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17 Theory Into Practice, 49:175–184, 2010 Copyright © The College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University ISSN: 0040-5841 print/1543-0421 online DOI: 10.1080/00405841.2010.487751 Sabrina Hope King Audra Watson Teaching Excellence for All Our Students Education has the power to change the world. We wrote this article in the spirit of the hope embodied by the election of President Obama and the critical need for improved teaching to benefit all the nation’s students. This article offers a syn- thesis of the characteristics of excellent teaching for the diverse student population. This article offers a definition of accomplished teaching and explores the need for teacher accountability for student achievement and empowerment, belief in Sabrina Hope King is the Chief Academic Officer for Teaching and Learning and Audra Watson is the former Executive Director of Teacher Development in the Talent Office, both at the New York City Department of Education. Correspondence should be addressed to Sabrina Hope King, Chief Academic Officer, Curriculum, Standards and Academic Engagement, NYC Depart- ment of Education, 52 Chambers Street, Room 209, New York, NY 10007. E-mail: sk i ng43 @ schoo l s . n yc . gov The opinions are solely of the authors and not the opinions of the New York City Department of Education.

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Theory Into Practice, 49:175–184, 2010Copyright © The College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State UniversityISSN: 0040-5841 print/1543-0421 onlineDOI: 10.1080/00405841.2010.487751

Sabrina Hope KingAudra Watson

Teaching Excellence forAll Our Students

Education has the power to change the world. We wrote this article in the spirit of the hope embodied by the election of President Obama and the critical need for improved teaching to benefit all the nation’s students. This article offers a syn- thesis of the characteristics of excellent teaching for the diverse student population. This article offers a definition of accomplished teaching and explores the need for teacher accountability for student achievement and empowerment, belief in

Sabrina Hope King is the Chief Academic Officer for Teaching and Learning and Audra Watson is the former Executive Director of Teacher Development in the Talent Office, both at the New York City Department of Education.

Correspondence should be addressed to Sabrina Hope King, Chief Academic Officer, Curriculum, Standards and Academic Engagement, NYC Depart- ment of Education, 52 Chambers Street, Room 209, New York, NY 10007. E-mail: sk i ng43 @ schoo l s . n yc . gov

The opinions are solely of the authors and not

the opinions of the New York City Department of Education.

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176

E

teaching excellence and the potential of each student, the use of a theory of learning and intelligence, content expertise and the ability to connect to students’ lived experiences, and a particular pedagogical expertise that uses effort to build confidence and learning success. The article concludes by offering concrete strategies to realize these principles. The need to invest in shared learning about accomplished teaching and our diverse student population, the need to empower students and families and the need to communicate and affirm the work of accom- plished teachers are emphasized.

DUCATION HAS THE POWER TO CHANGE

the world.As we embrace the hope embodied in Pres-

ident Barack Hussein Obama, the opportunity to truly transform the educational experience of thousands of children across this country appears well within our grasp. If we can build upon the momentum of President Obama’s educational

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King and Watson Teaching Excellence for All Our Students

vision, children who have been consistently de- nied the opportunity of a world-class education may have the access they need to world-class academic standards, curricula that foster critical thinking, problem solving, and the innovative use of knowledge; post-secondary study or gainful employment; and, most important, to the accom- plished teachers and excellent teaching needed to make this possible.

Freire (1996) understood the need to use hope as a lever for improved education. He viewed hope as a fundamental human need and seemed to caution against separating hope from the struggle to transform circumstances. All who are involved in public education need to believe and work to improve the educational circumstances of all students and must maintain hopefulness while struggling to ensure this outcome. The enduring achievement gap, proficiency gap, and inequity in educational options and outcomes in this coun- try mean that we need to continually redefine, globally and within the context of each school community, what we mean by all. All includes: students of every ethnic, religious, cultural, and linguistic background, socioeconomic status, and family configuration; students from every zip code, including communities with a history of successful public schools and communities where few choices still remain; students who perform below, at, or above grade level; students with formally interrupted education; students who test into gifted and talented programs and those who have never had the opportunity to participate in a rigorous applied learning; students whose lives outside of school include the challenges of violence, limited access to quality health care, and poor nutritional options, and those who are privileged; those students who exhibit motivation and drive and those who need to be convinced of the relevance of education.

