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Fall 2010
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Community Leaders

Champion the Cause

of Teacher Effectiveness

United Way Project Aims to Stimulate Community Dialogue

As the clock ticks to 3 p.m., members of the United Way of Tampa Bay’s teacher effectiveness project are excited to get started. The workgroup has met throughout the summer and well into the fall to plan how to mobilize and energize the community on the subject of effective teaching. Today’s agenda touches on teacher retention and finding ways to inform the community about the importance of great teaching. The enthusiasm of group members is palpable throughout the entire two-hour discussion.

Hillsborough County School Board member Carol W. Kurdell said that while these kinds of conversations are happening nationally, Florida is primed to implement new policies. “Never before have these conversations taken place outside of the educational community,” she noted. “The diversity of the group here today really speaks to our message, and we have to make sure the conversation continues outside of these doors to ensure changes.”

The workgroup is made up of representatives from organizations that have education initiatives. Those groups include: Hillsborough County Public Schools; Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association; Hillsborough Parent Teachers Association; The Children’s Board of Hillsborough County; University of Tampa College of Education, Social Sciences and Mathematics; University of South Florida College of Education; Hillsborough Community College; the Tampa Bay Partnership; and the Hillsborough Education Foundation. A variety of stakeholders from the business community—from corporate officers to small business leaders—have been invited to participate throughout the process.

They’ve identified that teacher effectiveness is the single most important in-school factor affecting a student's academic performance and are focused on advocating for policies that:

• Increase the number of effective teachers through enhanced preparation, recruitment, induction and professional development.

• Improve evaluation processes for teachers by including multiple measures of effectiveness.

• Create new career ladders and performance-based compensation systems to reward effective teachers.

• Develop programs and incentives that attract highly effective teachers to the classrooms where they are needed most.

• Expand school administrators’ responsibility for building academic success through improved teacher evaluations and development.

A major focus of the day’s meeting was ensuring that every student has an effective educator, which will require increasing the supply of teachers in the workforce and improving the performance of those in the classroom through professional development opportunities.

“We’re facing a growing teacher shortage in Florida,” commented
Mary Gamble, consultant to the workgroup. "In the next five years, we will lose 40 percent of our teaching force to retirement and other factors, and we currently don’t have enough students in our teacher preparation programs to replace those that we’ll lose.”

According to data from the United Way of Tampa Bay, once hired, new teachers typically don’t stay in the classroom.

The group is working to attract quality teachers, employ retention and mentoring programs, incentivize effective educators and incorporate other professional development opportunities. “Communities like ours have the opportunity to create an environment in which every student will be taught by an effective educator, resulting in more students graduating from high school and ultimately helping our local economy grow,” said
Diana Baker, CEO of United Way of
Tampa Bay.

Members of the group will meet for the final time this month, where they will develop their call-to-action plan to keep conversations moving around the community. With the 2011 Legislative Session just around the corner, Gamble expressed her confidence that policy makers will access their findings when crafting legislation surrounding Florida’s Race to the Top initiatives. “By inspiring reforms at the local level now, we’ll have an opportunity to showcase what’s working and really impact the next iteration of education legislation surrounding teacher effectiveness.”

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Hillsborough Education Foundation

Keeps Community Leaders Engaged

In addition to the United Way’s teacher effectiveness workgroup, there is another group of committed community leaders engaged in the cause of teacher excellence. The Hillsborough Education Foundation’s Community Engagement Group (CEG) was established to follow the progress of the Empowering Effective Teachers (EET) initiative, to serve as a sounding board and provide feedback to the District from the community perspective, and for members to be an accurate source of information about EET in the community.

Some of the members of the CEG shared these thoughts on what EET means to Hillsborough County and why community support is so essential:

The successful implementation of EET will help insure the students of Hillsborough County receive the most from their educational experience. The EET program will help to further develop our teachers, enabling them to improve their skills and become more effective professionals. By placing an effective teacher in every classroom in Hillsborough County, our students will be poised to make greater educational gains.

“Community support for EET is essential in order to provide the environment where student achievement is the most important aspect of the educational process.  It is important that our community values education and supports those involved in transforming the public education experience in our state. By creating a culture where effective teachers are valued, we will be helping to secure a bright future for all students in Hillsborough County.”

