This past Tuesday (March 2nd, 2010), Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation published a survey including responses from some 40,000 public school teachers in America. Their goal? Place teachers’ thoughts on the forefront in the discussions on education reform.
Five broad themes resonated from the survey, as reported in the official press release:
“The survey, which was conducted by phone and on the web from mid-March to mid-June 2009, identifies five solutions to address the challenges facing schools today and to help ensure that all students achieve at their highest levels:
- Establish Clear Standards, Common Across States
- Use Multiple Measures to Evaluate Student Performance
- Innovate to Reach Today’s Students
- Accurately Measure Teacher Performance and Provide Non-Monetary Rewards
- Bridge School & Home to Raise Student Achievement”
Source: Scholastic Press Release
Complete Survey Downloads
As a content-based education provider, we feel it is our responsibility to also engage this discussion. Often we consider the needs of school teachers and administrators while developing new programs and have received great feedback from school-based professionals to further enhance our offerings. With a true educational interest in our national school systems, we are looking at new ways to help drive more resources into the hands teachers and administrators.
Of the above, we feel our programs help meet the need for innovation (#3) by providing new methods and research to teachers and administrators. Our instructors, as active professionals in their fields, constantly adjust the information they present to include anything new and useful. The speed of which information can be disbursed via our educational seminars, we feel, is far greater than text books, publications or yearly conferences.
Your comments are very much appreciated:
- What are your thoughts on education reform and this latest, and largest-ever, survey?
- And how do you feel Summit Professional Education should approach serving this very important need in America?
“Innovate to Reach Today’s Students”
Innovation in teacher preparation for teachers K- 3rd grade is crucial in order to effect any meaningful change in educational outcomes. The teaching profession can no longer be a fallback position for adults who can’t make it in their chosen field. Acceptance into a credential program should require personality testing (i.e. Meyer/Briggs) as one indicator of a qualifier for admittance. Any credential applicant must be assessed as to possessing an innate ability to work with children. The credential training program must emphasize individualizing instruction within each age group to maximize learning and positive development of self-esteem for each student in care.