Full Idea Exchange Reports

Safety in Schools

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

Prepared By: Members of The VIVA NEA Writing Collaborative

Presented to: NEA President Dennis Van Roekel and his senior staff, and to senior staff of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Recommendations:

• Put character in the curriculum.
• Practice and teach effective conflict resolution.
• Treat a school as a community.
• Improve and increase mental health support for students, educators and families.
• Ensure the security of school buildings.
• Strengthen connections between schools and communities.
• Change the debate about guns in schools.

 

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

 

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

Prepared By: Members of The VIVA MET Research Teachers’ Idea Exchange

Presented to: Vicki L. Phillips, Director of Education, College Ready—United States Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Recommendations:

• Teacher performance should have a higher weighting than students’ standardized test scores in all evaluation circumstances. Teacher evaluations have to focus on classroom activities, and we need to build the capacity necessary to use multiple measures of teachers’ work.
• Classroom teachers should have a regular, active and direct role in crafting the
• standards for effective teaching and the process for teacher evaluations.
• Student or parent surveys can provide useful information about classroom practice. However, surveys need to be used differently depending on grade level.
• Student formative feedback should be regular and informed by the data collected about their teachers’ effectiveness.
• Compensation and teaching performance need alignment.
• Develop a nationwide, searchable, digital database of K–12 Common Core Standard-focused lesson ideas, resources and models of effective teaching aligned to the core.
• Develop an interactive, cross-platform, social media network dedicated to educators to create a new delivery system for professional development.
• Increase access and use of technological hardware and software in K–12 classrooms nationwide.

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

Name of Report: VIVA ISEA Project – Re-Imagining School Leadership for the 21st Century

Prepared By: Members of The VIVA ISEA Teachers Writing Collaborative

Presented to: The Board of the Iowa State Education Association and members of Governor Terry Brandstad’s administration

Recommendations:

• Establish a process for choosing Teacher Leaders that includes input from teachers as well as administrators
• Clearly define the roles of Teacher Leaders
• Use Teacher Leaders to provide targeted, more effective, lower cost professional development
• Ensure that students continue to thrive academically while Teacher Leaders are away performing leadership duties
• Adequately compensate Teacher Leaders for their leadership duties
• Give Teacher Leaders the time they need to perform their leadership duties

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

Name of Report: Strengthening Our Practice: A Classroom Teachers’ Approach to Evaluation

Prepared by: Members of The VIVA Minnesota Teachers Writing Collaborative II

Presented to: Members of Governor Mark Dayton’s administration and the MDE Teacher Evaluation Work Group.

Recommendations:

• Ensure the evaluation reflects diverse student populations
• Use standardized, objective rubrics to ensure evaluator fairness
• Focus observations and evaluations on professional growth and self-reflection
• Incorporate professional development as a springboard to continuous improvement of practice
  Use multiple observations and observers for a reliable measure of educator effectiveness
• Train educators to be instructional coaches for observations
• Use value-added measures for feedback and determining professional development needs only, not for employment decisions
• Agree on curriculum-based assessments for student achievement data in non-tested subjects
• Create an appeals process for evaluations
• Provide full funding and personnel for teacher evaluation

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

 

Name of Report: VIVA Minnesota Project – 360 Degree Leadership: Evaluating Minnesota Principals

Prepared by: Members of The VIVA Minnesota Teachers Idea Exchange Writing Collaborative

Presented to: Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius

Recommendations:

• Evaluate principles in 5 areas: instructional leadership, positive school climate, fiscal/labor
  management, nurturing teacher leadership, and fostering equality
• Include all stakeholders – parents, teachers, community leaders, and students
• Create 3 tracks – successful principals, new principals who need additional support and
  struggling principals – to ensure all are high quality school leaders

Outcomes:

• Legislature receives principal evaluation framework from Minnesota Department of Education
  that is informed by VIVA Teachers
• Local school boards consider VIVA Teachers’ framework
• Parents promote VIVA Teachers’ framework to Legislature

Download a PDF of “360 Degree Leadership: Evaluating Minnesota Principals.”

 

Name of Report: VIVA New York Task Force: Opening Doors to Professional Communication and Collaboration

Prepared by: Members of The VIVA New York Teachers Idea Exchange Writing Collaborative

Presented to: New York Senior Deputy Commissioner of Education, Dr. John King Jr.