Michelle Shimberg

Community Volunteer

The EET initiative is another link in a long chain of successes for the School District and its teachers. I have two children in public school, and they are already starting to feel the value of the EET program. Parents need to educate themselves on this initiative so they will know that we are well ahead of the country in fixing and improving the quality of the student learning experience in Hillsborough County.”

Andrew M. Harris, MBA, MHA

Managing Director of GE Capital

The benefits of the EET initiative are potentially far-reaching in our community. The most obvious point is producing more educated, well-rounded and better-prepared students who will go on to greater success in all their future endeavors, which has a direct positive impact on the world in general. These students will have a positive impact wherever they go, but if their experience here is a strong one, they are even more likely to stay in or return to the Tampa Bay community and bring that positive impact back to the local area.

“By producing better-prepared and more employable graduates, the long-term effects of this initiative should be felt in reduced unemployment, reduced homelessness and generally less need for social services in the community in general, which is well aligned with the long-term goals of United Way and other complementary local organizations. Beyond that, the improvement in our local education system also will serve to more effectively attract families and businesses to the local area. 

“The community’s support of this initiative is critical in that the amount of work that needs to be done, and the dollars required to accomplish the goals, cannot be accomplished by one organization alone. This is a long-term process, but with the support of the community (including the business community), everyone will ultimately benefit from these improvements.”

Brian Deming

Tribridge & United Way of Tampa Bay Board Chair

Successful students and graduates are all of our responsibility, not just the schools or the teachers. We need to know what's happening and support the efforts that will help us have the most talented young people leading us into the future. For our community to continue to be competitive, we need the brightest talent. That is what will drive our region's growth. The initiative's focus on increasing high school graduation rates and better preparing graduates for college makes huge strides in that direction.”

Bill Hoffman

President, Hillsborough Education Foundation

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In order to keep conversations moving, Florida’s 67 school superintendents and local teachers union leaders will be invited to gather for the first-ever Leading The Way conference January 19 and 20 in Tampa. Sponsored by the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, Hillsborough County Public Schools and Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, the conference will connect national education leaders with local decision makers to spur conversations and discussions around hot-topic issues impacting education. Attendees will also have the opportunity to hear the latest best practices and successes from Hillsborough’s Empowering Effective Teachers initiative.

National Education Leaders

Hail Hillsborough Model

The collaborative partnership between Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) and the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association (CTA) brought national recognition recently to the District’s groundbreaking efforts to improve teacher quality. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and local education leaders at the Rampello Downtown Partnership School in Tampa to discuss ways to replicate Hillsborough’s success across the country.

“Hillsborough is at the forefront of this national movement to improve the quality of instruction our students receive,” said Duncan about HCPS’ successful relationship with CTA. “Teachers want to be heard and rewarded for results, and by working together you’re achieving results.”

On hand for the roundtable discussion with national leaders were HCPS Superintendent MaryEllen Elia, CTA President Jean Clements, Hillsborough County Council Parent Teacher Association President Melissa Erickson and area teachers.

Elia expressed to the crowd that change isn’t easy, but stressed that it’s imperative all parties work together for the sake of our students. “Collaboration is something you have to work at—it’s like a marriage in that sense, she noted. “We (CTA and HCPS) don’t agree on everything, but we work out our differences because we care.”

Clements said that changes to the new teacher evaluation system are moving along, but not set in stone. “It will require an ongoing commitment to listen and work together,” she emphasized. “For the sake of our students, it’s imperative that we have a system that supports teachers with feedback, mentoring and professional development.” She also added that the District has been focused on student achievement for a long time, and because a culture that puts students first is already in place, greater trust is generated.

National union chiefs also praised the District’s ability to receive direct feedback from teachers, which will ensure that lasting change is possible. In a press conference that followed the roundtable discussion, Weingarten said, “How do we accelerate this rate of change? We transform all our schools into places that help kids be ready for the knowledge economy, and that’s what Hillsborough is teaching us. And the way they are teaching us is through a collaborative, not combative model.”

