Governor, Secretary of State, Representatives, and other important elected offices! Find out more: www.oregoned.org/pie2016

Oregon's 2016 Teacher of the Year

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Combating Chronic Absenteeism in Oregon Schools

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report recently released by the Oregon Department of Education showed that one in six students missed at least 10 percent of their enrolled school days last year.

As all educators know, improving attendance and reducing chronic absence takes commitment, collaboration, and tailored approaches to the particular challenges and strengths of each school community.

Schools, communities, and advocates across the nation have successfully taken steps to ensure children are attending school more regularly. While attendance is largely out of our control, there are a few steps that can be taken that are shown to improve attendance:

eather Anderson of Bend-LaPine Schools is looking forward to her new role as Oregon’s 2016 Teacher of the Year. “It's a huge honor to be able to represent our town and state,” Anderson said. “Bend is my hometown, I'm a product of Bend-La Pine Schools and now teaching here. Winning this award is amazing.”

Anderson graduated from Bend Senior High School and eventually became a fourth-grade teacher at Juniper Elementary School in the same district. “Heather is an outstanding teacher with a wonderful story to share. I am excited for her to have this forum to share her passion for teaching and learning with the community,“ said Bend-La Pine Schools Superintendent Shay Mikalson.

In her Teacher of the Year application, Anderson wrote, “I motivate children by building strong relationships, emphasizing hard work and celebrating success.”

On Jan. 12, community members and students gathered in Bend to celebrate and congratulate Anderson on her achievement.

Anderson will join other representatives from across the country in April for the Washington Recognition Week for Teachers of the Year in Washington, D.C. While there she will meet President Obama and the U.S. Secretary of Education. The last time Oregon’s Teacher of the Year was from Bend LaPine Schools was 1991.

Read more about Anderson’s journey as a National Board Certified Teacher in this issue, page 30.

n Welcome students by name in the

morning. n Begin each day with a preferred

activity. n Call home when a student is absent. n Offer support to encourage a parent/

teacher partnership. n Create a culture of regular

attendance through work with community partners.

See more: tips at: www.attendanceworks.org/tools/ Credits: Paweł Zawistowski/FreeImages.com, OSU Cascades

> QUOTABLE

“We agree that real opportunity requires every American to get the education and training they need to land a good-paying job. The bipartisan reform of No Child Left Behind was an important start, and together, we’ve increased early childhood education, lifted high school graduation rates to new highs, boosted graduates in fields like engineering.”

President Barack Obama, in his Jan. 13, 2016 State of the Union Address TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

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Teaching & Learning

TRAVELING DOWN THE "NEW PATH" Educators are speaking up — and loudly — on behalf of their students and their colleagues

BY ANDREA SHUNK / Education Policy & Professional Practice Strategist, OEA Center for Great Public Schools

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n education, the equivalent of the question, “If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?” is “If you write a proposal, will anyone listen?”

Educators know better than anyone that the shifting sands of education often mean that proposals, articles, research, or action plans — no matter how well-written, well-conceived, or well-intentioned — are only as good as the follow through.

This was a key concern of a group of 16 Oregon Education Association members who came together in the spring of 2014 to begin crafting what eventually became, A New Path for Oregon: System of Assessment to Empower Meaningful Student Learning (see the Spring 2015 edition of Today’s OEA for the full story).

We are excited to say today that not only is the work that this dedicated group of educators completed alive and well, but groups across the state and nation are taking action on it.

In this case, we all heard the tree fall.

Background

Published in July 2015, A New Path for Oregon puts forth 11 recommendations for Oregon in order to create a healthy, balanced, and meaningful system of assessment that truly empowers students, who are the most important members of our education system.

The workgroup represented a collaboration of OEA, the Governor’s office, the Oregon Department of Education, and the Oregon Education Investment Board (now the Chief Education Office). The document also reflects the collective input of educators, parents, students and others on the proposals.

Educators Leading the Way

Educator leadership was paramount in crafting A New Path for Oregon and has been just as critical in keeping this 10

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

document alive and more than just another set of recommendations or white paper to file away in a notebook or on a bookshelf.

Since its publication, several of the recommendations have been taken up by OEA members and leaders, by other education partners, and by others at the local, state and national level. OEA will continue to keep these recommendations alive because they represent what is best for students, and what is best for teaching and learning.

Here is an overview of what has transpired regarding the key recommendations in A New Path for Oregon: System of Assessment for Meaningful Student Learning since its publication.

Recommendation #1: ESEA Reauthorization

On Dec. 10, 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, into law. Educators around the nation helped ensure the passage by raising their voices. The National Education Association reports that educators: n Sent 255,000 emails; n Composed 36,100 tweets; n Made 23,500 phone calls; n Collected 26,000 signatures on the “Get ESEA Right” petition; n And had 2,300 face-to-face meetings with members of Congress.

The efforts clearly paid off. The new law, ESSA, includes several provisions that allow states the flexibility to design and develop a system of assessment that accurately reflects student learning, and abandons No Child Left Behind’s approach of 100-ways-to-fail.

OEA member leaders will be key in providing input to what Oregon’s system of quality assessment looks like as implementation of the new law proceeds.

To find more resources for learning

about the new ESSA, turn to our “On the Web” column, page 38.

Recommendation #2: Student’s Assessment Bill of Rights

For the first time ever, Oregon’s students have their assessment rights enshrined in law. House Bill 2655 requires all school districts in Oregon to provide students and their families critical information about the use and purpose of summative statewide tests, including what the results mean and how they will be used. We still have work to do to bring the Student Assessment Bill of Rights to life in classrooms and schools across the state and ensure the original intent of the legislation is honored. OEA will continue to engage educator leaders and education partners this school year.

Recommendation #3: Assessment Literacy

This recommendation called for Oregon to develop, fund, and implement a multiyear assessment literacy professional development program, a lofty yet critical call to action. Fully realizing this recommendation will take all partners working together over several years, but OEA has taken a key step in moving this vision forward.

The Center for Great Public Schools has launched two cadres — the Quality Assessment Professional Practice Leaders and the Assessment Policy and Practice Think Tank— as a starting point toward developing professional learning opportunities across the state.

The professional practice leaders will start delivering professional learning on quality assessment practices this summer and fall for multiple audiences. Additionally, the leaders will work with districts and teams ready to take on deeper, sustained, and job-embedded professional learning on assessment. The best part is that this work will be led by educators who are putting

quality principles of assessment into practice in their own classrooms each day.

The think tank has taken up the charge to make recommendations about what policies we need at the local and state level to make sure the system works for teachers and students in classrooms. Additionally, the original assessment workgroup leaders continue to meet and set priorities to drive the recommendations forward across the state.

Watch for more information about both of these cadres and opportunities to engage in professional learning opportunities in future editions of Today’s OEA and the OEA website.

Recommendation #11: Suspending the Use of Smarter Balanced

This recommendation called for suspending the use of Smarter Balanced results for the purpose of school ratings on report cards and educator evaluations.

Educator voice and leadership played a crucial role in fulfilling this recommendation as well. House Bill 2680, passed during the 2015 Oregon Legislative session, does Credits: NEA Today

end the use of Smarter Balanced assessments to rate schools and teachers for the 2015-16 school year.

Additionally, the bill required the Oregon Department of Education to bring together a work group to examine statewide summative assessments and ask whether they accurately measure student learning or not. This group has just begun to meet and includes several educator leaders lending their strong voices to this crucial conversation.

Helping inform these educator leaders are the voices of more than 1,200 educators in Oregon who responded to the OEA survey on the first administration of Smarter Balanced. Educators’ thoughtful perspectives on their students’ experiences taking the test, and the subsequent impact on student learning, reveal several priority concerns. These include protecting instructional time, addressing equity concerns, and assuring an adequate technology infrastructure, among others.

Additional Recommendations

OEA continues to look for opportunities to fulfill the other recommendations

in A New Path for Oregon and to make educator voice and leadership the driving force behind accomplishing these goals.

For example, ESSA, the new federal legislation, includes opportunities for states to conduct assessment audits (recommendation #4). It also requires educator voice in several key areas, perhaps most significantly in developing improvement plans for schools identified for improvement.

The past few years have seen a groundswell in educators lifting their voices, refusing to be silent or to wait for policy makers to do the right thing for students. Educators are speaking up — and loudly — on behalf of their students and their colleagues. And people are listening.

Through A New Path for Oregon: System of Assessment for Meaningful Student Learning, the opportunities in the Every Student Succeeds Act, and recent legislation in our state, we can continue to use the power of the collective voice of all educators in the state to inspire students and help them realize their full potential.

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Teaching & Learning

President Obama signs the Every Student Succeeds Act alongside NEA members at the White House on Dec. 10, 2015.

