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Congratulations PPS: District-wide Teaching and Learning Conditions Final Survey Participation at 85%
Among schools nationwide participating in the Teaching and Learning Conditions survey, the fin al response rate of Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers was the highest at 85% - and every school in the District reached at least 50% participation!
This means that every school will have access to their school level reports in the fall 2010-11 school year.
On behalf of the District and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers (PFT), we would like to extend a special thank you to the Survey Site Liaisons, without whom this success would not have been possible.
In Pittsburgh, we recognize that a focus on the teaching and learning environment is an essential component in the work of improving our schools. We are committed to creating a Positive Teaching and Learning Environment in every school that establishes and reinforces positive student behaviors and a culture of Promise-Readiness.
The clearest instances of how teacher survey results can inform education practices are found at the school level. During the 2010-11 school year, we will work with Teaching and Learning Environment Liaisons to create positive school cultures.
Over the summer, the New Teacher Center and Eric Hirsch will be analyzing data and preparing school reports. The Teaching and Learning Environment initiative team, the Research Assessment and Accountability staff at the District, and PFT leaders will be working collaboratively to plan the dissemination of the results in the Fall. These results will be used as part of school improvement planning in the Fall 2010-11 school year.
Congratulations to Schools at 100% Participation!
Pittsburgh Arsenal 6- 8
Pittsburgh Banksville Pre K-5
Pittsburgh Faison Primary Campus Pre K-8
Pittsburgh Gifted Center
Pittsburgh Manchester K-8
Pittsburgh Murray K - 8
Pittsburgh Phillips K - 5
Pittsburgh Pioneer
Pittsburgh Rooney 6 - 8
Pittsburgh Schaeffer Primary Campus K-3
Pittsburgh Schiller K-8
Pittsburgh South Side Annex Transition Center
Pittsburgh Stevens K - 8
Pittsburgh Sunnyside K-8
Pittsburgh Vann K -5
Pittsburgh Woolslair K-5
To view the final results of the District and other schools participating in the survey nationwide, click here.
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Teaching and Learning Environment Liaisons:
A New School Leadership Role for Teachers
Join the
District-wide effort to improve our Teaching and Learning Environments by
becoming a Teaching and Learning Environment Liaison for the 2010-11 school
year.
As a critical next step in the work of improving our schools, we
are seeking one teacher candidate from each school to join the District-wide
Teaching and Learning Environment (TLE) Working Group to help us
collaboratively design solutions and tools to support and enhance the teaching
and learning environments across the District.
The ideal
candidates are teachers who are passionate about positive school culture, are
not currently in a formalized leadership role, and have experience in: - Overcoming
challenges in the classroom,
-
Collaborating
with peers and leadership, and
-
Utilizing
prior knowledge to solve issues or concerns.
The TLE
Liaison will: Represent
their school on the TLE Working Group to establish communication between
central office and teachers at every school. Build
upon existing school-based and District-wide best practices. Assist
in designing solutions for communicating student behavior expectations, sharing
and developing intervention strategies and developing teacher resources. Assist
their school in the utilization of data, to collaboratively develop and
implement plans to improve the teaching and learning environment in their
schools. Work
collaboratively with District and PFT leadership in the design and
implementation of TLE strategies. Liaisons will have an opportunity to meet
with the Superintendent, PFT President and Assistant Superintendents.
Interested applicants should notify
their principal by Wednesday, June 9, 2010. Principals will submit the names of
potential candidates to a school leadership team, such as the Discipline
Committee or Instructional Cabinet by Monday, June 14, 2010 for final selection
by Friday, June 18, 2010.
Teaching and Learning Environment
Liaisons will be notified of their selection by Tuesday, June 22, 2010. We strongly encourage teachers not
currently in a formal leadership role to apply.
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Teachers Engaged in Developing Supported Growth Module of RISE
Over the course of a two-day retreat - on May 12 and 14 - a group of teachers, principals, District staff and PFT leaders developed a plan for the supported growth module of RISE, which will be piloted in District schools in the 2010-11 school year.
This effort, facilitated by Dr. Paula Bevin from The Danielson Group, will enable about one-third of experienced teachers from current RISE pilot schools to engage in a rigorous, year-long study targeted specifically toward improving their practice in one or more components of the RISE framework. Teachers will meet with their principal regularly for support and feedback.