Teacher Amanda Newman explained to officials that as a teacher, she can confirm that District leaders are truly listening. “I’ve been invited to meetings before EET came about, and I’ve been working with everyone since the grant was awarded,” she noted. “This has been a very powerful message to teachers.”

While the District is in the beginning stages of a seven-year implementation, one thing is clear—national officials have taken notice of Hillsborough County’s groundbreaking work. Commenting on the successful working relationship between leaders of HCPS and CTA, Duncan quipped, “If I could clone you two I would, so I could go retire in the Bahamas.”

About EET go...

Community Leaders Champion the

Cause of Teacher Effectiveness go...

Hillsborough Education Foundation

Keeps Community Leaders Engaged go...

National Education Leaders Hail

Hillsborough Model go...

Feedback

Tell Us What You Think

Please send questions, comments or ideas to us at greatteachers@sdhc.k12.fl.us

Milestones

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Previous Issues

Fall 2010
Summer 2010

Teacher Profiles:

Perspectives from a Hillsborough Peer Evaluator and Teacher

Dawn Grossman, Peer Evaluator

As a peer evaluator, Dawn Grossman visits a wide variety of classrooms every day. Throughout her travels around the District, she’s noticed one common thread running through every classroom—the amount of positive change she’s witnessed already this school year.

“It’s been quite incredible to see classroom instruction improve so quickly and drastically,” Dawn said. She chalks up the improvements to the new evaluation systems the District is employing for the first time this year.

“Yes, at first many teachers are nervous about the new evaluation process, but throughout this school year so many teachers have taken the reflection and turned it around, and said how that evaluation has positively impacted instruction,” she explained. “It’s been a really inspiring experience.” By offering advice about preferred methods of teaching, or best practices, Dawn has tried to make the entire process a very approachable one.

“In years past, there wasn’t much of an opportunity for dialogue or to celebrate the great things that were happening in classrooms,” she noted. “With the new system, there is now a process in place to let teachers hear directly from leadership about the great work they do each and every day. While some educators require a bit more constructive feedback, nearly everyone agrees this process will lead to increased learning opportunities for all students.”

Greta Woolley, Elementary School Teacher

Despite some initial apprehension about the new evaluation system, the teachers at Essrig Elementary are determined to put a positive twist on the changes. Led by Greta Woolley, more than 20 teachers set aside time to meet every Monday to form a professional learning community. They are dedicated to supporting the new framework for teacher observations this year and dub themselves the “E” team, which stands for “EXcited Educators Mentoring Peers Lending Action to Reflections Yielding” progress.

“The vision for this program is to be a positive meeting of teachers who utilize the information gained through their observations and post-observation conferences to enhance and increase student performance,” said Greta. “I’m excited to say that we’ve done just that.”

As a result of the “E” team, teachers at Essrig are openly sharing their observations and feedback, Greta explained. They’re also sharing new and innovative teaching methods, and helping one another refine assessments and plan future instruction. Groups also are collaborating on ways to customize instruction to meet the individual needs of Essrig students so each child has access to the best education possible.

Greta added, “We’re looking forward to seeing where this new model of continuous improvement will take us!”

About EET go...

Community Leaders Champion the

Cause of Teacher Effectiveness go...

Hillsborough Education Foundation

Keeps Community Leaders Engaged go...

National Education Leaders Hail

Hillsborough Model go...

Teacher Profiles

Perspectives from a Hillsborough Peer Evaluator and Teacher go...

Feedback

Tell Us What You Think

Please send questions, comments or ideas to us at greatteachers@sdhc.k12.fl.us

Previous Issues

Fall 2010
Summer 2010

Milestones

Coming Up

• 2010-2011—New evaluation system goes into effect incorporating input from peers/mentors and principals, plus student achievement data.

• 2011-2012—Revised exams will be constructed to measure student learning gains.

• 2012-2013—New bonuses roll out for teachers who show success in raising the achievement levels of high-needs students.

• 2013-2014—New career ladder and performance-based compensation go into effect, after completion of three evaluation cycles under the new system.

Want more details about Empowering Effective Teachers? Visit http://communication.sdhc.k12.fl.us/empoweringteachers/
for the most up-to-date information.