The need for the nation to invest heavily in teaching excellence for all students is clear, particularly because studies show that the earning power of a high school diploma is diminishing (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009), making it difficult to succeed with only that credential in the 21st century economy. More- over, year-after-year

international and national exams such as Program for International Student

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Accomplished Teaching as a Professional Resource

Assessment (PISA) and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show a widening performance gap (Common Core, 2009; Mc- Kinsey & Co., 2009; National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2008). If we are serious about transforming education, we will not be successful unless we can define, communicate, and hold educators accountable for the practice of excellent teaching.

Over the years, many have sought to describe excellent or accomplished teaching practice, and their work offers useful guidance. Linda Darling- Hammond, Robert Marzano, Charlotte Daniel- son, Gloria Ladson-Billings, Jacqueline Jordan- Irvine, Karen Zumwalt, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2007), Teach For America (n.d.), and the New Teacher Center have all undertaken the task of defining excellent teaching and have provided important exemplars. There are also extant examples from schools and school districts nationally and internationally that demonstrate accomplished teaching for all students.

What specifically comes to mind are the ex-plicitly codified teaching practices entrenched in schools run by KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program), Uncommon, and Achievement First; each organization has almost a decade’s worth of success with teaching students with whom others have had little success.

We, too, enter this discussion with a wealth of experience as successful teachers of diverse student populations and as educational leaders committed to excellent teaching and learning opportunities for all. Between us, we have taught in alternative programs for youth placed at risk, middle and high schools both large and small, university teacher preparation programs, and ur- ban teaching and leadership doctoral programs in New York and Chicago. We have led teacher and principal preparation programs and initiatives designed to prepare, induct, develop, and retain both teachers and principals as instructional lead- ers and we have spearheaded teacher develop- ment and curriculum and teaching initiatives at the New York City Department of Education. We have, indeed, witnessed and participated in the development of an ever increasing knowledge base on accomplished teaching. However, our

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experience as educators, collectively spanning the time period from 1983 until the present, suggests that the best of what we know about excellent teaching and the work of highly ef- fective, accomplished teachers does not reach or has not fully penetrated into the schools and school communities with the students who need the most, students who have tradition- ally been underserved by schools, and students who fall within all of the categories previously listed.

In this article, we offer our synthesis, grounded deeply in our practitioner perspectives and simultaneously informed by what others offer in this regard on the characteristics of excellent teaching, for an ever increasingly di- verse American student population. Moreover, we seek to “unveil the opportunities for hope no matter what the obstacles may be” (Freire, 1996, p. 3) so that each reader, in their respective role, may accelerate our collective work to provide excellent teaching and accomplished teachers for each and every one of our nation’s students.

Defining Accomplished Teaching

Accomplished teaching is an art and a science, requiring commitment, persistence, consistency, creativity, support, as well as effective and col- lective effort. Art is the process of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions, while using skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences. Art has also been defined as the product of human creativity, the creation of beautiful or significant work. It re- flects a superior skill that one can learn by study, practice, and observation. Science is a systematic process of inquiry into the nature of the natural and social world. It produces knowledge, attained through study or practice, covering general laws and useful models of reality. Science is also defined as any systematic knowledge base or pre- scriptive practice that results in a prediction or a predictable type of

outcome. Although not a new revelation, we hope teachers will contemplate and embrace both the opportunity and challenge that this vocation offers.

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Working as both artists and scientists, ac- complished teachers ground their practice in the content of the discipline and the curriculum, their own inquiry into the developmental needs of their student population, and in a repertoire of teaching strategies that integrate the systematic and the creative, to result in observable, tangible, useful, and, at times, beautiful products of learning. Within this context, we posit that teaching excel- lence for all students is guided by five principles: (a) accountability for student achievement and empowerment; (b) a belief in the power and the intersection of accomplished teaching and the unlimited potential of each student; (c) the use of a theory of learning to guide accom- plished teaching practice and student learning; (d) content expertise and the ability to connect content to students’ lived experiences in and out of school and; (e) expertise in pedagogy that builds confidence, affirms effort, and uses data to guide a step-by-step, personalized teaching and learning process.

Accountability for Student Achievement and Empowerment

Accomplished teachers are knowledgeable about, and are committed to reversing, the educa- tional inequity that persists in the United States (National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2008). They realize the connection between their own practice and each student’s success, and understand that they are responsible for student achievement within the four walls of the classroom. They do not place blame on factors beyond the teachers’ or students’ control (Corbett, Wilson, & Williams, 2002). They do not attribute students’ performance— or the effectiveness of their own teaching—to poverty, uninvolved parents, single parent fami- lies, violence, gang affiliation, limited resources, visionless or ineffective school leadership, union guidelines, ineffective or incomplete curricula, a lack of meaningful professional development, limited student motivation, students’ proficiency with English, students’ current achievement level and prior knowledge, or students’ mental ca- pacity at birth, with an inability to reach and

teach each student. Despite the many factors that

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pose challenges to teaching and learning, accom- plished teachers acknowledge the challenge, yet seek student strengths and never excuse limited student achievement.

