Teacher Working Conditions and Professional Development

What working conditions matter (or mattered) to you the most in your current or most recent job? If possible, differentiate between positive, motivating factors (in other words, things that made you happy about and excited to do your job) and negative, de-motivating factors (in other words, things that made you not enjoy going to work and doing your job). Some research suggests that working conditions do not necessarily fit into both categories (for example, money is often a de-motivating factor, and less often a motivating factor).

In addition, what are specific examples of steps that you have seen effective principals (or executives in a non-school environment) take to improve working conditions in a school or non-school organization?

Human Resources

Hiring effective teachers is critically important. What two or three characteristics/qualities do you believe are most important to look for when hiring a classroom teacher? If you wish to differentiate between different types of teachers (e.g., elementary vs. middle vs. high, electives vs. core) in your answer, please feel free.

Professional Learning Communities

Based on your own experiences working in collaborative situations (whether an official "PLC" or not), what is a major challenge that you found to making collaboration happen successfully? What steps could an administrator take to address this challenge?

School Improvement Planning and Data

"The real strength in using a data driven decision making process for school improvement is that numbers are objective. The data just don't lie."

Do you agree or disagree with the statement above? Why?

Thinking about technology

Much is made these days of "21st century learners", "21st century skills", and "21st century classrooms". Invariably, technology -- and the use of technology in classrooms by students and teachers -- is an assumed component of these 21st century phenomena. But does technology really make a difference in teaching and learning? Has the use of technology in classrooms led to improved teaching and learning? Is a 21st century education that different from a 20th century education?

Post your thoughts on the role and importance of technology in K-12 education. If you would like a preview of our speaker for next week, Adam Garry, check out this interview he did recently. Adam is the Manager of Global Professional Learning for Dell, and will be giving you his take on what a 21st century education means when we meet next.

The changing legislative landscape

In the article "The End of the Education Debate", Checker Finn makes the following statement:

"The education-reform debate as we have known it for a generation is creaking to a halt. No new way of thinking has emerged to displace those that have preoccupied reformers for a quarter- century — but the defining ideas of our current wave of reform ( standards, testing, and choice), and the conceptual framework built around them, are clearly outliving their usefulness.

The problem is not that these ideas are misguided. Rather, they are just not powerful enough to force the rusty infrastructure of American primary and secondary education to undergo meaningful change. They have failed at bringing about the reformers' most important goal: dramatically improved student achievement.

The next wave of education policy will therefore need to direct itself toward even more fundamental questions, challenging long-held assumptions about how education is managed, funded, designed, and overseen."

I have two questions (you could answer both in the same comment, answer one and ignore the other, or write two separate comments). The first is: Do you agree with Checker Finn's statement that the primary external reforms of the last quarter-century (standards, testing, and reform) have outlived their usefulness? Why or why not?

The second question is: What external reform do you think will have the largest impact on public education over the next quarter-century? Why?

Mission, vision, values, and change

Are clear and compelling mission and vision statements necessary for an organization (school, business, non-profit) to be highly successful? Why or why not? If possible, cite non-anecdotal evidence to support your position.