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COMMUNIQUÉ A PUBLICATION OF THE IOWA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION – OCT/NOV 2011 – Vol. 49, No. 2 ISEA Executive Board talks blueprint details with Glass and Fandel On October 15, the ISEA Executive Board met with Jason Glass, director of the Iowa Department of Education, and Linda Fandel, the Governor's special assistant for education, to ask questions about the Governor's blueprint for education transformation. The conversation lasted for two hours. Here are a few of the topics discussed and responses from Fandel and Glass on the issues. Preschool Fandel: I have two things to say about preschool. One is that we do intend to keep voluntary preschool going for four-year-olds. The second piece is that as we work to help more children read proficiently at least at a basic level by third grade, we need to reach further down into early childhood education to make sure that we are giving kids the pre-literacy skills they need. Four-year voluntary preschool is in place, we have no plans to change anything about that. Teacher Rights Glass: Everyone in this state and everyone around the country has the right to job protections from punitive employment decisions based on constitutionally protected status issues. So there is nothing in this that removes any constitutional rights, or any rights to protections from discriminatory employment practices. The blueprint certainly does contain elements to make employment decisions based on performance-related issues. So if someone is an ineffective educator there is no appeal to the state Supreme Court that would put teaching in line with the rest of the employment practices in the state. There is still due process. Due process means notice, hearing, and an independent review. This is not about trying to remove due process access for educators, but it is about trying to make the dismissal process for the small number of ineffective educators we have more efficient than it is now. Evaluation Fandel: What we're trying to do with the evaluation system is give teachers more feedback, better support, require teachers to be more policing of your own profession, and have much more responsibility for what happens. ISEA Executive Board meeting October, 15, 2011 We're going to ask teachers to be part of committees to help figure out what makes the most sense. You know right now in most school districts most teachers get a satisfactory evaluation. I've looked at evaluation forms from different districts they're fairly similar. Some principals do a lot more to provide feedback, some do a lot less. What we want to do is create a more discerning evaluation that helps teachers distinguish how they can be more effective from less effective. That's the goal. There are relatively few poor teachers, there are lots of teachers who are just doing okay, there are many teachers who are doing great. There's a mix. What we want to do is lift the whole boat. Getting rid of teachers has not been part of the conversation. We don't want, like you, to have 3 IN THIS ISSUE OPINION Find out what's been happening with education reform. 6 teachers who aren't doing a good job, staying on the job if they are not improving with observation and coaching. It's creating a better system of support— that's the goal. What we want is a system that supports strong evaluations that help teachers improve their craft and their art. That's what we're after. Glass: The evaluation system that we have here in Iowa is better than in most other states, but it's 10 years old. Is it up-to-date as far as what we know great teaching is today? I think we have room to improve in this area. Our thinking about what good teaching is has evolved since the late 1990s and our evaluation system should as well. The evaluation system should have a continuum of performance from an ineffective level to a professional level to an exceptional level along with a set of supports to show educators 'here is where you are and here are the cont.' on page 8 OUTREACH TO TEACH Follow the photo essay. 11 LEGAL Sexting