Learning from the Experts: Teacher Leaders on Solving America's Education Challenges

Learning from the Experts offers an intimate look at the ways education policies collide with everyday classroom practices and illustrates how thoughtful, solutions-oriented and results-driven teachers are reframing debates in education today. Early career teachers now make up a “new majority” (52 percent) of the workforce. Their ideas about the profession are often radically different from the previous generation’s but are not often heard in education reform. Learning from the Experts draws on the work of the nonprofit organisation Teach Plus to address this divide. In this lively collection, emerging teacher leaders in dialogue with seasoned leaders weigh in on the most difficult challenges in education today. Topics include the appropriate use of data, teacher effectiveness, retaining talented teachers in high-needs schools, reforming teacher unions, supporting teacher leadership, and strengthening the teaching profession itself.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction Who Are the Real Experts?--Why We Should Ask Teachers How to Fix Our Schools 1 Celine Coggins 1 Creating and Using Data in Schools Framing the Issue 5 Ross Wiener The Qualified Student: A "Bad Teacher" Rethinks Data Use 7 Sujata Bhatt Unacknowledged Truths: Testing Speaks--Are We Listening? 10 Michelle Morrissey The Right Conversations to Be Having: Why Student Growth Data Matters 13 Kyle Hunsberger Response 16 Ross Wiener 2 Ensuring Equitable Access to Great Teachers Framing the Issue 21 Kati Haycock and Sarah Almy Moving the Whole School District Forward: Talented Teachers for Turnaround Schools 24 Erin Dukeshire and Lisa Goncalves Lavin Response 36 Kati Haycock and Sarah Almy 3 Measuring Teacher Effectiveness Framing the Issue 39 Jason Kamras Satisfactory? Me?--Giving New Teachers the Support They Deserve 41 Stephanie Widmer High IMPACT: It's the Feedback That Adds Value 43 Dwight Davis Urgency Breeds Anxiety: The Challenge of Building Teacher Trust 46 Peter Tang Response 53 Jason Kamras 4 Building a Performance-Driven Profession Framing the Issue 55 Celine Coggins and Lindsay Sobel From the New Teacher to Teacher Activist: What I Learned from "Mr. Miller" 58 Tina C. Ahlgren Leaving Cherie: One Teacher's Experience of Last In, FIrst Out 62 Jeanette Marrone Response 66 Celine Coggins and Lindsay Sobel 5 Engaging Early Career Teachers in the Union Framing the Issue 69 Paul Toner From the Classroom to the Big Picture: Why I Changed My Mind About Teacher Unions 72 Karen L. McCarthy Caught in the Middle Versus Finding the Middle Ground: What's Best for the Children of Chicago? 79 Gina Caneva Response 83 Paul Toner 6 Building School Leadership That Facilitates Great Teaching Framing the Issue 87 Benjamin Fenton and Terrence Kneisel I Wasn't Ready to Stop Improving: Why Irreplaceable Teachers Need Irreplaceable Leaders 89 Allison Frieze Putting My Beliefs into Practice: Principal Leadership Makes the Difference 92 Audrey Herzig Jackson Honoring My Mother: The Evolution of an Unlikely Educator 94 Jeremy Robinson Response 99 Benjamin Fenton and Terrence Kneisel 7 Raising the Status of the Profession Framing the Issue 105 Edward Liu Reforming Teacher Entry and Training: Shouldn't We Hold Teachers (Like Me) to a Higher Standard? 108 Meaghan Petersack Not My Parents' Profession: Today's Teachers Need Career Ladders 111 Erin Dukeshire Too Smart to Be a Teacher?--Let's Prove My Grandmother Wrong 114 Jaime Siebrase Hudgins Response 120 Edward Liu Conclusion Where Do We Go from Here?--Turning Teacher Voice into Action 125 Notes 129 About the Editors 135 About the Contributors 137 Index 151

About the Author :
Celine Coggins is the founder and CEO of Teach Plus. Heather G. Peske is the associate commissioner for educator quality at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, USA. She previously worked as the vice president of programmes at Teach Plus. Kate McGovern is the communications manager at Teach Plus.

Review :
"What is most striking about these stories is their genuine call-to-action narrative: Having been identified as highly effective teachers, these men and women know exactly how much of a difference putting the right teacher in the right classroom can make. All education stakeholders would be wise to learn from these experts." -- Singer Crawford, Fordham Institute