A new dawn comes with the signing of the “Every Student Succeeds Act”

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t was the cheer heard ‘round the nation, sounded by educators, parents and students everywhere. Just before the holiday recess, on Dec. 10, 2015, President Obama was finally able to close the chapter on ‘No Child Left Behind.’ After gaining overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, the President reauthorized the historic Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

The new bill, named the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), had been more than a decade in the making, as schools and students had continued, year after year, to suffer under the test-andpunish policies created by President Bush’s universally loathed “No Child Left Behind.”

The new bill shifts the majority of education policy decisions to the states and empowers educators as experts. The result is unprecedented coordination—with educators from around the country already coming together to form implementation teams.

For Oregon, the stakes couldn’t have been higher. Over the last year educators have been working with ODE, the Chief Education Office and other stakeholders to re-envision and rebuild Oregon’s assessment system. This legislation helps support the work and creates a space that will foster real collaboration and progress. ESSA will also help to close opportunity gaps for students by introducing the ‘opportunity dashboard,’ a system that identifies myriad indicators by which school success is measured and student support needs can be assessed.

“One of the more interesting aspects of this bill is that it encourages us to take a 360 degree view of our schools, and student achievement,” said OEA President Hanna Vaandering. “The dashboard will help us get a much better picture of what is actually going on in a school, especially when compared with a single test score. We’ll be looking at things like bully prevention, access to professional development, the level of parent and community engagement—these types of indicators will help us better understand and impact student growth and success.”

OEA will continue to work with regional and national partners to better understand the legislation and collaborate with local and state policy makers and stakeholders to implement the law in a way that best serves Oregon’s students. — Laila Hirschfeld

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The 2015 Representative Assembly charged OEA, through New Business Item 6, with setting up opportunities for Governor Brown and legislators to take the 3rd grade Smarter Balanced Assessment. Such opportunities have been made available since, and each legislator as well as the Governor was invited to not only take the test, but also share their experience with all education stakeholders. To this date, neither the Governor, nor any legislator, has taken the opportunity to either take the exam or share their experience.

On another note, OEA did survey educators to gather in administering SBAC. A summary of results, as well as their comments, can be found here: http://oregoned.org/educatorfeedback. The story was covered by multiple media outlets, including the Statesman Journal, which ran it on the front page of the Nov. 17, 2015 edition.

Inside OEA

PUTTING THE 'U' IN UNION SCHOOL

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ver the last year, the OEA Union School has continued its important work to provide OEA members with a broad range of training opportunities— from our annual Summer Leadership Conference, to ongoing series of professional development workshops that enhance our members’ leadership abilities, professional skills, and capacity to organize.

Here are a few highlights of the Union School opportunities right at your fingertips as an OEA member:

Emerging Leaders Across the state, the OEA Union School is working at the local level to enhance our members’ abilities to effect change within their union. Through a series of ongoing weekend workshops this winter, the Emerging Leaders program — a partnership with the University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center — will focus on leadership within the union, communication and strategic goals planning. The program culminates in a field practicum project in the Spring.

Workshops to Meet Every Need Every month, the Union School provides in-depth workshops (many of them multiday) on a plethora of topics. Educators can earn anywhere from 3 to 32 Professional Development Units (PDUs) for enrolling in these workshops, a few of which include: n Teaching Techniques for Transformation: focusing on a learnercentered approach within the union context.

Recommended to anyone currently teaching OEA labor education classes or interested in teaching adult education. 20 PDUs n Conflict Resolution Workshop: interactive workshop to explore topics such as why communication breaks down, how we can build better relationships, and how to resolve issues in your own worksite. 5 PDUs n Peer Mediation Workshop: two workshop series — an intro course followed by a 32-hour certification workshop — will guide participants in learning to understand and break down conflicts into manageable pieces, listen attentively to both parties at the same time, and facilitate a conversation that will lead to a collaboratively negotiated agreement. 3 PDUs / 32 PDUs

Powerful Locals Continue to Grow Beginning this month, the Union School’s Powerful Locals program has started indepth work with the Columbia River UniServ Council, based out of Pendleton. If you’re interested in bringing the Powerful Locals Program to your region, contact the Union School to identify next steps: kaye.grensky@ oregoned.org.

What’s Next This Spring, the OEA Union School will launch a new digital tool for all members — a catalog of training materials via Blackboard. com, a platform used by many universities, school districts and Departments of Education across the country. This online learning platform will store a wealth of training materials for you, and will give members access to content, despite geographic distance and barriers. As an OEA member, you’ll be able to track your learning progress in all of our core content areas and learn about the breadth of training opportunities available to you. Keep an eye on the OEA website for the launch of our Blackboard training tool!

HCRC Takes a Stand on Syria

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t its meeting on Nov. 21, the OEA Human and Civil Rights Committee voted to send emails to thank Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer for opposing the recent House action to require more restrictions on Syrian refugees entering the country. The Committee voted to send an email to Rep. Kurt Schrader and Rep. Greg Walden to express disappointment in their support of that legislation. The Committee also sent an email to Sen. Merkley and Sen. Wyden to ask them to oppose the House legislation when it comes to the Senate.

Credits: NEA / lilysblackboard.org

Oregon Council for Education Support Professionals

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he Oregon Council for Education Support Professionals (OCESP) is a council within the Oregon Education Association (OEA).

We are the Council that ensures the voices of all Education Support Professionals are heard in the state of Oregon.

Please join us at our upcoming events: n April 2, 2016

PRAM and State Council Meeting in Eugene Oregon.

This is our Pre-RA meeting to hold Elections for the Council. Officer positions are currently open for Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer. Liaison positions are open for OEA PIE, OEA LAC (Legislative Advisory Council) and EMAC (OEA Ethnic Minority Council). If you are interested in one of the positions, your name must be turned in by Feb. 15, 2016 to the OCESP Chair, Doris Jared. Nominations are also accepted from the floor at our State Council Meeting. n April 16, 2016

OEA-RA Luncheon All ESP Delegates are invited to join OCESP for lunch. Please RSVP to the OCESP Chair no later than March 28, 2016. In subject line, please indicate “OEA RA lunch.”

If you have any questions, please contact any of the officers: OCESP Chair Doris Jared turkstuf@msn.com Vice Chair Michael Coleman b52@12u2.com Secretary Laura Warren lauradw@centurytel.net Treasurer Kathryn Huerta Kathryn.huerta@gmail.com OEA ESP Director Kathy Coon gkcoon214@msn.com

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Opinion

MAKING THE CASE FOR DIVESTMENT Why it’s time to break our retirement system’s ties with fossil fuels

BY TOM KANE / OEA Member, Portland Association of Teachers

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t the 2015 OEA Representative Assembly, RA delegates voted to inform our members about the arguments for divesting PERS from fossil fuel companies in light of the increasing evidence of accelerating climate change. We are on track for the hottest year in recorded history (topping the previous record set, last year). Ocean levels are rising faster than predicted.

California is experiencing record drought, and it may not be long before summer snow on Mt. Hood will be visible only on old postcards. The case for climate change is overwhelming, as many of us are aware.

It is time we take a serious look at examining the allocation of our retirement funds and order the state to divest our money from fossil fuels in a manner that meets its fiduciary responsibility.

We are not on the vanguard of this movement. Many universities have partially, or are in the process of, divesting, including Stanford, San Francisco State University, the University of Washington, and Oxford. Colleges from Arizona to Vermont have also recognized the need to divest. Even the Rockefeller Brothers Fund— yes, those Rockefellers — have moved to divest.

Most recently, the 32 billion Euro Danish Pension fund has moved to divorce their money from the industries that are driving catastrophic climate change.

Finally, the California Legislature has passed a bill to divest CalPERS from all holdings in coal.

What is divestment? Quite simply, it is the opposite of investment, and rather than putting our money into fossil fuels, we would sell those investments. We find the most famous example of divestment in the Anti­Apartheid movement: Desmond Tutu, the Anglican archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was a strong proponent of 14

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that movement and both he and Nelson Mandela credit it with contributing to the end of Apartheid.

According to 350.org, a global climate network active in over 188 countries, “By the mid-1980s, 155 campuses had divested from companies doing business in South Africa, 26 state governments, 22 counties, and 90 cities, including some of the nation’s biggest, took their money from multinationals that did business in the country.” Tutu is among those global leaders now calling for a similar movement with regard to fossil fuels.

Divestment will not bankrupt fossil

What Do You Think?

1. Do you believe that Climate Change represents a substantial threat to the future lives of our students?

2. Before reading this article, were you aware of the fact that fossil fuel companies covered up climate change information and deliberately misled the public?

3. Would you support our union leadership meeting with legislative leaders and managers of PERS to discuss a financially responsible process for divesting our retirement funds from fossil fuel companies?

Your responses to these questions will help us determine the next steps in moving forward on potentially divesting PERS retirement funds from fossil fuel companies.

Go to: www.oregoned.org/ PERSsurvey to share your thoughts.

fuel companies. Rather, it brings to the fore the moral dimensions of the problem and the amorality of industries that are deliberately misleading the public and putting all life at risk in order to continue to profit from dirty fossil fuels. It begins the process of making the political contributions of these companies morally toxic. It will help break the stranglehold that the fossil fuel industry has on our economy and we can transition to a jobrich, clean energy future.

