Teacher Incentive Fund Comes to Oregon
The eight school districts (seven CLASS districts and McMinnville) receiving TIF funds in Oregon certainly have their work cut out for them. These districts have the opportunity to demonstrate for the rest of the state and the country what it means to meaningfully invest in the effectiveness of educators.
Here are a few highlights from news stories and editorials following the announcement of the grant:
From KTVZ, "Federal Grant Aims to Assist Teachers," Kim Tobin:
Stiner [Karen Stiner is a middle-school teacher in Bend] said Friday she believes the grant money ultimately will improve education for students.
"We're trying to say, 'What's a better environment for our students to learn?'" Stiner said. "It's by teachers and administrators and our board of education coming together to try and develop a system that works for us."
The Oregonian, "Oregon schools win $20 million from feds to raise teacher effectiveness, institute performance pay,"Betsy Hammond:
In Lebanon, a team of teachers and administrators has hashed out the broad outlines of how teacher performance will be measured, said Kim Fandiņo, past president of the Lebanon Teachers Association.
Teachers will be judged primarily on whether they exhibit effective techniques in class, but they will also be expected to show through end-of-unit tests, final exams and other measures that they are getting enough of their students to master the full set of skills expected for that course or grade level.
The Oregonian, "Better schools in bad times: Oregon lags behind, teachers push ahead," Susan Nielsen:
In a welcome coup for Oregon, eight school districts won federal grants last week totaling $20 million to encourage and reward good teaching. They did so with minimal help from state leaders. They prevailed despite Oregon's funding crisis and its abysmal showing in this year's "Race to the Top" federal competition, which favored innovative states and shunned stagnant ones.
This work builds on grass-roots efforts in Sherwood, Tillamook and elsewhere, where student test scores surged after teachers took a risk and tried something different.
The Concordia Teacher Corps partners with local schools and organizations to provide tutoring to preK-12 students. The program has served over 1000 students since it began and just this past year tutors logged over 2000 hours of tutoring in the north and northeast Portland communities.
This months' interview is with Doug Wells. Doug is President of the National Board of Directors of Parents for Public Schools and a current board member and former President of Community & Parents for Public Schools of Portland. Professionally, he is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for the Oregon Ballet Theatre in Portland. Doug is also the proud parent of a sixth grader in Portland Public Schools.