Accomplished teachers hold themselves—and their students—accountable for the joint enter- prise of acquiring a strong and meaningful ed- ucation. They set objectives for student learning and assess whether or not these objectives are achieved daily. They clearly articulate these ob- jectives to their students and enlist students as partners and owners of their learning. Accom- plished teachers advocate for the resources and supports needed to ensure student achievement and encourage their students to do the same. Although it is clear that the characteristics of excellent teaching are deeply interconnected, if we attempt to parse this particular principle from others we delineate here, we can see evidence of what Teach for America has deemed “setting an ambitious vision of student academic success” (Teachforamerica.org). Accomplished teachers, as identified by Teach for America, are those teachers who relentlessly pursue the goal of making a year or more of academic progress for every child in their class in a single school year. These teachers hold themselves account- able for improved student achievement and do anything and everything necessary to ensure that they narrow the achievement gap and enable students to meet challenging learning goals. They consistently monitor student progress and dili- gently plan subsequent instructional steps. In short, they understand that what they do daily has tremendous power to affect students’ life choices.

Belief in Teaching Excellence and thePotential of Each Student

Teachers’ ability to take responsibility for their students’ learning rests on a base set of beliefs about their students and themselves. Na- tional Board Certified Teachers have mastered the first of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standard’s (NBPTS, 2002) five core propositions; specifically, they are committed to

students and their learning. These teachers are ex- pected to believe and embody the notion that all

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students can learn. Moreover, they understand the inextricable link between education, survival, and success in life. They are committed to developing the capacity to make an enormous difference in the lives of students who might otherwise be written off by way of low expectations. The evidence of the impact of excellent teachers on student outcomes is borne out in studies that have shown the correlation between effective teaching and student outcomes whereby higher performing teachers are able to improve student learning by an additional grade level. That is, “a good teacher will get a gain of one and a half grade-level equivalents, whereas a bad teacher will get a gain of only half a year for a single academic year” (Hanushek, 2002, p. 3). That accomplished teachers can significantly improve student outcomes is most frequently cited in the literature about the achievement gap. “If the effects were to accumulate, having a top-quartile teacher rather than a bottom quartile teacher four years in a row would be enough to close the black-white test score gap” (Gordon, Kane, & Staiger, 2006, p. 8).

Accomplished teachers embrace and express the goal of college readiness and the expec- tation of high school graduation and college success for each and every student beginning in prekindergarten. As such, the expectation of college readiness guides them to articulate com- mon standards and expectations for all students, while simultaneously differentiating instruction based on a student’s current achievement level (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). Accomplished teachers believe in the growth of the intellect and talent (their students’ and their own) and they are fascinated with the process of learning (Dweck,1999).

Use of a Theory of Learning andIntelligence

Beliefs in the capacity of students and their ability to be taught rest, in large measure, on clear theories of learning and intelligence. Typically, accomplished teachers embrace an effort-based conception of intelligence, rather

than one that presumes innate, predetermined, and fixed capac- ities of learning (Resnick, 1995). These teachers

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also purposefully employ a theory of learning to guide their practice. Accomplished teachers instill in the learner and all relevant stakeholders (teacher colleagues, family, and other potential advocates) a belief in the potential of each learner. Such a belief is framed by deep under- standings of how students learn and the specific processes involved in learning within a particular grade or curriculum. The student and his or her advocates may have to be convinced and this can be done by developing a student’s own belief in the possibility of his or her achievement by working hard and through evidence of students’ own progress and explicit discussions of how intelligence is developed.