There are three primary arguments for divestment: first, the moral case of profiting from an immoral enterprise; second, divestment can create the political momentum needed to reign in the fossil fuel companies; and third, long-term financial considerations argue that these are highly risky investments, as most of us are hoping to retire for the long term.

On purely moral grounds, it is clear that educators, of all people, should not be profiting from the activities of an industry that will make the future lives of our students miserable. These companies daily demonstrate they’re not going to sacrifice profit margins, despite the fact that it has been 5 million years since CO2 levels have been where they are now (404 parts per million). We are headed toward a climate that has not been seen in upwards of 30 million years. Furthermore, this shift is extraordinarily rapid, so there is no time for plants and animals to adapt. Geologists are arguing that we have entered a new geological age, called the Anthropocene.

According to PBS Frontline, recent documents have revealed that Exxon’s own scientists warned company executives that CO2 from fossil fuels was causing increases in global temperatures. Despite this knowledge, they have spent the last 30plus years funding “research” to confuse the public. Even more recent revelations indicate that fossil fuel companies have

Opinion

been deliberately lying to us. Using the tried and true tactics of the tobacco industry, the goal has been to create doubt in the public mind. They use their money to fund candidates for office who resist any effort to change the ways that we power our economy. Those same political leaders then contribute to the “Climate of Doubt,” as mainstream media quote them, refer to them, and publicize their misleading statements. Divestment can help end this toxic feedback loop.

There is another, less well known, impact of dumping carbon into the atmosphere. One of the reasons that the temperature has not risen faster is that 25 percent of the carbon is absorbed by the ocean. Research from the Natural Resources Defense Council demonstrates that scientists have begun to look at the results of absorbing all those gigatons of carbon in ocean environments. In the water, the carbon turns to carbonic acid and the oceans are now 30 percent more acidic than before the industrial age began.

This represents a massive threat to the base of the ocean food chain. Can we, in good conscience, allow our retirement money to be invested in companies that are contributing to the destruction of life in the oceans, and then hiding this Credits: Andy Parker

information from the public?

Science tells us that the maximum safe temperature change for the climate is 2 degrees celsius. Recent evidence suggests this is too much, but it serves as a good starting point for discussion. Scientists have calculated how much more CO2 we can release and stay below this threshold.

The answer? An additional 565 Gigatons.

Go over that and we go over 2 degrees. The potential for runaway climate change – for creating a climate that would be hell on earth – becomes dangerously likely. From an article by Bill McKibben in Rolling Stone magazine, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” we may very well have ceded the possibility of ever restoring a balance like the one within which humanity evolved.

Fossil fuel companies — representing oil, coal and gas — have laid claim to over 2,795 gigatons of CO2. This is five times the number that scientists say is the maximum that the planet can absorb while still resembling the climate we have now. According to McKibben, despite this simple math, the people who run fossil fuels companies have no intention of stopping their business practices.

The math tells us this: if we do nothing, when today’s kindergarteners exit high

school, just as they are empowered with the right to vote, it will be too late for them to act — all because we failed to do so. As educators, we have a moral obligation to ensure that when our students do get the power to act, it will still matter.

If these moral arguments are not persuasive enough, these numbers also highlight the financial argument for getting our retirement funds out of fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels assets are going to become stranded. Stranded assets are “assets that have suffered from unanticipated or premature write­downs, devaluations or conversion to liabilities.”­­Their stock price is based on “claimed assets”­­ — in other words, those 2,795 gigatons of carbon in the ground they cannot be allowed to burn.

The claimed value of these companies is five times their actual value and the sooner we get our retirement money out, the better for the financial security of PERS and our retirement.

Furthermore, as more institutions choose to divest, as more people see that these companies are threatening our future, and as the logic of transitioning becomes clearer, there is going to be a tipping point in the price of these stocks.

The sooner we get our retirement funds out of fossil fuels the better. Exxon has lost nearly 25 percent of its stock value in 18 months. According to an April 2015 article in Bloomberg News, the tipping point has already been reached.

There is much that needs to be done in terms of transitioning our economy to one that exists on current energy, rather than stored energy. We need to put a price on carbon, close coal plants, stop the search for extreme oil and gas, and more. All of us need to be politically active to counter the power and corruption of the fossil fuel companies, but we can begin by deciding not to profit off the destruction of our only home.

We can take our retirement money out of the criminal enterprises that imperil the future of all our students and we can invest that money in local clean energy projects, which will create local jobs and the hope for a healthy planet for ourselves and our posterity. We need to make it clear that if it’s wrong to wreck the planet, then it’s also wrong to profit from that wreckage. n TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

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Organizer's Toolbox

O R G ATONWII NZ I N G MEMBERS IN EUGENE STEP UP IN A BIG WAY FOR A BETTER OREGON

BY MEG KRUGEL • PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRIS BECERRA

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n a wintry evening in January, during a Building Rep council meeting at the local Eugene Education Association (EEA) office, a rapt audience of nearly 100 members listened attentively to a heartbreaking story told about a Kindergarten student in their local Bethel school district.

The story unfolded the way so many dire school funding stories do: the young boy had behavior issues unlike any staff at his elementary school had seen before.

And yet, because of budget cuts, the school psychologist position at his school had been eliminated. The young boy wasn’t getting basic services, like a psych assessment, that would place him in a learning environment appropriate to his development.

The EEA members in the meeting that evening shook their heads in disappointment and frustration. They knew the reality for this young boy, and for all of their students, could be better — but they also knew they were going to have to work for it.

And work they have. Since the launch of the Better Oregon campaign this past Fall, Eugene-area educators are turning heads statewide with their incredible organizing efforts to gather signatures for 16

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a game-changing revenue measure that will alter the landscape for education in Oregon. The goal is simple: talk to every single member about the campaign. Get them to sign the petition, and then ask them to gather three more signatures if they’re willing.

To date, EEA — which has nearly 1,500 members — has met and exceeded each phase of its signature-gathering goals – putting them well on track to meet their overall goal of 4,500 signatures by the April 15 filing deadline (during that January rep council meeting, for example, members turned in more than 2,000 signatures).

Their success can be attributed to a finely tuned organizing plan modeled on a 1-to10 structure (one building “activist” for every 10 members at each worksite — see graphic, page 18).

Lisa Fragala, a 2nd grade teacher at Adams Elementary, is one of three Eugenearea coordinators who oversee the entire campaign operation in Eugene’s 4J and Bethel school districts.

She’s been involved in the union for 10 of her 15 years as an educator, but her passion for being a member of OEA was really ignited by the passing of the OEA Strategic Action Plan three years ago. “I really believe very strongly that unions should be grassroots, activist organizations, and

Lisa Fragala, right, seizes an opportunity to gather signatures at the Oregon Music Educators Conference, attended by more than 400 music teachers and fellow educators from around Oregon.

it’s this kind of campaign that we’ve been needing to do for a very long time,” she said.

“I think this campaign is historic and essential,” Fragala said of the proposed measure, which would increase the minimum tax on corporations that make more than $25 million in Oregon sales — in turn raising upwards of $5.3 billion every biennium to support education and other vital social service programs. But beyond the generated revenue, Fragala says efficient organizing will generate a whole other — and equally important — benefit.

“I see this as a way of building the union that we need to have, in order to confront many of the challenges that are going to face us in the next couple of years,” she said. Early in the planning stages of the campaign, Fragala, her fellow campaign coordinators, and EEA’s leadership team realized that the challenge wasn’t going to be getting their members to care about the campaign. The challenge was simply being organized enough. “People’s hearts are so in this,” she said confidently.

She notes the name of Nathan Goldberg as an example, a Japanese language teacher

at North Eugene High School, who’s only been teaching for three years but has already taken on tremendous leadership roles — serving as both a building rep/ organizer and a member of EEA’s Executive Council.

Goldberg — who’s not typically political by nature — says he’s even surprised by how quickly and intensely he’s become involved in the campaign. “I was always very interested in policy and how things work beyond the school level, but I didn’t see myself getting involved politically — at least not this early on in my career,” he said.

“I REALLY BELIEVE VERY STRONGLY THAT UNIONS SHOULD BE GRASSROOTS, ACTIVIST ORGANIZATIONS, AND IT’S THIS KIND OF CAMPAIGN THAT WE’VE BEEN NEEDING TO DO FOR A VERY LONG TIME.” LISA FRAGALA TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

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Organizer's Toolbox

Last spring, shortly after joining EEA’s Exeuctive Council, Goldberg remembers sitting in a meeting where he learned about the Better Oregon campaign from his local leadership team. “They told us that this is the most important work that we, as a union, are going to be doing this year and probably the most important thing we’ve done in the past 20 years — trying to undo the damage that was done by Measure 5,” he said.

