April 24, 2013 By 1 Comment

Sensible Solutions for Safer Schools: An Educators’ Vision for Positive Learning Environments

On April 24, 2013, the members of the Writing Collaborative presented their ideas to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and his senior staff, and to senior staff of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Download Full Report as a PDF

The VIVA NEA Idea Exchange invited all members of the National Education Association in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Ohio, Oregon, Utah, and Virginia to share their ideas about creating a positive learning environment and safety in classrooms and school buildings. This VIVA Idea Exchange occurred during a pivotal time in the United States, just two months after the horrific shooting tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn. took the lives of 26 people and touched off a national debate on school violence and safety.

Download a copy of Sensible Solutions for Safer Schools: An Educators’ Vision for Positive Learning Environments

Filed Under: Full Idea Exchange Reports, Idea Exchange Updates
February 19, 2013 By 1 Comment

VIVA MET: Reflections from the Classroom – Measures of Effective Teaching Idea Exchange

On Feb. 14, 2013, the members of the Writing Collaborative presented their ideas to Vicki L. Phillips, Director of Education, College Ready, U.S. Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Download a copy of VIVA MET: Reflections from the Classroom – Measures of Effective Teaching

Download Full Report as a PDF

Generally speaking, teachers are visionaries. They work with the belief that they can make a difference in the lives of others. And they give time and energies endlessly into changing what exists today; molding students and the world into something better for tomorrow. Ten of us came together through the MET Project in the last few months to reflect on how our experience changed our own practices and what steps could capitalize on the MET research for all teachers and their students.

We envision a national network of teachers and education professionals that will focus on creating tools and guidance for implementation norms in four major areas: 1) transparency, reliability and alignment of measures of teacher effectiveness/student achievement; 2) increasing teachers’ ability to use data for instruction; 3) financial incentives that reward excellence and 4) dramatically increasing the use of technology for instruction and supporting teaching.

Our reflections are deeply rooted in what we learned about our own effectiveness as teachers. The changes we’ve made in our practices will change the lives of our students today and tomorrow. But as visionaries, the goal is bigger: changing the future. For all teachers and students.

Filed Under: Full Idea Exchange Reports, Idea Exchange Updates
December 19, 2012 By 5 Comments

VIVA ISEA Project – Re-Imagining School Leadership for the 21st Century

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On December 8, 2012,  members of the VIVA ISEA Teachers Idea Exchange  presented their report Re-Imagining School Leadership for the 21st Century to the board of the Iowa State Education Association. On December 19, 2012,  they presented their ideas to members of Governor Brandstad’s administration.

Download a copy of “Re-Imagining School Leadership for the 21st Century” here.

Executive Summary

Schools of the 21st century cannot be run by principals alone. The stakes—the education of our children and the future of our state—are too high. We must tap the best and brightest among us to be school leaders if we are to give all students the high quality education they deserve.

The leaders of the state of Iowa have recognized this and are looking for ways to entice teachers to take on more leadership responsibilities within schools. We know that teachers are ready for this new challenge. The key is to create a system that allows them to stay firmly rooted in the classroom while also working to meet the bigger needs of the school or district overall.

This report lays out 17 ideas for ways to make Teacher Leadership a sought-after and effective way to run schools. By creating a role for teachers that is something more than classroom instruction but something less than administration, the state can get the best of both worlds: teachers who remain committed to serving their students while also sharing their skills and expertise with others. That is the way to grow the leadership needed to ensure student learning improves.

Recommendations Included in this report:

To be successful, Teacher Leaders must have the confidence of faculty members and administrators. That would be much more likely happen if the Teacher Leaders were chosen via a process that includes input from both teachers and administrators.

While there are many potential Teacher Leadership roles in school—among them modeling best instructional practice, mentoring new teachers, liaising with families, and helping teachers prepare for their evaluations—all roles must be clearly defined to ensure they do not cross into the realm of purely administrative tasks.

Teacher Leaders can provide a low-cost, more effective professional development by using their unique positions in the school or district to disseminate best practice ideas and differentiate professional development to fit the needs of each individual teacher and school.

Teacher Leaders, Teacher Mentors, and Model Teachers can be effective only if they know that their students will continue to thrive academically while their teachers are away performing Teacher Leadership duties. This can easily be accomplished through a variety of approaches, including hiring “permanent subs” for a building or district and bringing in retired teachers as subs.

 Teacher Leaders must be compensated adequately for the additional time they spend fulfilling their leadership duties.

 

Filed Under: Full Idea Exchange Reports, Idea Exchange Updates Tagged With: , , ,
October 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

VIVA Minnesota Project II – Strengthening Our Practice: A Classroom Teachers’ Approach to Evaluation

Download Full Report as a PDF

On October 26, 2012, members of VIVA Minnesota Teachers Idea Exchange II presented their report Strengthening Our Practice: A Classroom Teachers’ Approach to Evaluation to members of Governor Mark Dayton’s administration and the MDE Teacher Evaluation Work Group.