Accomplished teachers are skillfully able to affirm students’ prior knowledge, daily progress, and effort so that students are motivated to keep trying, to set reasonable goals, and to envision short-term and long-term achievement as possible and necessary outcomes. In this respect, their practice must rest on a clear and strong theory of learning and of intelligence. There are many such theories, including Constructivist Learning theory, and Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intel- ligences. One such model, the Efficacy Model of Development, rooted in the work of Social Learning theorists like Bandura (1986) provided a practical teaching philosophy for one author mid-way through her teaching career. This model posits that intelligence is not innate and can absolutely be learned. The first building block in learning is a belief that one can learn. If a student does not believe he or she can learn, it is unlikely that he or she will put forth much effort. Once students possess confidence, they can then exert the effort needed to strategize and plan for learning. If the strategy or lesson does not produce the desired outcome, the teacher and the student assess the work, looking for areas of understanding as well as gaps in knowledge. Using this information, they must then employ an alternate strategy or plan. With confidence, feedback, and the goal of mastery (development or intelligence) for each student, effort can lead to development and increased aptitude. Dweck

(1999) noted that when teachers overemphasize performance goals, students are unlikely to risk moving beyond their zones of competence, and

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are more likely to assume they lack innate ability if things go wrong. They are more likely to worry far too much about their ability and not enough about strategies that must be employed. As the pressure mounts, if they cannot look smart, noth- ing matters more than avoiding looking dumb, and this can consume much time and energy, simultaneously creating a downward spiral of self-recrimination, vulnerability, and victimhood (Dweck, 1999).

Accomplished teachers create learning envi- ronments in which students are highly motivated and feel supported in learning new concepts and ideas, and theorists have begun to describe what such motivating environments might entail, especially for student population (e.g., Ginsberg,2005). The National Board’s core propositions again provide a relevant framework for thinking about this principle. Teachers who have met this high bar for teaching practice employ a theory of learning in which they make sure learning en- vironments are inclusive, offer relevant academic tasks and learning experiences, engage students in challenging work and supportive relationships, and ensure competency—by providing students with the skills, abilities, and requisite feedback on their planning for successful learning out- comes.

Content Expertise and the Ability to Connect Content to Students’ Lived Experiences

Accomplished teachers have a strong curric- ular vision, rooted in knowledge of the subject matter to be taught and in the ways learners can connect with the subject matter. In this respect, they have outstanding pedagogical con- tent knowledge as well as a strong knowledge base on culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson- Billings, 1994). On the one hand, they understand there are clearly delineated bodies of knowledge with accompanying performance standards and they are capable of supporting and situating student achievement within district, state, and national standards. They understand that there are inquiry processes and habits of mind guid- ing expert practitioners within each discipline. They seek to impart

to students the essential

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understandings of the discipline. These teachers understand and organize subject matter to fa- cilitate student understanding of central themes, concepts, and skills in the subject area. On the other hand, they also understand that, despite the depth of their content knowledge, they must access a wide variety of pedagogical strategies in order to share that knowledge. Accomplished teachers understand that comprehension is not enough; instead, students must be given multi- ple opportunities to use new content knowledge and then opportunities to demonstrate mastery through authentic learning experiences and real- world applications.

Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (1996,2007), the New Teacher Center’s Continuum of Teacher Development (New Teacher Center,1992, 2004), and Marzano’s Framework for Ef- fective Instruction (2007) thoroughly delineate the ways in which accomplished teachers are able to plan and implement lessons that at once demonstrate knowledge of content, knowledge of learners’ characteristics, and knowledge of their ability to engage and support learners with a varying instructional needs. Marzano, in par- ticular, uses the research base to identify the teaching practices employed by excellent teach- ers, including, among others: promoting physical movement, stimulating on-task behavior using high-energy activities, and challenging student thinking using controversy and competition. All three teaching frameworks provide outstanding illustrations of how the most effective teachers are able to connect content to students’ lived experiences. They own the responsibility for student learning even as they realize that they may need to bring others in to help them create meaningful and engaging learning experiences in support of student learning. They are able to draw from a vast array of culturally relevant teaching practices to further support student engagement and understanding.

Expertise in Pedagogy That Uses Effort toBuild Confidence and Learning Success

Each of the frameworks that we have used to inform our own conceptualization of excellent

teaching has embedded within it a rigorous atten- tion to data about student needs and achievement to inform and support reflective practice. In each instance, accomplished teachers have systems in place to continuously capture data and use that data to determine interventions and to reflect on their next steps. They differentiate instruc- tion based on a comprehensive assessment of a student’s academic history, preferred learning styles, learning challenges, and interests inside and outside of schools and an ongoing assess- ment of student work, assessment data, effort, engagement, and achievement. They employ a variety of assessments so that there is up-to- date information about what students know and are able to do, and where they need further work (Taylor & Nolen, 2002). Accomplished teachers understand that effective teaching prac- tice involves the evaluation of students’ current achievement level; interests; and school, home, and life experiences, and they use that data as a springboard for facilitating each student’s step- by-step development to success.