A product of Oregon’s public schools himself, Goldberg’s been reflecting on how the school experience he had as a student in the late 1990s and early 2000s differs from the one his students receive today. He contrasts the building where he attended high school — a beautifully built new high school in Bend — to the older building with lack of technology where he now teaches.

He thinks of his students who come from 18

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low socioeconomic backgrounds, whose focus is on survival at home, as opposed to grades or performance in his class. Those same kids sit in classrooms bulging with 35 to 40 students on average.

“This is just so personal for me — not only because it’s my career, but because I’m a born and raised Oregonian,” he said.

He hopes that when the ballot measure passes in November 2016, the result will mean more FTE in buildings across the state, including North Eugene High School, as well as more equitable access to technology — something his students, who are learning to read and write intricate Japanese characters, desperately need in their classroom.

On the official launch of the campaign this past October, Goldberg hit the streets at the Eugene Saturday Market to gather signatures for the campaign. It wasn’t

a hard sell. “I’d ask folks, ‘Do you think Oregon needs better schools?’ Yes. ‘Do you think corporations should pay their fair share of taxes?’ Yes. ‘Great! Will you sign this?’”

So far, his conversations about the campaign with his colleagues have unfolded just as easily and organically. This dialed-in level of organizing is paying off: at the start of the year, he turned several fairshare fee payers into full members.

“Down the road, depending on what the Supreme Court does [with the fair share fee decision], we might have another fight ahead of us. And if all of our members know what it is that we do for them, and if the community sees us doing this work through the Better Oregon campaign, they’re going to be more likely to fight for us when the time comes,” Goldberg said.

In mid-January, EEA members joined

Organizer's Toolbox

Nathan Goldberg, a Japanese language teacher at North Eugene High School, also serves as a lead organizer for the Better Oregon campaign in his building.

activists from around Oregon at the OEA Organizing Summit to build on the next phases of their local organizing plans.

“We’re now at a point in our efforts where we’re going to pivot out to our community allies,” said EEA’s Vice President, Sabrina Gordon — explaining that at the Summit, EEA developed a plan for reaching out to parent leaders, school boards, and small businesses in the community in the coming months.

Gordon, who works part-time as a reading specialist and Title I teacher at Awbrey Park Elementary, says that as they begin to turn their efforts externally, educator stories will become a vital piece in convincing Oregon voters that the time is now to stand up for the schools our students deserve.

Like Fragala, Gordon agrees that the campaign has been an easy sell within their Credits: Meg Krugel, Chris Becerra

own membership. “We all know our own stories. But those stories will need to be told when we head into the local business community and with other groups that are a little farther removed from our schools.”

There may be some uphill challenges ahead — but the momentum, especially in Eugene, seems to be on our side. “[The campaign] started out more organized from the beginning. I think that momentum will carry us through,” Gordon said. “I get a feeling, and others sense this as well, that this is our moment. We have to make this happen. I don’t even want to envision a future where this campaign doesn’t work.”

Fragala agrees, but she knows her members are up for the fight. “I’ve always said that we have great schools in Oregon — and I really believe that — but in the last two years, as I’ve started looking at the

“THIS IS JUST SO PERSONAL FOR ME — NOT ONLY BECAUSE IT’S MY CAREER, BUT BECAUSE I’M A BORN AND RAISED OREGONIAN.” NATHAN GOLDBERG data, I see our low graduation rates. I see our soaring class sizes. I see that we don’t have music and PE at every school. What I’ve realized is that we don’t have great schools; what we have are great teachers,” she said. “Teachers in our school district make a heroic effort every day, and I feel really honored and inspired to get to be working on this campaign with them.” n TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

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Remembering Bob Crumpton

By Julia Sanders

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his Fall, Oregon’s educators lost one of their most influential advocates with the passing of Robert “Bob” Crumpton. He will not only be remembered for the tremendous work he achieved as OEA’s Executive Director from 1973-1997, but also for his unyielding dedication to the educators and students of this state.

Before arriving in Oregon, Crumpton had 14 years of experience as an education activist. He began his career as a music teacher in Michigan after serving in the Navy, both within the U.S. and overseas. An avid reader, Crumpton valued education to the utmost.

“Bob was a very bright guy. He was very articulate and well-read,” said former OEA President Bruce Adams. “One of the biggest compliments you could get from Bob was that you were a person who reads.” After witnessing first-hand the frustrations and limitations of teaching within the public school system, he began a lifelong pursuit of better working conditions, benefits, and pay 20

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

for educators.

While living in Michigan, Crumpton served as the Executive Director for the Education Association in Waterford Township and later as the Executive Director of Livonia Education Association. By the time he caught the attention of OEA in ‘73, he was already known as one of the nation’s top experts in teacher negotiations.

Crumpton’s arrival in Oregon corresponded with the enactment of the Public Employee’s Collective Bargaining act of 1973, when Oregon’s educators were still accustomed to OEA being run by administrators and were unfamiliar with their newfound power at the bargaining table. “He arrived in Oregon at the perfect time to create change. His skills and courage matched the needs of the time," his colleague and former OEA president Sandy Ellis said. His unassuming personality, combined with his resolute belief in the power of collective bargaining, made him the perfect leader at a time when OEA was on the precipice of a major identity shift.

“We had never done any bargaining

under the new law, but he came in and he knew how to do it,” said Adams. “School Boards hadn’t necessarily caught on to the idea that they had to deal with the union.”

With Crumpton leading the charge, the school boards caught on quickly. “His major contribution to OEA during those times is to say that we were here and we would not be ignored,” said Adams.

On a personal level, Crumpton was known for his kindness and his humble personality. He never saw a task as beneath him. Legend has it that as soon as he got off of the plane in Portland, even before his first day on the job, he jumped into a car and drove five hours to Burns to support striking teachers.

Ellis recounted that Crumpton would often reach out to staff members when they faced hardship. “He was strong and direct when it came to the issues and advocacy, but also, on a personal level, Bob cared for the wellbeing of the members and staff. That balance is what made him such a successful leader,” said Ellis.

When it came to his work, Crumpton

showed his tenacious strength. He had a fiery drive to get things done no matter how daunting or impossible the task. With a history of being silenced, he reminded Oregon’s educators that they did indeed have a voice. “When we seemed to have an obstacle that we clearly could not go up against, he did not back off. He knew, because he had done this before, that we didn’t have to do everything that we were being forced to do,” said Adams.

Crumpton’s effect on the union was so considerable that he helped shape OEA into the powerful organization it is today. When he began his tenure, the average teacher’s salary in Oregon was just $11,000. His efforts to raise wages for educators opened member’s eyes to the true value of their work. By the time he left his post, the average teacher’s salary was over $40,000.

Over the course of his time as Executive Director, OEA staff doubled in size and membership increased from 18,000 to over 40,000.

His efforts to ensure every member had high-quality employer-paid health insurance and improved working conditions set the bar for what educators should expect from their employers.

Crumpton also proposed the Crisis Relief Fund, which helps educators who have been affected by natural disasters and is used to support members in the event of a strike. When he left, it was close to $10 million, giving members the financial means to strike when necessary, without jeopardizing their immediate needs. He helped build a legal defense fund to protect member rights, improved member involvement in political action, and enhanced member access to professional development.

Perhaps Crumpton’s proudest achievement in helping members serve their students came in his co-founding of the OEA Foundation, which offers grants to educators to provide modest, basic needs for their students, like winter coats, eyeglasses, and shoes. In a story in the May 1997 issue of this magazine (formerly titled Oregon Educator), Crumpton said, “Our members, for Credits: OEA Archives

years, have dug deep into their own pockets to help students. There are too many little kids coming to school who aren’t getting a break. The support teachers can provide through OEA Foundation grants isn’t a substitute for a love and a hug, but it can help to show a teacher cares.” The work of the OEA Foundation was so significant to Crumpton that at the time of his passing, his family requested that remembrances made in Bob’s name be made to the OEA Foundation, as well as the Kendell Young Library in Webster City, IA, his hometown.

Crumpton’s family has also contributed to his vision for a better future for Oregon educators. His wife Ann, who was President of the Beaverton Education Association, and his two children, Rob and Susan, saw the significance of his work. “It is important that we acknowledge and thank Bob’s family. He gave so much of himself to the union,

which sometimes meant sacrificing time with his family,” said Ellis. His daughter, Susan Crumpton, has continued this legacy in her work as an OEA UniServ consultant for members in East Multnomah County.

When he retired in 1997 after 23 years of work within the Association, OEA was one of the strongest NEA affiliates in the country. OEA created the Robert G. Crumpton Organizational Excellence award in his honor, which is given to a deserving OEA member each year.

People like Bob Crumpton are a rare breed. Seldom do we come across someone so unwavering in his beliefs and so doggedly aggressive in his work for a better future that anything seems possible. His work built the foundations that support OEA to this day; the effect it has had on thousands of Oregon educators and students is not only admirable, but unquantifiable. n Top: Bob Crumpton, second from right, adds quiet leadership to an OEA Board Meeting; Bottom: Crumpton, left, joins Sandy Ellis, third from left, to deliver OEA sales tax petitions at the State Capitol.

