Teachers Want Principles to Inform Work of State Task Force on School Quality and Accountability
Denver, Colorado, May 1, 2023—With the passage of HB23-1241, the state is set to establish a task force to study academic opportunities, inequities, promising practices, and improvements to the accountability and accreditation system in Colorado. To better inform the task force’s work, Teach Plus teacher leaders have released a new brief, Principles of High-Quality Schools: Recommendations from Colorado Educators, that puts forth 10 top principles of high-quality schools ranked in the order of importance by teachers in the state.
“Before the task force begins its work, it needs to ensure all stakeholders have a shared understanding of the purpose of public education and what constitutes a high-quality school. Without this, the task force will not be able to arrive at the kind of quality and accountability framework that would ensure all Colorado students thrive,” said Teach Plus Colorado Executive Director Mark Sass.
“Until we have established what a quality school looks like, sounds like, and feels like any and all efforts at education reform or school reform will be a challenge. Educators must be part of the discussion of establishing school quality standards because they are the best source of information inside the school walls. Until teacher voice is given equal value to all other stakeholders there will be no lasting impact on public education,” said Teach Plus Policy Fellow Emily Heinrich who teaches in Colorado Springs at the Discovery Campus Middle School and participated in the research.
Through research of federal and state regulations, Teach Plus teacher leaders identified the following 10 principles of high quality schools and what such schools provide for students:
- The opportunity to develop their character, talents, and interests, while receiving support to address individual learning needs.
- Opportunities that prepare them to succeed in the future of work including community partnerships, mentorships, and career exploration opportunities.
- Opportunities that prepare them to fully participate in American democracy.
- A safe and healthy environment that is conducive to academic learning.
- Access to caring adults with expertise in creating quality learning environments and experiences.
- Instruction and tasks that are worthy of their effort, aligned to state standards, and relevant to the skills they will need to succeed in life.
- Tools and support to discover their purpose.
- Prepares students to contribute meaningfully to the world economy
- Helps students understand that people can see things differently–and that those differences merit respect rather than persecution.
- Supports student emotional regulation and mental wellbeing.
Colorado educators named the following three as the top principles of a high-quality school:
- A quality school provides all students with a safe and healthy environment that is conducive to academic learning. (Principle 4)
- A quality school provides all students with the opportunity to develop their character, talents and interests, while receiving support to address individual learning needs. (Principle 1)
- A quality school provides all students with access to caring adults with expertise in creating quality learning environments and experiences. (Principle 5)
To ensure that Colorado education system is high-quality and serves all students equitably, Teach Plus teacher leaders recommend that the policymakers do the following:
- Reevaluate the weighting of each ESSA indicator.
- Change the fifth ESSA Student Success/ School Quality indicator in Colorado to one more aligned with Principle 1: A quality school provides all students with the opportunity to develop their character, talents and interests, while receiving support to address individual learning needs.
- Create opportunities for further conversations with educators and other stakeholders to better understand the priorities of quality schools using the principles as guidance.
“Our hope is that this survey can spark more conversations between teachers, families, the CDE, and legislators about how to best reflect a more nuanced and holistic understanding of public education in the state’s accountability system,” said Meghan Woodring, Teach Plus Colorado Policy Fellow and 6th grade math teacher at Jenkins Middle School in Colorado Springs.
About Teach Plus
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has developed thousands of teacher leaders across the country to exercise their leadership in shaping education policy and improving teaching and learning, to create an education system driven by access and excellence for all. Teachplus.org
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