Recommendations:

• Use multiple measures over multiple years to create a true picture of a teacher’s effectiveness
• Use evaluation to help struggling teachers improve and make good teachers great

Outcome:

• VIVA Idea Exchange concept initial implementation successful

Download a PDF of “Opening Doors to Professional Communication and Collaboration.”

 

Name of Report: VIVA National Task Force: Voices From the Classroom

Prepared by: Members of the VIVA Teachers National Task Force

Presented to: U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan

Recommendations:

• Create a national teacher education curriculum
• Provide new teachers with structure, systematic support
• Provide “targeted teacher remediation” to struggling teachers
• Be creative about performance-based compensation
• Invest in parent and community involvement programs

Outcome:

• Presidential Teaching Fellows consistent with VIVA Teachers’ recommendations

Download a PDF of “Voices from the Classroom.”

 

Time in School

Name of Report: VIVA Chicago Project: Time, Teachers, and Tomorrow’s Schools

Prepared by: Members of The VIVA Chicago Teachers Idea Exchange Writing Collaborative

Presented to: Chicago Public Schools CEO, Jean-Claude Brizard; and Chicago Teachers Union President, Karen Lewis

Recommendations:

• Offer more well-rounded education and activities
• Make more and better use of technology
• Ensure teachers have time for planning and collaboration sessions
• Increase efficiencies
• Involve community organizations

Outcomes:

• Recess is a right for all elementary students
• Added attendance days for Columbus Day and Pulaski Day
• Dramatic increase in access to technology for teaching and learning

Download a PDF of “Time, Teachers and Tomorrow’s Schools.”

 

Common Core and Student Learning

Name of Report: VIVA New Jersey Charter Teachers’ Project- Character 2.0: The Value of Taking a School-Wide View Toward Students’ Life-long Success

Prepared By: Members of the VIVA New Jersey Charter Teachers’ Idea Exchange

Presented to: Chris Cerf, New Jersey Commissioner of Education

Recommendations:

• Help Schools Define and Build Cultures that Develop Non-Cognitive Skills, Then Assess Those Skills
• Establish Shared Vocabulary and Meaning that Fosters Character Development and Student Accountability from Preschool through High School and Beyond
• Develop Students’ and Teachers’ Ability to Navigate in a Diverse Society with Cultural Proficiency
• Reinvent School Discipline as an Opportunity to Build Character
• Design Opportunities for Students to Demonstrate Character in Student-Centered, Student-Led Initiatives

Download a copy of “Character 2.0: The Value of Taking a School-Wide View Toward Students’ Life-long Success”

Name of Report: VIVA MTA Project- Addressing Educational Inequities: Proposals for Narrowing the Achievement Gaps in Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities

Prepared By: Members of the VIVA MTA Writing Collaborative

Presented to: The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

Recommendations:

• Treat multicultural English Language Learners as a resource in a global economy
• End the school-to-prison pipeline by keeping students engaged in learning
• Reinvent teacher preparation, professional development and evaluation so all teachers
  can meet the challenge of multiethnic students, then trust teachers to do it well
• Reinvent schools as a community resource
• Lengthen the school day and reorganize the school year
• Work together to seek federal funding for districts

Download a copy of “Addressing Educational Inequities: Proposals for Narrowing the Achievement Gaps in Massachusetts’ Gateway Cities.”

 

Name of Report: Arizona Charter Teachers’ Guide to Common Core Implementation: Advice From the Classroom

Prepared by: Members of The VIVA Arizona Charter Teachers Idea Exchange Writing Collaborative

Presented to: Arizona Superintendent John Huppenthal and: Board President Jaime Molera

Recommendations:

• Ensure all schools and teachers have access to affordable teacher training
• Make the training available when teachers need it — at night, online, on demand
• Revamp professional development and teacher collaboration to fit new standards
• Revamp ADE website to make the tools more user-friendly
• Ease the transition from old standardized tests to new Common Core tests
• Revamp higher education teacher training to meet needs of Common Core
• Ensure parents understand the goals and challenges of Common Core

Outcomes:

• Superintendent revamps public information outreach on Common Core for teachers and parents
• Arizona Department of Education website redesigned with VIVA
• Recess is a right for all elementary students
• Added attendance days for Columbus Day and Pulaski Day
• Dramatic increase in access to technology for teaching and learning

Download a PDF of “Arizona Charter Teachers Guide to Common Core Implementation: Advice from the Classroom”