TH E TOUGHEST CHALLENGE

First-year Teacher Kelly Cowgill Takes it to the Next Level

By Laila Hirschfeld • Photos by Thomas Patterson

"My brain is tired.”

EDITO R’S NO TE: This is t he s

econd in about K a four-p elly Cow art serie gill, a fi s Beavert r st-year on. Kell t e a c h y e has gra r from help do ciously cument allowed h e r us to fi rst year all its h ighs an of teach d lows. in g—alon please To read g with see “Fir the first st in Cla in stallme of Toda s s ,” nt, o n page y’s OEA 25 of th . e Fall Is sue

It’s a week before Thanksgiving and Kelly Cowgill, a 3rd-grade teacher at Barnes Elementary in Beaverton, is exhausted. She exhales deeply.

“It’s report card time, and this whole process is new to me,” she explains. “There has been so much learning happening in my classroom, and now I have to give that learning a tangible assessment. It’s stressful.”

Cowgill pauses, takes a moment and reflects. “It’s not just stressful for me, it’s stressful for my students and their parents. It’s important that I get this right,

After a long school day, Kelly Cowgill, first-year teacher at Barnes School in Beaverton, chats with her mentor, Jim Hiller.

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

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Jim Hiller, a 26-year veteran teacher, has been an excellent sounding board for Kelly Cowgill this year.

and achieve the right balance—if the grades are too harsh, the parents might get alarmed; but if I give a grade higher than what’s deserved, that could backfire, too.”

Cowgill’s voice trails off into thought.

It’s a Friday night, but Cowgill is not racing out of the building to meet friends.

And even if she were, she’d likely still be thinking about her students—she says there aren’t enough hours in the day to get her work done, let alone have a social life, exercise or even sleep.

“Are you asking me if I’m sleeping?”

Cowgill chuckles, but only half-jokes. “I am trying to prioritize sleep—there have been 24

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

plenty of four-hour nights.”

JUST A PHASE

According to the New Teacher Center, Cowgill’s experience is fairly typical.

First-year teachers generally go through five phases: anticipation, survival, disillusionment, rejuvenation and reflection. The disillusionment phase— starting roughly in late October and lasting until winter break—is characterized by the center as “the toughest challenge” a new teacher may face.

According to the center, new teachers in this phase often question their

commitment to the profession, and express serious self-doubt about their practice.

“It’s a completely overwhelming experience,” says Jim Hiller, a 26-year veteran teacher, and Cowgill’s mentor.

“The first year is spent putting out fires, figuring out how to deal with challenges.

You’re really spending a lot of time gaining equilibrium.”

Hiller has been a mentor for the last eight years and believes that mentoring can be key to teacher success and retention.

“I think there can sometimes be an attitude of ‘I can do this on my own,’” says Hiller. “I understand the impulse, but our

job as a mentor isn’t to tell educators what to do, it’s to help them facilitate their own reflection and growth.”

AVOIDING BURN OUT

Cowgill and Hiller have been working together since September. To take advantage of the program, Cowgill is required to commit 90 hours throughout the instructional year. In return she receives confidential guidance and support, which she can trust won’t be shared with anyone else, including her colleagues or administrators.

“I can say with absolute certainty that if I did not have my mentor, I would be discouraged. I would be burnt out,” Cowgill says.

Hiller works with 16 new teachers as part of a program, which is partially funded by the District, and partially funded by the Oregon Department of Education.

“Each relationship is unique and different,” explains Hiller. “Teachers truly are the experts of their classrooms—in fact their own approach will differ with different sets of students, or in different years. There is no one answer. Our main goal is simply to advance practice. The educators I work with will choose their own path.”

Professional mentoring has been its own subject of study, with districts around the country investing more and more in similar programs. Research suggests a correlation between mentoring programs and teacher retention rates.

“It can be difficult to quantify results, or produce data that prove a causal connection,” says Hiller. “But mentoring is more than just support. People tend to think it’s ‘meeting once a month for coffee’, but it’s actually about accelerated growth.

When I was a new teacher, I had colleagues who were kind and generous with their time. But this is different. I see growth in my teachers over the course of one year that took me more than five years to achieve at the beginning of my own career.”

Cowgill appreciates Hiller’s practical advice, but says that where he is really helpful is on helping her see the way forward.

“That extra set of eyes can really make a Credits: Thomas Patterson

huge difference,” says Cowgill. “I know if I’m not connecting with a student, he can help me understand why that might be.

That’s really important because if I can’t engage them, I can’t teach them. He helps me figure out the solution.”

RENEWED HOPE

After the holidays, most first year

teachers return to the classroom rejuvenated, which provides a renewed sense of hope and allows educators to begin to think about their second year.

“Over the course of my career, the educational landscape has changed tremendously,” says Hiller. “But the core?

That hasn’t changed. Teaching is a complex job, but the benefits are so rewarding.

That’s why those of us who stay, stay.”

For Cowgill, it’s one day at a time.

“It’s so important to be reflective, and that’s part of the work, but it also helps you put the reward in perspective,” she explains. “With these kids, all you’re thinking about is what they’re going to be doing in 20 years. What talent do they have that you’re going to draw out of them so they can be successful? The moment you realize that responsibility lies with you... yeah, that’s surreal.” n

KELLY’S DIARY THEY CAN ALWAYS MAKE ME SMILE I wouldn’t have though that quiet reading would be the source of so many laughs. But, when you’re working with children, the quietest moments are often the ones that provide the most humor. The other day, I was working with a student, developing a strategy to help his comprehension. While we were reading, he suddenly stopped and exclaimed, "You have grey hairs!"

I agreed with his observation, "I do have quite a few greys."

"Woah," he continued, "How old are you?"

"28."

"No way, you are older than that."

"What? What makes you think so? I don't lie about my age..."

"My mom is 28 and she doesn't have that many grey hairs."

I thought about it for a moment, and came up with a possible explanation. "We have aged differently, your mother and I— perhaps it’s all the worrying and fretting over mischievous students like you!"

Satisfied with this explanation, he flashed me a cheesy grin, and continued to read.

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

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Kristin Becker works with firstand second-year teachers at Taft Elementary School in Lincoln City, including teacher Kelsey Culbertson and her class.

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The ard l Bo a n o i Nat ation y, c fi i t Cer ’t eas e n s i ess s hav t fi proc e n ts be chers i t u b tea most ing rav

By Jon Bell Photography by Thomas Patterson ong days and late nights. Weekend hours, holidays and lots of writing and reflecting. Extra work and time when it seems that’s the last thing teachers have room for in their already-hectic schedules.

Welcome to the world of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and its certification process.

While National Board certification is known to be a challenging and somewhat lengthy process, ask almost any teacher who’s gone through it and incorporated it's principles into their teaching practices, and they say they wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Teachers who have earned their certification — many through the help of the OEA — acknowledge the work that it takes, but the effort seems to pale in comparison to the benefits they take away from the process: the daily reflection and improvements, the additional knowledge and best practices, the ability to better meet the needs of every individual student.

Today’s OEA talked to three Oregon teachers who are all board certified to find out just why they did it and how it’s inspired them to become better teachers each and every day.

Kristin Becker

Kristin Becker had a pretty personal inspiration for getting into education: Her younger brother was challenged with developmental delays.

“I wanted to go into special ed to teach and help students like my brother,” says Becker, who presently serves as a mentor teacher at two elementary schools in the Lincoln County School District.

Life unfolded in a different way, however, and Becker never ended up going back to school for special ed. But she’s had a successful and varied career in education nonetheless, teaching everything from middle school and at a small magnet program in Newport to serving as a building administrator and a 4th- and 5th-grade teacher before the mentoring opportunity arose four years ago.

A competitive person and a lifelong

learner by nature, Becker says she was initially drawn to the NPBTS certification for those reasons together.

“I was at a place in my career where I wanted to improve myself,” she says. “Plus, I tend to be competitive, and everything that I read about it said that only about half the people who started it achieved it, so I wanted to see what it was all about.”

Backed by some grant funding, Becker started the certification process in 2003 and earned her certification in 2004. She had expected it to be a challenge, and the process did not disappoint. By that point in her career, Becker had already earned her undergraduate degree, gone through the coursework for a Master’s degree and her initial administrator licensure, as well as some English Language Learner classes, but the NBPTS process put her to the test more than any of her other work ever did.

A 4th-grade teacher at the time, Becker found herself having to work on her certification on weekends, holidays and in the wee hours of the morning.

“Whenever I could fit it in” she says.

Mentor teacher Kristin Becker joins newer teacher Kelsey Culbertson for a meeting with Principal Nick Lupo at Taft Elementary School in Newport.

“The certification by far was more challenging, and it’s the thing that I’m proudest of because it’s not for the weak. You have to really be willing to dedicate to it.” — Kristin Becker TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

27

“The National Boards helped me focus on that really essential question — How am I meeting the needs of every kid? — and every year I keep working on it.”