The purposes of supported growth are to:
- Encourage collaboration within schools to grow student learning
- Honor the presumption of professionalism to continually improve practice
- Promote individualized teacher learning, teacher reflection, and growth of practice
- Support school and District initiatives
- Provide assessment-driven professional growth based on evidence from student learning data, school data, self-assessment, administrators evaluations, etc.
- Provide job-embedded learning and growth opportunities
The Research-based Inclusive System of Evaluation (RISE) was developed in response to teachers' desires for an improved evaluation system that more effectively supports, empowers and recognizes teacher practice.
From the beginning, RISE was designed to be an equitable, fair and rigorous evaluation system. The intention of RISE was to collaboratively design a new teacher evaluation system informed by and for Pittsburgh teachers. |
Teachers to Help Design and Develop Next Phase of IT Systems Initiative
After nearly four months of intensive planning, vendor demonstrations, evaluations,  and proposal negotiations, the District and the PFT are happy to report that we have reached a major milestone in the Empowering Effective Teachers IT work.
Last week at the May 26th School Board Meeting, the District's recommendation for the GlobalScholar / Ciber / eScholar IT vendor consortium was approved.
The work related to this plan will unfold over the next three school years and include a robust web-based student information system, central web-based access to all IT tools with one user login, and simplified systems designed to support our schools, principals and teachers.
Initial work will focus on replacing the District's gradebook system, and digitizing the Research-based Inclusive System of Evaluation (RISE) process.
To achieve these goals, we plan to directly include teachers and staff in helping us determine the most efficient uses of our IT systems by providing an opportunity to aid in the design of these systems into a singular web-based experience.
Starting this summer and into the new school year, we will make opportunities available for teachers and staff to formally and informally engage in the IT Systems initiative.
We are currently outlining teacher engagement strategies for the initial summer work, as well as opportunities into next school-year.
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Sign-up Now and Volunteer Your Input in the Knowledge for Teaching Assessments
Currently, 58 Pittsburgh teachers have registered to participate in the Knowledge for Teaching Assessments.
The Knowledge for Teaching Assessments are part of the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) research project, a two-year research project to develop fair and reliable measures of effective teaching.
PPS teachers of English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics in grades 4 through 9 now have the opportunity to participate in the pilot of these new assessments.
In addition to receiving a financial incentive of $50 per completed assessment, pilot participants will contribute to the efforts to define effective teaching and take part in another opportunity for Pittsburgh teachers to volunteer and provide their input to further improve the quality of information available about teacher practice.
As part of the MET Research project, Pittsburgh Public Schools is collaborating with researchers at Educational Testing Services (ETS) to pilot these new measures.
If you are an eligible teacher interested in participating in this activity, please contact ETS by emailing collaborate@ets.org , or calling Melanie Katz at 609-683-2249 or Michaela Arzt at 609-683-2425.
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Question of the Week
Click on the graphic to answer and be
entered to win a raffle prize!
A
new winner will be
selected at random each week from all responses. The winning response
will be
posted in the next eNews Update and the winner will receive a $25
Giant Eagle gift card in the mail.
Last week you responded to the question: What is your best tip for getting, and keeping, parents involved in their children's education?
Last week's Question of the Week winner is Ms. Sandra Amato, a Learning
Support Teacher at Pittsburgh Westwood K-8.
Ms. Amato had this to say:"My best tip for getting and keeping parents involved in their children's
education is to ALWAYS start with the POSITIVE! Keep the parents
informed, whether it is quick note, grabbing them in the hall, or a
brief phone call. They are more open to work with you if you build a
rapport over time-tell them and show them you care. Have an open-door
policy...Sometimes parents want to, but do not know how they can be
involved-offer suggestions and ways."
Thank you Ms. Amato for
your response! You will receive your $25 Giant Eagle gift card in the mail
shortly. To view all of last week's responses, click here.
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You Ask, We Respond: Check Your PPS Email Monday-Friday for New Q&A
We continue to receive thoughtful and
relevant questions from teachers and staff about the Empowering Effective Teachers Plan and its seven initiatives.
Remember - check your PPS
email for the Question of the Day, Monday through Friday through the end of the school year.
You may also visit the regularly
updated questions and answers FAQs page on the Empowering Pittsburgh Teachers and PFT websites.
If you cannot find an answer to your question, please submit
your question at empoweringpittsburghteachers@pghboe.net or response@pft400.org.
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