The School Bell
As I sat in a doctor’s office last week I picked up a medical magazine (Discoveries Winter 2012) and just happened to stumble across an article entitled,The Power of Happen Stance, by Karrie Jacobs. The article focused on how great ideas emerge from great conversations and that more dialogue should be encouraged in medicine. The specialties and subspecialties in medicine (neurologist, cardiologist, podiatrist, etc…) seldom engage in dialogue or collaborate. Cedars-Sinai, a medical center in Los Angeles, CA, has found that such collaboration and dialogue may end up being far more valuable and save many more lives than the millions of dollars spent on state-of-the-art technology.
I couldn’t help but make a direct connection about the power of collaboration in medicine to the power of collaboration in education. Just as doctors are finding that providing the opportunity to discuss their work in informal settings results in spontaneous creativity and the natural sharing of insights and ideas, so teachers find that face-to-face encounters and informal discussions can lead to major breakthroughs in regard to better teaching methods and ways to assist students in reaching higher levels of achievement.
Last Wednesday, February 1, the teachers in the Tomah School District participated in their sixth collaboration afternoon of this school year. They took time to assess their accomplishments from first semester and came together as a staff to learn about the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts and Math. There are many new initiatives being rolled out by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction which all tie together and which will hopefully result in a flexibility waiver of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), more commonly known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. These initiatives, including full implementation of the CCSS, are focused on increasing expectations that ensure Wisconsin graduates are prepared for success in college and career. Proficiency on the CCSS will be measured by new assessment systems being developed by the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium. The new assessments which will be field-tested in 2013-14 will replace the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE). These state assessments will move from fall to spring, and will be given in grades 3-8 and 11. The assessments will be taken online and will include end-of-year tests, as well as benchmarking of student progress throughout the year. The proficiency level on the SMARTER test will be benchmarked against national and international standards making them significantly more rigorous. The Wisconsin Framework for Educator Effectiveness has also been developed to ensure a system of continuous improvement of educator practice that leads to improved student learning.
With all these changes, teacher collaboration time is more important than ever. Working together, sharing best practice, learning from one another, and growing professionally becomes a necessity if educators are to meet student needs and provide a quality 21stcentury education. Preparing every child for success in college and career is an immense, yet worthy, undertaking. The public education system in the United States is the only educational system in the world pursuing such an endeavor. Our teachers are up to the challenge of this task, but they need the time for dialogue and collaboration so that they can best prepare all students for success in college and career. Teachers may not diagnose an illness, prescribe medicine or perform surgery, but they save lives every day by providing rigorous and relevant educational experiences which can prevent our children from living in poverty, from being incarcerated, or from suffering an early death. We must ensure we give our teachers the essential and necessary resources to do their job and collaboration time is one such resource.
If you have any questions or comments about the information and opinions expressed in this edition ofThe School Bell, please contact Cindy Zahrte, District Administrator, at cindyz@tomah.k12.wi.us or 374-7002.