— Ed Kline

“The certification by far was more challenging, and it’s the thing that I’m proudest of because it’s not for the weak. You have to really be willing to dedicate to it.”

Part of what helped make the certification process more bearable was having a principal who was very supportive. Becker says the team of teachers she worked with was also behind her, even taking on extra duties to help her focus as much as she could on getting certified. Even today, the Lincoln County School District is among a handful of districts in Oregon that offers financial stipends to board- certified teachers, which Becker says is a sign that the district values the fact that teachers have pursued the certification.

Going through the process, Becker says she really appreciated the way the certification helped sharpen her focus on educational standards and how to address them in a way that meets the need of every single student. She also says the attention on the reflective process of teaching that the certification incorporates is something that she has taken with her into the school every day.

“It’s about zeroing in on the things that worked well with students, honing in on what I want to do differently,” Becker says.

“And it’s not just thinking about it, but actually putting it down in writing.”

In addition, Becker found that being board-certified exposed her to some of the latest research and best practices in education, which in turn equipped her with a renewed sense of confidence. A few years ago, Becker was working in a school that had been classified as a school in need of improvement. The school followed a very scripted program, but Becker realized that the program wasn’t meeting the needs of every student. Armed with research, data and confidence, in part from being certified, Becker approached her administrator and built her case for deviating from the scripted program as a way to reach more students.

“I could go and confidently speak to what was really going to work for these kids,” she 28

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

says. “He shifted a bit and I was able to get him to work with me to shift practices a little more.”

Ten years after her initial certification, Becker was up for renewal in 2014, and while she says the process — and the prospect of coming up short — made her just as nervous as the first time around, she’s glad she did it. Part of the renewal process found her reflecting on how she’s used the certification in her work over the past decade.

“You really take time to focus on that and think about how it’s improved your practice and how it has benefited the community,” Becker says. “I think it’s made me focus more on students, parents and the community and how everything I am doing should be benefiting those.”

A big proponent of certification, Becker helped facilitate the OEA’s National Board Certification Jump Start program last summer. The intensive seminar, sponsored by OEA as a way to support teachers seeking to improve their professional practice, offered NBPTS candidates the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the certification process, to plan their approach for meeting all the requirements, and to collaborate with board-certified teachers and other prospective candidates.

The goal was to help prepare more Oregon teachers for certification, something that Becker would love to see.

“I would love to be one of those states that everyone talks about where we just have huge numbers of certified teachers,” she says. “I’d love to get to the point where the presence is strong enough that we have one in every classroom.”

Ed Kline

Despite the reputation that the NBPTS certification process has for being an intense and time-consuming process (though incredibly worthwhile), for Oregon City High School teacher Ed Kline, it didn’t actually seem like a lot of extra work.

Part of that is because Kline is himself a language arts teacher. As a result, the heavy

Ed Kline, teacher at Oregon City High School, was inspired to do the National Board Certification process by a fellow teaching colleague.

writing demands of certification didn’t come off as all that laborious for someone who writes fairly regularly and naturally anyway.

But an even bigger part of it was that everything that the certification underscored, including its five core propositions, was a part of Kline’s own approach to teaching.

Those five core propositions focus around teachers’ commitment to advancing student achievement. They include the ideas that: teachers are committed to students and learning; that they know the

subjects they teach and how to teach them; that teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning; that they think systematically about their practice; and that they are members of learning communities.

“I just looked at the five propositions and they described everything I believe about teaching,” Kline says. “It wasn’t anything that seemed extra. It was what I believed, and it was nice to see a very large and powerful and thoughtful organization say that this is what the job is and have that match Credits: Thomas Patterson

and validate my philosophy.”

A California native who landed in Oregon in 1993, Kline started teaching at OCHS in 1997. In addition to being inspired by what NBPTS stood for, he also was encouraged by a teaching colleague, Kathy Haynie, who also went through the certification process. Kline pursued his certification over a period of two school years through a program called Take One, which allowed teachers to work on one of the six different steps and portfolios over one year rather than having to bite off the

entire effort in a single year.

One of the biggest challenges Kline faced at the time was simple technology. Even back in 2010, video equipment for teachers to record themselves in their classroom — an exercise that makes up a portion of the certification — wasn’t nearly as friendly and effective as it is in the current day of iPads, smartphones and other devices.

“My videotaping failed me on my three best lessons,” Kline says. “That was a big obstacle that teachers today don’t have to face.”

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

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“I was really able to learn about analyzing my teaching, becoming a reflective practitioner, using my time wisely and just how best to teach.”

—Heather Anderson

Kline says the reflection process of certification came naturally to him, though he notes that the extra writing it required could be a little more intimidating to teachers who are more comfortable in other subject areas. Even without the writing, however, he says just the simple act of assessing the school day — what worked, what didn’t, and how to make it better the next day — is an incredibly valuable exercise for any teacher.

“I think it’s really the way that good teachers function and improve anyway,” he says.

On top of the reflective benefits, Kline says the certification has made him better at thinking about what’s best for all of his students.

“That’s the heart of the work,” he says.

“It becomes easier the more you focus on it, but it’s hard work because you have a lot of kids with a lot of different needs. The National Boards helped me focus on that really essential question — how am I meeting the needs of every kid? — and every year I keep working on it.”

Another, unexpected benefit of certification for Kline has been his introduction to many other NBCTs through a range of meetings and networking opportunities that have arisen. That, he says, has been inspirational in its own right.

“It’s inspiring and motivating to sit down and talk with excellent teachers and even steal some of their ideas,” he says. “I think the whole certification just sharpens your thinking, makes you think about your craft and keeps you focused on improving. I know it helps me grow in my own practice every day.”

Heather Anderson

Very early in her teaching career, Heather Anderson moved across the country from Bend to Montgomery County, Maryland, while her husband was attending Georgetown University. A native Oregonian who grew up in a family of educators 30

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

and who always wanted to teach, Anderson landed a teaching job at a school formerly called Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Springs, MA. At the time, the school was one of the lowest-performing schools in the district. Close to 90 percent of the students there were living at or below the poverty line, and the state of Maryland was on the verge of taking over the school.

By the time Anderson left six years later to come back to Oregon, Broad Acres had become one of the highest-achieving schools in the district. The percentage of students passing state reading tests had jumped from 13 percent to 75 percent, and the strategies that had helped turn the school around became the subject of a wildly popular book still used today.

One of those strategies had been for the school, led by principal JoAnn Leleck, to hire a group of highly-qualified young teachers from all over the country and provide them with loads of training and professional development.

“The principal was one of those people who really believed in the teachers and who really empowered them,” Anderson says.

For Anderson, who taught fifth grade at the time, and a team of about 12 other teachers, becoming board certified was also part of the training. Though she’d only been teaching for a few years by then, Anderson says the certification was appealing to her and her colleagues, who were able to collaborate as they went through the year-long process.

“Even though we were new, my teammates and I thought it was a good way for us to impact the school and help it out,” she says. “And it was helpful because we were able to work as a cohort and really work with each other to be better teachers.”

Anderson earned her certification in 2005 after going through what she described as a “challenging” process that found her working on her certification portfolios largely on Sundays. Challenging though it was, for Anderson it was worth it.

“It was one of the most impactful years I’ve had,” she says. “I was really able to learn about analyzing my teaching, becoming a reflective practitioner, using my time wisely and just how best to teach.”

Anderson returned to Bend in 2006, taught at Three Rivers School in Sunriver for five years, and today she is in her fourth year of teaching 4th grade at Juniper Elementary School, a high poverty school that has been recognized by the state as a Model School for its incredibly high rates of student achievement and learning. Anderson says she regularly utilizes her certification

Without a doubt, the skills shed eveloped through the NBCT process helped Heather Anderson earn her title of Oregon's Teacher of the Year.

in her everyday teaching, whether that’s reflecting on a day or incorporating one of the five core propositions in her work.

One example: making sure her students are learning a sense of community through their education.

“We do that through involving parents or involving local businesses or making baby hats for the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) at the local hospital,” she says.

“It’s just something to help teach them that they are part of this community and to involve them in the bigger world.”

In addition to her teaching, Anderson is Credit: OSU Cascades

also coaching 16 NBPTS candidates, a process that, along with her recertification last year, has kept the principles and benefits of certification fresh and current for her.

“Now that I’m a coach, I’m constantly reminded of these high standards,” she says.

Anderson’s own commitment to those high standards of education have borne other fruit, as well. In October, she was named Oregon’s 2016 Teacher of the Year. In a release about her selection, the Oregon Department of Education praised Anderson for tirelessly supporting her students and colleagues, for setting high

expectations for her students and herself, and for helping other educators learn and grow.

While there’s much more to her selection as Teacher of the Year than her certification, Anderson says that it’s nonetheless a big part of what has made her the educator that she is today.

