Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Washington is Second in New National Board Certified Teachers

Check out this article from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) about Washington State placing second in the country for National Board Certified Teachers!  Great job Washington!


http://www.k12.wa.us/Communications/PressReleases2010/WashSecondNewNBCT.aspx

Monday, December 20, 2010

Gates and Weingarten: Fixing Our Nation's Schools - Newsweek

Interesting Q&A session with Bill Gates and Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers on how to best fix our country’s education system.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Educator Supply and Demand

No timeline yet for the next Educator Supply and Demand in Washington report. This formerly biennial survey of school districts is a valuable resource that reflects shortages by endorsement for different geographical areas. The most recent survey was 2006, two years before the economic downturn. All previous reports can be found online at: http://www.k12.wa.us/certification/Resources.aspx

Some findings from the 2006 report include:

Roles/fields statewide experiencing “considerable shortage”
• Speech Language Pathologist
• Occupational Therapist
• Special Education
• Mathematics
• Physical Therapist
• School Psychologist
• Science–Physics
• Science–Chemistry
• School Nurse

Fields experiencing “some shortage” state-wide
• Early Childhood Special Education
• Middle Level–Math/Science
• Science
• Biology
• Earth Science

Implications for Colleges and Universities
• Reallocate resources from programs in areas of surplus to programs in areas of high shortages.
• Initiate preparation programs in counties with educator needs and little access to current programs.
• Form partnerships with districts, educational service districts, and businesses to provide performance-based preparation options for para-educators and career changers.
• Expand recruitment efforts targeted toward retired military personnel, state and federal employees.
• Advice program applicants and community college and high school students about educator high need areas.
• Expand the number of articulated community college-four year institution programs in mathematics, sciences, and music.
• Redesign all preparation programs to include assessment of prior learning and experience of applicants.
• Establish performance based criteria for early exit from all preparation programs.
• Consider supply and demand data when making decisions about enrollment targets and adding or deleting programs.