PSP Committee

No, it's not about video games...

I was appointed by President Van Roekel to the NEA's Professional Standards and Practice Committee, and am spending the weekend in DC at our national headquarters. Our charge is to look at authentic student/ school accountability systems, online education, and teacher evaluations. I'm joined by 14 educators from across the country.

We have spent the day looking at online education through public schools, charters, for profit and nonprofit companies, distance learning etc. As we were examining policy and practice across the country, we had many rich conversations. Some topics covered were the lack of access for students and teachers to technology, lack of training, and the need to change the ways schools "work" in order to adapt to the needs of the 21st century and beyond.

Also discussed were student and school accountability systems. We learned about the work being done in NJ, VA, AR, WY, and IA. I shared information regarding DPS's School Performance Framework, the P20 Council, and CDE Standards revisions.

An analogy on student assessment from Alan Young of the DesMoines Education Association, "Does a doctor have to take all of your blood to test it, or just a sample?"