Download a copy of “Strengthening Our Practice: A Classroom Teachers’ Approach to Evaluation.”

Click here to read the recommendations from the report

Filed Under: Full Idea Exchange Reports, Idea Exchange Updates Tagged With: , , ,
June 13, 2012 By 1 Comment

How to Successfully Implement Common Core

Source: AZ Charter Teachers’ Association

In a meeting with Arizona Superintendent John Huppenthal and State Board President Jaime Molera, VIVA Teacher Leaders offered their advice for smoothing the transition to Common Core State Standards for all schools in Arizona.

Two hundred VIVA Teachers who teach in Arizona’s charter schools, where they already are implementing the new, higher Common Core State Standards in their classrooms, participated in the first phase of the VIVA Arizona Charter Teachers Idea Exchange, from April 16-May 13, 2012. They shared 50 ideas for ways to ensure the transition to Common Core. Then, seven of those teachers distilled the ideas into the 36 recommendations they delivered to Huppenthal and Molera on June 13, 2012.

Read an executive summary of the report, or download the full 32-page report, “Arizona Charter Teachers’ Guide to Common Core Implementation: Advice from the Classroom,” here.

Read the press release here.

 

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June 13, 2012 By 2 Comments

VIVA Arizona Project – Arizona Charter Teachers’ Guide to Common Core Implementation: Advice From the Classroom

On Wednesday, June 13, members of the VIVA Arizona Charter Teachers Idea Exchange Writing Collaborative delivered their report, Arizona Charter Teachers Guide to Common Core Implementation: Advice from the Classroom, to Arizona Superintendent John Huppenthal and State Board President Jaime Molera.

Teachers are significant stakeholders in the implementation of Common Core Standards and should be key players in the process. These recommendations will foster the environment necessary to ensure successful implementation of Common Core Standards, promote the development of professional knowledge and expertise of teachers, and maintain high expectations and academic achievement on the part of Arizona’s students.

Download the full report as a PDF

Click here to read the executive summary and recommendations

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June 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

VIVA Arizona Press Release

Contact: Megan Gilbertson
O: 602.944.0644 ext. 312
C:  602.688.9435
E: megan@azcharters.org

 

Charter Teachers Share Thoughts on Implementing New Standards

Arizona teachers need more training, parents need a heads up

 

VIVA Arizona Press Release

Download as a PDF

Phoenix, Ariz. (June 8, 2012) – In order to ensure a successful transition to new, more rigorous K-12 curriculum standards, Arizona must provide additional training and tools to educators, launch a public awareness campaign about the new student achievement standards, and ease the transition to new tests, according to a report prepared by Arizona charter school teachers.

In a first of its kind online collaboration in Arizona, nearly 200 charter teachers across the state spent four weeks exchanging ideas about what teachers and schools need to ensure a successful transition to the Common Core State Standards, the new mandated standards all public schools — district and charter — must meet beginning in the 2013-2014 school year.

A group of seven teachers from the initial phase of the VIVA Idea Exchange worked to summarize and synthesize the ideas, and developed a report with 36 specific action steps for Arizona to use when implementing the Common Core State Standards. The teachers will present their ideas to Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal and Arizona State Board of Education President Jaime Molera on June 13.

“Our teachers want to see their students succeed, and this report provides policy makers an in-depth look at what all public schools need to make the transition to the new standards successful,” said Association President Eileen B. Sigmund. “Although charter teachers are innovative and creative, they face the same challenges as all public school teachers are facing in Arizona and across the country.”

The Arizona Charter Schools Association partnered with New Voice Strategies’ VIVA Teachers Project to engage Arizona charter schools teachers in an effective conversation about the new standards.

Find out more about the project and Common Core State Standards at https://azcharters.org/viva-teachers-project. Please contact Megan Gilbertson for a copy of the embargoed report.

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About The Arizona Charter Schools Association

The Arizona Charter Schools Association is a non-profit membership and professional organization that serves more than 80 percent of the 524 charter schools in Arizona that enroll 133,890 students. Fully 25 percent of the state’s public schools are charter schools, and 12 percent of all public-school students are enrolled in charter schools—the highest percentage for any state, and second only to Washington D.C. With a common goal of providing the best in free, public education for Arizona’s children, the Association works alongside schools, parents, policymakers and the media, continuously advocating for high quality schools, student equity, and charter school autonomy. We are dedicated to high student achievement and aggressively seek to provide the best in comprehensive support and services to Arizona’s charter schools. For more information, visit www.azcharters.org or call 602.944.0644.

About VIVA Teachers

VIVA Teachers (VIVA stands for Voice, Ideas, Vision, Action) uses an innovative online platform to empower them to share their professional wisdom with each other and connects them directly to the people who have the power to enact change. Already, VIVA Teachers have submitted their recommendations for change to government officials in Washington, D.C. Chicago IL, Albany NY, and St. Paul MN. For more information on how VIVA elevates the voices of teachers, from the front lines to the bottom line, visit www.vivateachers.org.

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