EDU 505 Reflection

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

• My favorite discovery along this web 2.0 journey was the fact that I can make my own wiki.  That was exciting because not only did I create it, I also used it.  It was great!  I also loved the bookmarking site delicious.   This will also make my life much easier and these are all tools that I can share with more educators because they are definitely user friendly.

How has this course assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

• This course has assisted with my life long goal to be a lifelong learner is by sharing knowledge and information with learners of all ages so that we can become more united as a learning community without regard to our physical location.  This allows for easy two way communication that is interactive.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this course that surprised you?

•  I usually use technology with ease however I was surprised at some of the glitches that the wiki sight created.  Although it allows users to interact it does not work well with simultaneous interaction.  Secondly, I learned that the sites that we used did not have its directions easily accessible.  For the wiki, again I had to google how to rearrange the pages on it because I could not find the directions on how to make these changes on the actual site.  Thankful there were users out there that knew how. Web 2.0 at its best. 

What could we do differently to improve upon this course’s format or concept?

• I wouldn't change anything because I truly did enjoy it!

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?

• Absolutely, I truly enjoyed the experience of learning something new.  Especially in regards to technology because I usually know more than the others that I work with , so this was great!

Research behind teacher accountability

This blog is a resource for the many teachers of New York State that need information on teacher accountability and how it will affect there future evaluations in addition to research on the relationship between teacher accountability and student achievement.

NYSED

Teacher and Principal Evaluation Webinar

Have you ever wished that you can be a fly on the wall during some decision making sessions for New York State. Well below you will find the link to a webinar on the new evaluation system for teachers and principals.
webinar: http://neric.welearntube.org/?q=node/140
slide show: http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/docs/tpe-webinar-061311.pdf

NYSED

Guidance on New York State’s

Annual Professional Performance Review

Law and Regulations

The link below gives information to educators, administrators, and the community about Education Law §3012-c (Chapter 103 of the Laws of 2010) and Section 100.2(o) and Subpart 30-2 of the Commissioner’s regulations. 

http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/teachers-leaders/fieldguidance.pdf

Education Law §3012-c

Below you will find the link to the actual law in regards to teacher and principal performance and teacher accountability.

http://www.ocmboces.org/tfiles/folder896/3012c.pdf

Timeline of Implementation

So if your district has not shared their timeline constrants for implementing the new APPR below you will find the link to New York State's timeline.

http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/timelines/teachleadtimeline.pdf

New York State Teacher and Principal Evaluation

Summary of Provisions in Draft Regulations: May 17, 2011 (revised June 14, 2011 for clarity)

Below you will find the link to the draft regulation from June that explains the implementation in chart form for teachers and principals. The chart shows the percentages of growth that they will be measured on.

http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/teachers-leaders/greenmemoJune14.pdf



Teacher Education Under Review or Attack? Conflicting Perspectives

Taylor and Francis Group

This article explains how colleges are measured in regards to their teacher preperation programs.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10901027.2011.572057

NCATE Standards The Standard of Excellence in Teacher Preparation

Below is the link to the standards that most colleges follow in preparing their teachers for the field of education.

http://www.ncate.org/Standards/NCATEUnitStandards/UnitStandardsinEffect2008/tabid/476/Default.aspx

National Review of Education Schools

By: NCTQ, National Council on Teacher Quality

This site explains their review of the nation's roughly 1,400 education schools. NCTQ is in the process of examining key aspects of teacher training, "NCTQ's review of the nation's education schools will evaluate the design quality of education school programs against 17 standards covering the most important aspects of teacher training program design." Although the study is not complete it is a great resource to visit. Is your college doing a good job of preparing you for the classroom? Only this report will tell.

http://www.nctq.org/edschoolreports/national/

Making a Connection between Student Achievement, Teacher Accountability, and Quality Classroom Instruction

By: Kelli Ballard and Alan Bates

This article gives some historic insight on the relationship between standardized assessments, No Child Left Behind and Teacher Accountabitlity.

http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR13-4/ballard.pdf

Measuring What Matters; A Stronger Accountability Model for Teacher Education

By Edward Crowe

This article explains the reasons for the state to unite as a common front for preparing and evaluating educators as a way of quality control.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/07/pdf/teacher_accountability.pdf