“I don’t know if it had anything directly to do with me being chosen,” she says, “but I do think it’s a part of the recognition that comes to any of the hardworking, accomplished teachers anywhere in our country.” n TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

31

Sources + Resources The following information is provided as a resource to members of the Oregon Education Association. Their publication within Today’s OEA is not to be construed as a recommendation or endorsement of the products or services by the Oregon Education Association, its Board of Directors or staff.

AWARDS, GRANTS, SCHOLARSHIPS

School Employee Wellness Grant n WHAT: OEA Choice Trust’s School

Employee Wellness Grant Program is designed to allow school leaders and employees the flexibility to develop a tailored program to best meet the needs, goals and priorities of the district and school staff.

WHO: Oregon public school districts, community colleges and Education Service Districts n WHEN: Application deadline is Apr. 15, 2016 n HOW: For more information on this program and how to apply, go to www. oeachoice.com/grants-awards, or contact Inge Aldersebaes, inge@oeachoice.com, or Jake Rooks, jr@oeachoice.com.

Professional Practice Organizing Grant n What: OEA’s Center for Great Public

Schools is offering a grant for local associations to help engage members around important issues that impact teaching and learning. The grants, which range from $1000-$5000, can be used to support professional learning or enhance professional practice. n Who: Local associations may apply n When: Applications are due Feb. 29, 2016 n How: For more information, visit www. oregoned.org/whats-new/professionalpractice-organizing-grant-opportunity.

The SPARK Grant Finder Tool

n WHAT: This tool helps locate funding

for physical education, after school, early childhood, classroom activity, or coordinated school health program.

Grants can be used for curriculum, teacher training, or equipment. n HOW: For more information, go to www.sparkpe.org/grants/grantfundingresources.

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TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

Free Access to Grant Announcements

n WHAT: This website offers free access

to a complete and current database of Federal, State and Private Foundation grants available to schools and non-profit organizations. n HOW: For more information, go to www.

Grants4Teachers.com, or contact the Grant Hotline at 1-800-642-7354 ext 2375 or email grants@ssww.com.

OPPORTUNITIES

Portland 2016

IntegratEd

n What: This two-day conference focuses

on technology integration strategies for educators. The conference begins with workshops and ends with a collaboration between mentors and peers to get personalized strategies for problems integrating technology into the classroom.

The workshop costs $349. n When:Feb. 25–26, 2016, 8am-2pm n Where: Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel, Portland n How: Register at https://events.oetc.org/ ipdx16.

Student Loan Forgiveness Workshop

n What: Learn more about student loan

forgiveness from Teresa Muench of NEA’s Member Benefits. n When: March 2, 2016; applications due Feb. 25, 2016 n Where: Salem OEA Office, 2540 Coral Ave NE, Salem OR 97305 n How: Register by phone or email. Mid Valley Uniserv 503-364-6987, jody. dietzel@oregoned.org.

FOR THE CLASSROOM

Biz Kid$

n What: Biz Kid$ teaches students about

finances and entrepreneurship through a television series, corresponding lesson plans, and educational games.

n Who: For preteen students

n How: For access to videos and lesson

plans, visit http://bizkids.com/

Black History Resources

n What: PBS Newshour Extra, which

provides news for students and teachers, created a series of 20 lesson plans covering a range of Black History topics including the civil right movement and current topics on race relations. n Who: 7th to 12th grade students n When: February is Black History Month n How: The lesson series can be found at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ extra/2015/01/black-history-monthresources-for-the-classroom.

Time Society

n What: Historical interactive fiction game

that teaches about the American War for Independence. This ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ style game gives students the feeling of living in British-occupied Boston during the American Revolution. n Who: Students in grades 6-12 n How: To play the game go to http:// timesocietygame.com.

Screen Documentaries for FREE at your School

n What: Every year POV assembles 16-20 films to broadcast nationally on PBS from June – October. Free resources to accompany each film, including a discussion guide, standardsaligned lesson plan with streaming clips, and reading list are included. These new films address a wide-range of topics, from LGBT issues, to the child welfare system, to art, mental illness, the war in Syria, and many others. n HOW: There are just a few quick steps to register a screening and borrow DVDs: • Register in the POV Community Network.

• Activate your account: Check your inbox for an activation link and temporary password. (email events@ pov.org if you do not receive this email)

Sources + Resources • Request: Log in to your account and click "Create an Event" to register the screening • Don't have class time to watch a full film? There are 200+ streaming clips with lesson plans available on the website — for free: www.pbs.org/pov/educators/ • Questions? Call or email at 212-9898121 ext 318 and events@pov.org.

WEBSITES

Pear Deck

n What: Interactive presentations

that allows the instructor to prompt student responses with pre-planned or spontaneous questions. Student answers can be shared anonymously and viewed in a variety of visual formats. n Who: Grade 3+ n How: To try Pear Deck visit: www.peardeck.com.

University of Reddit

n What: University of Reddit is a free

community for anyone wanting to teach or learn. It offers a variety of online courses that can be used to enhance learning in the classroom or for independent study.

University of Reddit is not an accredited university. n Who: Students in grades 11+, secondary or post-secondary educators n How: Visit http://ureddit.com/ for more information FOR STUDENTS

Epic Win App

n What: Epic Win is an iPhone and

Android app that incentivizes real world tasks through an engaging adventure game.

Players complete assignments given by a parent or teacher to earn prizes within the app and continue their adventure. n Who: Students ages 5+ n How: Download at the app store for $1.99.

For more information, visit: www.rexbox.co.uk/epicwin.

BOOKS

A People's Curriculum for the Earth

By Bill Bigelow (Editor), Tim Swinehart (Editor) Rethinking Schools, Limited, 2014; ISBN-13: 9780942961577; $24.95 (List Price); Available at www.rethinkingschools.org This book is a collection of articles, role plays, simulations, stories, poems, and graphics to help teach about the environmental crisis. The book features some of the best articles from Rethinking Schools magazine alongside readings on climate change, energy, water, food, and pollution—as well as on people who are working to make things better. At a time when it's becoming increasingly obvious that life on Earth is at risk, here is a resource that helps students see what's wrong and imagine solutions.

Revision Decisions: Talking Through Sentences and Beyond

By Jeff Anderson and Deborah Dean Stenhouse Publishers, 2014; ISBN-13: 9781625310064; $24.00 (List Price); Available at www.stenhouse.com Starting at the sentence level, the authors show how to create learning experiences where students discover and practice the many options available to them as writers. The book offers a series of ten lesson sets with printable handouts that will give students a repertoire of revision techniques using elements such as serial commas, interrupters, and sentence branching.

Sneaky Math: A Graphic Primer with Projects

By Cy Tymony Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2014; ISBN-13: 9781449445201; $12.00 (List Price); Available at www.barnesandnoble.com The author shows how math is all around us through intriguing and easy projects, including 20 pass-along tools to complement math education programs. The book is divided into seven sections: 1. Fundamentals of Numbers and Arithmetic; 2.

Algebra Primer; 3. Geometry Primer; 4. Trigonometry Primer; 5. Calculus Primer; 6. Sneaky Math Challenges, Tricks, and Formulas; 7. Resources.

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

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OEA BOARD CANDIDATES OEA MEMBERS SEEK ASSOCIATION POSITIONS » Candidates’ statements are printed exactly as submitted and have not been

corrected for spelling, grammar, or punctuation. PLEASE NOTE: Candidate statements that exceeded the 100-word limit were cut off at the

District 01a (3-year term)

District 06 (3-year term)

Janet Yakopatz

Photo Unavailable

STATEMENT I grew up witnessing firsthand the power and importance of unions, which instilled in me the importance of standing up for what is right, especially when it is not the easy path. As a member of OEA, I believe that every member deserves to be treated with fairness, dignity, and respect.

I believe that through working together towards our common goals, and by treating everyone working in education as the true professionals we all are, that we can better our professional standing within the state, the lives of those with whom we work, and the lives of our students.

QUALIFICATIONS Local: Prospect Education Association » President » Past Vice-President » Grievance Chair » Bargaining Chair » Building/Union Rep » Southern Oregon Bargaining Council Rep » Southern Oregon UniServe Rep Southern Oregon Bargaining Council » Past Secretary Treasurer Teaching Prospect High School » High School English Language Arts – 9-12 » College NOW Articulation - RCC » Senior Project Coordinator » Graduation Adviser » Leadership Team » PBiS Team » Evaluation Handbook Committee Personal: Honor Flight of Oregon / Honor Flight of Southern Oregon » Executive Board Member » Board Secretary » Guardian Trainer » Digital Media Manager » Guardian 34

Lynda Sanders

High School English Language Arts Teacher Prospect School District Region 3

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

8th & 11th Grade Science Teacher Coos Bay School District Region 3

STATEMENT I have been involved with the Association for the past 25 years. Since then I have been involved in the Association at many levels including within my local, the UniServ level and the state level. I have also been a Board director and President of the Oregon Science Teachers Association and worked with ODE. These activities have provided me with leadership experiences.

