Community Action Guide to Teacher Quality

Posted by on May 9, 2003

[from Public Education Network Weekly newsblast]

COMMUNITY ACTION GUIDE TO TEACHER QUALITY
What is the community’s vision for quality teaching? What role can the community play in ensuring that all of its children are taught by highly qualified teachers? How can the community provide the conditions and supports that teachers need to be successful? This guide is designed to help communities better understand teachers and teaching, as well as the community’s role in achieving high-quality teaching. It is based on the experiences of eight local education funds (LEFs) — independent community-based advocacy organizations working to improve public schools and build citizen support for quality public education in low-income communities across the nation — that engaged their communities in an exploration of the quality of teaching in their public schools. These eight LEFs were supported in this important work by a grant from the US Department of Education administered by Public Education Network. While teachers, administrators, and policymakers bear much of the responsibility for the quality of teaching, they cannot and should not do it alone. In a democratic society, teaching is a public act. If teaching is to be strengthened and supported, it needs public understanding and it must have public action. The guide offers step-by-step procedures on the use of data to assess teacher quality, on ways to create school and community environments that support teacher quality, and, most importantly, on ways to engage the community in support of teacher quality.

http://www.publiceducation.org/tqguide.asp