I worked in the Cherry Creek School District from 1975-2007. I have taught for 17 years, been an elementary school principal, and have done administrative fill-in assignments after retirement for our district.
I am presently employed by the University of Northern Colorado Center for Urban Education. I am a liberal Democrat, and I am strongly pleased by the passage and Governor Ritter’s signing of Senate Bill 191, the education reform bill.
I am pleased because this legislation is an opportunity, and hopefully a mandate, to finally look into each classroom in our State and demand that the teacher in charge is effectively planning and orchestrating the time that we allot for student learning.
What we will find, and finally address, is a much wider range of quality and effectiveness than we have been willing to identify in the past. I am pleased with the possibility of increasing our willingness to say to individual teachers that we are going to look at student progress and performance and ask very directed questions regarding the disparity in student achievement from one classroom to the next.
I am pleased that finally administrators/evaluators will be empowered to be truthful about the range of teacher quality that is easily seen from classroom to classroom, and they will be held accountable for addressing ineffective teachers.
I am guardedly pleased and optimistic that this will help many teachers to voluntarily leave the profession after realizing that they do not want to put in the time and effort needed to effectively plan for student learning.
Planning for learning is very different, and much more complex, than planning what the teacher will say to the class and the activities that students will do. That is the essence of this legislation. And it is the easiest way to distinguish effective teaching and maximum student achievement.
Too many teachers arrive at school ill-prepared. Their colleagues know it. And depending on the sophistication of the students, they know it as well. The horrifying reality is that our children have approximately 5 hours a day for 175 days to maximize their learning at school. That’s 875 hours … which is 10 percent of the total hours in a year.
Asking classroom teachers to be focused, knowledgeable of their curricula and how best to teach it to students with a range of skill and ability, and well-prepared to use that precious time efficiently seems obvious, but in reality, isn’t really happening in all school settings.
I hope that finally teachers and the Colorado Education Association (CEA) band together in the same way that we have asked for appropriate funding for our students … our children … and lead the charge to encourage the removal, as quickly as possible, of the least effective teachers in each building so that we can hire new skilled and energized teachers who are ready to work hard and make a difference for children.
This is what’s best for kids. This is our time to walk the talk.
Mark Zaitz lives in Denver. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