Moreover, accomplished teachers continuallyreinforce efforts toward big goals. They provide unlimited opportunities for students to practice and to use failure to meet learning objectives as a feedback mechanism that will inform future tri- als. They are committed to leveraging resources so that students are provided with personalized and differentiated learning experiences to facili- tate their growth and development. They facilitate inspired, purposeful, and outcome-based learning for all students based on a guiding theory of learning and student empowerment. Finally, they challenge students to think and perform outside of their comfort zones and daily encourage stu- dents to do and learn more.

How Can We Ensure That All Students Have Access to Excellent Teaching Strategies and Accomplished Teachers?

We realize that the implementation of these five principles is difficult and nuanced work. Many teachers lack access to the knowledge base of effective teaching strategies and have

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difficulty believing in the potential of every child. There

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are, however, steps that we can each take to challenge such restrictive beliefs and to transform teaching practice, especially in educational set- tings that continue to under-serve large segments of our student population.

In providing the following “opportunities for hope” (Freire, 1996, p. 3) and action steps, we will assume our audience is teachers, teacher educators, and school district leadership, but we believe that all these steps can be undertaken by anyone who desires improved educational outcomes for all our students and believes that accomplished teachers and excellent teaching are critical to this effort. Simply put, to succeed we must invest in learning from accomplished teach- ers about their practices and from our diverse stu- dent population about their needs. Nonetheless, we must also empower students, families, and teachers and communicate and affirm the practice of teaching excellence for all children.

Invest in Shared Learning About Accomplished Teaching and Our Diverse Student Population

Teachers, schools of education, and school districts must jointly own the work of initial preparation, career-long development, and stu- dent achievement. Teachers must be provided with learning opportunities that will build their confidence in their ability to teach in a wide range of schools and classrooms. They must be equipped with the will and the skill to teach stu- dents in communities with whom they have little in common and/or limited experience. Based on the principles outlined in this article, the enduring achievement gap, and the likely proficiency gap with the advent of national standards, schools of education and school districts must engage together to prepare and support teachers to suc- cessfully work with a diverse student population.

Collaborative student achievement projects. Opportunities to learn about teaching in diverse

contexts, whether through pre-service or in- service experiences, should be centered on learn- ing projects undertaken with real students. The

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learner could be tasked with a project through which she or he needs to:

Develop a curriculum, teaching, and assess- ment plan;

Implement the plan (if currently teaching) or support the implementation of the plan as part of one’s field placement, including use of the assessments to make changes on a daily or weekly basis; and

Share the plan, the teaching practice, and the evidence of student learning with colleagues, supervisors, or teacher education faculty and peers

Faculty, teacher, and aspiring teacher pro- fessional development residencies. Preservice and in-service teachers and teacher education faculty must be given frequent opportunities for partnering with a range of schools and districts to practice teaching curriculum development and assessment in schools that are significantly im- pacting student achievement and progress. Given the need to improve teacher education and dis- trict capacity to implement the five principles articulated in this article, and the need to spread excellence across all schools in all communities, action planning residencies may serve as oppor- tunities for spreading the reality of accomplished teaching to a myriad of education settings.

Residencies can be organized for teachers, as- piring teachers, and teacher education faculty to spend time conducting classes, working with the school community to leverage available teaching resources in the service of the teaching specific student populations, and connecting theory to practice within the context of a real school community. Residencies may also provide an opportunity for teachers and teacher educators to share diverse teaching philosophies, to learn about student populations and community stake- holders, and to share teaching strategies that have efficacy with particular groups of students, in order to analyze teaching and student data and work together to improve and hold all parties accountable for student achievement.

Finally, residencies may take the form of collaborative learning communities at the school

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site, extending from a week to several months, and be alternatively facilitated by teachers and teacher education faculty, and supported by on- line interaction.

Common core standards curriculum, instruc- tion, and assessment development. The advent of the Common Core Standards (2009) provides a key lever of hope for the possibility of a transformed educational system and the opportu- nity for every child to access excellent teaching. These standards are intended to offer every child a core set of disciplinary knowledge that will put them on par with their peers, provide them with the necessary skills to succeed in college, and enable them to compete internationally. These new standards will necessitate that teachers enact a mindset that students from all backgrounds can learn and achieve the same standards. They present a perfect opportunity for all those in- volved in teacher development (teachers, profes- sors, and partners) to work together to develop next generation curriculum, instruction, and as- sessments incorporating accomplished teaching, culturally relevant practice, and the innovative use of technology.

