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IN THIS ISSUE
CLASS Project Expands to Additional Districts
State Superintendent Castillo on the CLASS Project
Chalkboard Thanks Legislators and Partners
The First Innovative Educators Conference a Success
Chalkboard's Visit to Washington, DC
A New Look at Our Board of Directors
Our Voices, Our Schools
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Oregon Mentoring Program in Metro Parent
Chalkboard President Sue Hildick writes in the August issue of Metro Parent about the Oregon Mentoring Program as a way to improve classroom learning by supporting teachers to be their best--even in our difficult economic climate.
Read more in "Improving Our Public Schools: Don't Lose Hope!"
ChalkBloggers Highlights
Check out some of the blog posts from this month.
"Preventing the Summer Slide: Time for Extended Learning"
Guest Blogger
Senator Mark Hass
In the dog days of summer, it's great to be a kid. Lazy, sunny days. Family trips. Summer camps. Not a care in the world. Actually, this is a myth threatening America's future in the global economy.
Read More
"A Teacher's Thoughts on 'Standing on the Shoulders of Giants' -- Part 2"
Shawn Daley
In continuing my take on Marc Tucker's report "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants," I wanted to focus this post on his suggestions for teacher education programs in the United States. Read More
"Teaching Memories: What Worked in the Past Could Work in the Future"
Ruth Wallin
I love reform. I'm excited that as a state and nation we are looking at making changes to public education. But sometimes in moving forward, it's good to look back. I've been moved to look back at my earlier career by the publicity around Jose Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and product of the California middle school where I taught. Read More
"A Teacher's Thoughts on 'Standing on the Shoulders of Giants' -- Part 3"
Shawn Daley
While my posts over the last couple weeks have only engaged a portion of the education reform program that Marc Tucker suggests in "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants," I nevertheless hope that more of you take the opportunity to tackle the text on your own. When I finished reading the entire report, I was part enthralled and part enraged by what he was intimating. Read More
"Teacher Evaluations: More Discussion, Less Checklist"
Sandy Ludeman
Why can't we fix the teacher evaluation system? Maybe our newest tool, the 2010 Model Core Teaching Standards from the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Committee (InTASC) will be the fix. The process, though, can have both positive and negative consequences. Read More
"Let's Wake Up and Break Out of Our Silos"
Doug Wells
I have spent a little more than a year sharing on this blog what I think and believe in. Hopefully I've challenged some of you and made you think--it certainly has caused me to think more deeply. Now, I want a thought experiment from you, those reading this blog. What do you believe in? What do you want to talk about? What inspires you? Read More
"Parental Involvement: Learning Shouldn't Stop Outside the Classroom"
Heather Penner
My children are homeschooled. They also attend a fantastic "bricks-and-mortar" school during the standard school year, and prior to that they were in full-time daycare since they were infants. But when they are home with me, we read, count, explore science concepts, and look at the big map on the wall and talk about the world. This behavior does not make me special; my friends do this too.
Read More
"How to Attract the Best & Brightest to Education Careers?"
Todd Jones
The Singapore government pulls the best and brightest from their high schools, sends them all over the world for top-notch higher education, then obligates them to serve in the government in exchange for the education, albeit with handsome salaries and benefits. . . . Interesting model. Why not apply it to education? Read More
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Greetings!
Leave it to August to bring on the true summer weather just as our thoughts turn to starting the new school year. We are feeling both reflective and forward-focused right now, appreciating several successful events and moments of praise for the CLASS Project, but also planning for a busy 2011-2012 year. With four new districts joining the CLASS Project and implementation plans coming together around new legislative policies, we're ready for an action-packed fall.
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CLASS Project Expands to Additional Districts
We're welcoming four new districts to the CLASS Project this 2011-2012 school year: Ashland, Lincoln County, Pendleton and South Lane school districts. Each will receive $30,000 grants to begin their Design Year, working on new models of expanded career paths, educator evaluation systems, relevant professional development and new compensation systems. Read more about these new additions.
Two current CLASS Project districts--Vernonia and Sisters--will also receive new grants to begin implementing the plans they've designed over the last two years. These funds will bridge this year until opportunities like the state's new School District Collaboration Fund begins awarding grants for teacher-led initiatives in 2012. Find out more about their work here.
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State Superintendent Castillo on the CLASS Project
With this latest expansion, the CLASS Project is now impacting 18 school districts throughout the state, reaching nearly a quarter of Oregon's students. We were honored to see Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo focus on this hard work and the promising results of CLASS in her latest Update.
