Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/85591
ACTION ACCOUNTABILITY Education accountability is a topic at the forefront of Wyoming thought, as it is nationwide. Wyoming's Select Committee on Statewide Education Accountability, the Advisory Committee to the Select Committee, and an Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Statewide Systems of Support have all been busily reviewing a growing body of national work and then meeting on a frequent basis to devise recommendations to go the Joint Education Committee (JEC) and the full Legislature. The Advisory Committee and the Ad Hoc Subcommittee are composed of Wyoming stakeholders with an interest in education, including Advisory Committee teacher representatives Jack Patrick of Carbon #2 (also a WEA member) and Molly Kinsey of Sheridan #2. The Select Committee and JEC are comprised of legislators. The Select Committee has directed the Advisory Committee to make recommendations regarding the development of a state model system for accountability and for teacher and leader evaluation that have commonalities across schools and districts, but also allow for some local flexibility. The emphasis is on creating a coherent system that focuses on building quality educational organizations, instead of focusing solely on individual educator evaluations. There was much emphasis in one of the meetings on theories of "total quality improvement." The Select Committee passed a motion in July made by Senator Phil Nicholas of Laramie that the system being created should recognize that every teacher is an asset and a significant investment, and that the system should make every effort (using existing resources such as mentoring) to improve teachers' abilities; but that once a poorly-performing teacher or principal is identified and that person is either unwilling or unable to improve, the system should allow for action to be taken quickly to counsel the teacher out of the profession, thus ensuring that students do not lose ground. Changes to the current educator evaluation systems mandated by Chapter 29 will be necessary, primarily to include student performance results in teacher and leader evaluations. But exactly in what manner and to what extent those results will be used is yet to be determined. The Advisory Committee has requested an inventory of how districts are currently incorporating that requirement in their evaluation systems, in hopes of avoiding duplication of effort and unnecessary changes to existing systems that districts worked hard to create. The work done to date indicates that the Advisory Committee is putting the emphasis on increasing student learning; promoting meaningful professional growth of educators; continuous improvement; and the need for a system designed and implemented with integrity and coherence that allows a degree of local flexibility. Such an evaluation system, according to the expert contractor working with the various committees, Dr. Scott Marion, "includes measures of professional practice and student performance results." He provides more detail, specifying 16 BACK TO SCHOOL 2012 | WEAnews