Empower Students and Families

Access to teaching excellence also depends on the extent to which students and their families can identify excellent teaching and the extent to which they mobilize themselves to ensure such access. For far too long, many families have not understood the power they hold when it comes to ensuring improved education for their children. Given the increasing educational opportunities available to families through charters and other school choice options, the time is ripe for families to demand more from their schools. Their first demand should be that every student has access to excellent teaching and accomplished teachers. This means that families must be willing to familiarize themselves with the standards and expectations at each grade level and with the kinds of teaching activities

that are taking place in their child’s classroom on a daily basis. With

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this information they can have a better sense as to the alignment between the teachers’ expectations and the expectations for the grade.

Leaders at the classroom, school, and district level may embrace and support student and fam- ily engagement and empowerment utilizing the strategies that follow:

1. Develop materials that outline grade level expectations and resources, as well as the na- tional standards in student and parent friendly language in all of the languages represented in a school community.

2. Provide multiple opportunities for parents to learn about their children’s curriculum through weekly updates, daily e-mails, or calls regarding student’s positive work and work in need of improving, missing work, and extra learning opportunities.

3. Institute an open-door policy where parents are encouraged to visit classrooms as ob- servers at any time that is convenient for them.

4. Develop parent–teacher conference schedules that are mindful of the diverse schedules of a given student population to include early morning, afternoon, evening, and Saturday options, and that include the student as a partner in the conversation.

5. Create a repository of class assignments, chil-dren’s work, and best practices to enable parents and students to keep track of their assignments, as well as to share the standards and examples of quality student work. Provide opportunities for parents to access examples of accomplished teaching practice.

6. Convene small group and town hall meetings for students and parents, respectively, with the sole purpose of inviting students and parents to share their ideas about ways to improve the school experience for themselves or their children and for all of the children in the school community.

The aforementioned strategies can serve as a powerful beginning step to engage parents; to affirm publicly and tangibly the interest in edu- cating and connecting to all students in a school

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community; and to jumpstart the work to develop additional strategies that are inclusive of student and family experiences, perspectives, and goals.

Communicate and Affirm the Work ofAccomplished Teachers

It is important that, as a nation, we affirm, highlight, and share the work of excellent teach- ers. This needs to happen on many levels.

1. Excellent teachers must share their work.Teachers must open their classrooms and in- vite their colleagues, their students’ parents, and even members of the local government and clergy to observe quality teaching in action.

2. School leaders must support teachers’ learn-ing from each other and publicly affirm and share the practices of teachers who drive student improvement and engagement. They can also ask students who have demonstrated significant improvement to describe the role of the teacher in their development path. Educa- tion, business, and community leaders should take on collective responsibility for all schools to have access to cutting edge teaching and learning practices, appropriate for the 21st- century learner. As we begin to use the Com- mon Core Standards to raise expectations, rigor, and the level of performance of all our nation’s students, we need to simultaneously consolidate the knowledge we currently have on excellent teaching and align this work to the new standards. The U.S. Department of Education—in collaboration with state depart- ments of education, local school districts in partnership with universities, policy and prac- tice organizations such as Teach for America, the NYC Leadership Academy, the Council for Great City Schools, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the College Board, the American Diploma Project, and foundations with a commitment

to education, private corporations, and individuals—can to- gether support excellent teaching in the ser- vice of all students and share their resources

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and expertise in a cohesive fashion aligned to these new standards. State and national recog- nition of teachers who are currently beating the odds would raise the profile of excellent teaching.

3. Finally, we must find a scalable way to utilize technology to capture, annotate, and disseminate examples of excellent teaching for teachers, school leaders, parents, and other stakeholders who can impact student achieve- ment. In this way, teachers and the public would have accessibility to effective teaching practices that they might easily implement within their own classrooms or advocate for in their own school communities. The UK’s Teacher TV is one such powerful example to dramatize and positively portray the work of teaching in a realistic, yet entertaining and inspiring way.

The process of highlighting excellent teaching will do much for teachers who will have op- portunities to see how to implement new teach- ing techniques, for school leaders who can use these examples to make explicit expectations of teaching and learning within their classrooms, for staff developers who can use these teaching illustrations to work with colleagues on improved instructions, and parents who can have tangi- ble and potentially visual descriptions of what should be happening in their child’s/children’s classrooms.

All our nation’s children need, and are owed, the hope represented by President Obama. It will take the collective vision, will, and work of all stakeholders to ensure that all students have excellent teachers throughout their school career. Together, we can work to make this happen. What will you do?

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