After her May visit to one of the Lebanon School District's CLASS planning meetings, Castillo observes, "This isn't easy to do--change is never easy. But everyone around the table understands that the status quo must change, and that they are the ones shaping the future of education. They also understand this is ultimately about student outcomes. Already some of these districts are showing significant improvements in student achievement. A strong majority of teachers in those districts say that the work is making a difference in their schools."
Read more from her Update here.
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Chalkboard Thanks Legislators and Partners
You may have noticed a few new Chalkboard ads running in the Oregonian this past month. After the legislative successes achieved during this last session, we're pleased to be able to thank everyone who collaborated on these new policies, from Governor Kitzhaber to legislators to the many educators, business leaders, and of course, parents who championed these initiatives.
Find out more about the establishment of statewide performance standards, a School District Collaboration Fund, and continued funding of the Oregon Mentoring Program on our Policy Work page.
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The First Innovative Educators Conference a Success
On August 13th, 40 educators gathered for the first Innovative Educators Conference to explore creative and effective teaching strategies, network, and expand their influence to affect policy change. In fact, ten state policymakers also joined the discussions at the end of the day to hear directly from educators what is working and what isn't in Oregon's classrooms.
If you would like to be invited to future Innovative Educators Events, please email info@chalkboardproject.org to express your interest.
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Chalkboard's Visit to Washington, DC
At the end of July, Chalkboard President Sue Hildick, Vice President of Education Policy Dan Jamison, and Bend's CLASS Project Co-Leader Dan Jones traveled to the Capitol to share our work and developments in Oregon at a discussion around "Developing Great Teachers and Leaders: What's Working and How That Should Inform Policy Decisions." They joined several national partners and policy leaders in a conversation that focused on what's happening around the country with performance evaluations, teacher preparation, and other complex but necessary reform topics.
It was especially rewarding to hear the support for teacher-led reform and the recognition of the collaborative work modeled by the CLASS Project. Read more of Dan Jamison's reflections from the event on ChalkBloggers.
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A New Look at Our Board of Directors
During last month's board meeting, we had the chance to gather everyone together for new portraits. Find out more about who is on our Board of Directors here.
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Our Voices, Our Schools
 In the fall, Carrie Carpenter will begin her 18th year as an educator, this time teaching language arts and social studies for grades 6-8 at Tumalo Community School in the Redmond School District. She received her degrees from Oregon State University and was chosen Oregon Teacher of the Year in 2003. She has been an instructional coach for the last two years and has represented the district at both the regional and national levels. She finds imparting skills that are proven to enhance students' lives and creating lifelong relationships are the most rewarding aspects of her career.
How are you preparing for the new school year?
I always spend time in the summer reading the latest research in the field of education. This year my focus has been reading at the middle level, because ODE recommended in their K-12 Literacy Framework that all middle level students have reading instruction in addition to language arts classes. I will be working with four other educators in our building to provide research-based reading instruction for each of our middle school students.
I also took a Scottish Storyline class and worked on curriculum for a social studies unit on ancient Rome. It is easy to incorporate fiction and non-fiction into Storyline, so my hope is that the unit will build a strong knowledge base of ancient Rome and help students practice critical reading and writing skills.
How do you get to know the learning needs of your new students?
I already have past scores from OAKS, an oral reading comprehension assessment and the state writing assessment for students who were in the building last year. This gives me a place to start.
I always give both reading and writing assessments similar to the state performance assessment practice tasks during the first couple weeks of school. The students and I score these using the state scoring guides, then I have the students reflect about the scores and set goals for the year. I also conference with the students. I learn a lot by simply listening to them. I also have the students fill out a questionnaire about their likes and dislikes pertaining to language arts and social studies, and I have a class blog. The first entry is usually about favorite books and videos.
Are you using other new techniques and/or new technologies to better reach and motivate your students?
Our district is working with proficiency-based grading using online grade books that are accessible to parents anytime, anywhere. I have used online grading before, but my work as an instructional coach has made it apparent to me that communicating with parents about proficiency is an absolute necessity to prepare for the new Oregon diploma.
Also, seven of our building teachers are implementing a technology grant with another building in our district. We will utilize Google Chrome, Google Documents, iPads, Smartboards, video and digital cameras to improve literacy skills, particularly writing. We have a training at the end of August, so I will be jumping into an action-packed year of exploring new technologies!
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