The South Coast has unique problems and issues that members are concerned about. I have represented the South Coast before and would like to serve the South Coast again.

QUALIFICATIONS Local: » Building Representative » Treasurer » President – currently » Bargaining Chair » NEA RA Delegate UniServ: » Secretary » Treasurer – currently State: » Women’s Leadership Trainer » NEA RA State Delegate » OEA Board Director - currently Other: » Oregon Science Teachers Association Board Director » Oregon Science Teachers Association President » ODE Content and Assessment Panel

District 08 (3-year term) Karen Laurence

Elementary Educator Elgin School District Region 3

STATEMENT I am proud and honored to represent Eastern Oregon as an OEA Board Member and would love to fulfill these duties for another term. I am passionate about representing members from this rural area. Our successes and challenges often differ from other parts of the state. I have worked diligently to increase membership and participation in local and statewide activities and will continue to ensure that Eastern Oregon's voice is heard state-wide.

QUALIFICATIONS Local: » Elementary Educator, Elgin School District, 32 years » Local President » Local Vice-President » Bargaining Team Chair » Grievance Committee Chair State: Oregon Education Association » District 8 Board Member » Representative Assembly Delegate » RA Planning Committee » Member Benefits Committee » Resolutions Committee » Legislative Action Day » OEA Presidential Award National: » Women's Leadership Training 2015

100th word. Elections for OEA Board Directors and NEA RA State Delegates are determined by mail-in ballots, due to OEA Headquarters received or postmarked by March 10, 2016 (Bylaws, Article 7, Section 4, C.1.)

District 12 (3-year term)

District 15a (3-year term)

John Scanlan

Photo Unavailable

6th Grade Language Arts Teacher Pendleton School District Region 3

STATEMENT I have been a member of the Pendleton Association of Teachers for 19 years and a member of OEA for 25 years. I have bargained contracts, kept books and acted as president of an association. I have been a classroom teacher for 25 years in three different districts. My current position is at Sunridge Middle School in Pendleton where I teach sixth grade language arts. I would be honored to serve a three year term in this position.

QUALIFICATIONS Local: Pendleton Association of Teachers » Building representative Morrow County Education Association » Treasurer Arlington Education Association » President » Bargaining Chair » Grievance Chair

Geoffrey Hunnicutt

Photo Unavailable

Teacher / TOSA Beaverton School District Region 1

STATEMENT I have been involved in representing the members of the Beaverton Education Association for most of my teaching career. Currently I represent Beaverton as their OEA Board Director and would like to continue working for Beaverton's members in this position. Our union needs strong leadership. I have, and will continue to be that strong leader for Beavteron. Thank you for your support.

QUALIFICATIONS Local: Beaverton Education Association » BEA Negotiations Team » BEA Exec Board » Building Rep State: OEA » OEA Board Director » Pie Convention Delegate » OEA-RA Delegate National: NEA » NEA-RA Delegate

Oregon Council of Teachers of English » President » Secretary » Board member for 20 years

District 20b (3-year term)

District 19 (3-year term)

District 21 (3-year term)

District 20a (3-year term)

District 30a (3-year term)

No Name Submitted – Write-in ballot

Portland Public Schools Region 1

STATEMENT It would be my pleasure to represent you as a member of the Board of Directors for the OEA. I have worked for years now building a stronger union at the local level. Now I am asking for your vote so that I may start working at the state level.

I am looking forward to working with the other PAT members on the board and with other representatives from across the state in order to strengthen our union and help create the schools that Oregon students deserve.

QUALIFICATIONS Local » Building Representative at Franklin High School » Building Representative at Wilson High School » Head Representative at Wilson High School » PAT Advocacy Committee Member » PAT Executive Board » PAT Advocacy Committee Chair » PAT Secretary » PAT Treasurer

National: » Representative at the NEA RA » Member of the Budget Committee

District 01b (1-year term)

No Name Submitted – Write-in ballot

Alexander Rabchuk Jr.

State: » Representative at the OEA RA

Oregon Writing and English Advisory Committee » K-12 representative » Four years

No Name Submitted – Write-in ballot

District 10b (3-year term)

No Name Submitted – Write-in ballot No Name Submitted – Write-in ballot No Name Submitted – Write-in ballot TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

35

NEA RA STATE DELEGATE CANDIDATES Region I Candidates Four Positions (3-year terms)

Sarah Coyle

7-12th Grade Social Studies and Art Teacher Hillsboro Online Academy Hillsboro School District

Barbara Wickham

Science Teacher R.A. Brown Middle School Hillsboro School District

36

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

Ric Oleksak

Teacher Sellwood Middle School Portland Public Schools

Jennifer Underhill

2nd Grade Teacher North Plains Elementary Hillsboro School District

Joseph Vermeire

Teacher Miller Education Center Hillsboro School District

NEA RA STATE DELEGATE CANDIDATES Region II Candidates Four Positions (3-year terms)

Photo Unavailable

Melody Antons

Instructional Assistant – Special Education Lebanon High School Lebanon School District

Tina Leaton

Elementary Educator Edgewood Elementary Eugene 4J School District

Jill Schmitt

Instructional Assistant Junction City High School Junction City School District

Stephen Travis

Teacher Dallas High School Dallas School District

Janelle Wagner

4th Grade Teacher Lewis & Clark Elementary Astoria School District

Region III Candidates Three Positions (3-year terms)

DayLee Lathim

3rd, 4th & 5th Grade Teacher Rocky Heights Elementary Hermiston School District

Yvonne Mitchell

Special Education Paraprofessional / Clerical Klamath Union High School Klamath Falls City School District

Lynda Sanders

Teacher Marshfield High School Coos Bay School District

Cori Swan

Kindergarten Teacher Henley Elementary School Klamath County School District

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

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ON THE WEB / Winter2016 » www.oregoned.org

EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT RESOURCES

O

n Dec. 10, 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act into law. This act, ESSA, reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and replaces No Child Left Behind. Educators across the nation applauded this significant accomplishment and the end of the punitive aspects of NCLB’s 100-ways-to-fail.

Implementing the act across the nation will take much longer than the few seconds it took Pres. Obama to affix his signature. The legislation is nearly 1,100 pages. Thankfully, several organizations have broken down the legislation into more digestible chunks that are easily accessible online.

The following online resources can help you sort through exactly what ESSA means for teachers, students, states, and schools. — Andrea Shunk

interpreting the legislation. On their website, you can sign up for regular email updates and news about ESSA. www.ed.gov/essa

National Education Association

NEA has put together several useful resources including one-page information sheets on specific topics such as school discipline, teacher empowerment, and student opportunity. They update the website regularly, and you can also sign up for regular email updates. www.nea.org/ESSAbegins

National School Board Association

School boards will likely make key decisions about local implementation of the legislation. The National School Board Association website provides a different perspective on ESSA. Their website includes key points in relation to school boards. www.nsba.org

Education Week

creating assessment and accountability systems. ODE has put together initial resources that outline the biggest impacts to the state and put forth a timeline for implementation of the law at the state level.

You can currently access the ESSA page via the ODE home page or go directly to: www.ode.state.or.us/search/ page/?id=3475

Oregon Department of Education

ESSA returns significant authority and responsibility for education back to states, including how to identify struggling schools, defining educator evaluations, and 38

TODAY’S OEA | WINTER 2016

U.S. Department of Education

Much has been made about the reduced role the federal government will play in ESSA, but the U.S. Department of Education will still have a significant hand in creating federal regulations and

Education Week, a key publication in the world of education, has compiled a special section on the legislation that includes articles, opinion pieces, and blog posts on various aspects of the law. Some of their resources are free and some require a subscription. www.edweek.org

Twitter

You can also follow news about ESSA via Twitter. On Twitter, follow #ESSA to see what folks are talking about. Or follow @EdVotes, NEA’s feed for the latest information on political issues affecting education. You can follow @usedgov to get the last information from the U.S. Department of Education.

You can help the OEA Foundation earn donations just by shopping with your Fred Meyer Rewards Card!

Fred Meyer is donating $2.5 million per year to non-profits in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, based on where their customers tell them to give. Here’s how the program works: • Sign up for the Community Rewards program by linking your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to the OEA Foundation at www.fredmeyer.com/ communityrewards.

You can search for us by our name or by our non-profit number 85681.

• Then, every time you shop and use your Rewards Card, you are helping the OEA Foundation provide children with clothing, shoes, and other basic needs!

• You still earn your Rewards Points, Fuel Points, and Rebates, just as you do today.

• If you do not have a Rewards Card, they are available at the Customer Service desk of any Fred Meyer store.

• For more information, please visit www.fredmeyer.com/ communityrewards.

OEA FOUNDATION

The Official Publication of Oregon Education Association

OEA • NEA 6900 S.W. Atlanta Street Portland, OR 97223 tel: (503) 684-3300 fax: (503) 684-8063 www.oregoned.org

Periodicals POSTAGE PAID at Portland OR

www.oregoned.o rg/pie2016