Summer 2012 - "Education Perspectives" - Concordia University

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Feature Story � investment – The Board will define core outcomes for our education system, and give educators the flexibility and support needed to deliver results. A new longitudinal data system will spotlight program performance, and over time the State’s funding system will evolve from one based on student head-counts to one based on outcome achievement. � Support – The State will embrace a support role, sharing best practices and connecting educators and educational entities in intentional collaboration. – Todd Jones, Policy Coordinator (and former West Linn Civics Teacher) for the Oregon Education Investment Board. 14 concordia connection CLASS Looks to Educators to Design Systems to Improve Education by: Sue Hildick We all want our children to have every opportunity to succeed in life and a strong education is essential to that success. Right now, we know that every child is not getting an equal opportunity to succeed and we know that we can do better. We must act. The Chalkboard Project is striving to meet this challenge by empowering educators to examine teaching and learning at the classroom level and providing the resources and tools to implement change. Our project is called Creative Leadership Achieves Student Success, or “CLASS.” It is based on the premise that at the local level, educators know best how to design systems that better support their professional practice. Providing educators with time to collaborate, mentor, receive relevant feedback on their teaching, individualized professional development, as well as recognition for leadership and achievement are priorities for every CLASS district and should be priorities for every Oregon school district. It is the educator that has the most
significant impact on student learning in the classroom. Strengthening our education system has to mean supporting our educators to do their best work. Increasing the time that teachers have to collaborate with each other is one way to support excellent teaching, but increasing the collaboration between teachers and administrators is just as important. Many districts have adopted a professional learning community (PLC) model. During PLC time, teachers meet together, often in grade-level groups or subject-specific groups, to discuss their practices and evaluate student work. Without collaboration between teachers and administrators in designing and implementing a PLC model however, the model can often feel top-down, forced, or irrelevant to a teacher’s classroom. The same is true with other “reforms” that come from administrators with no teacher buy-in. But when teachers are empowered to be instructional leaders and develop models that really meet classroom needs real change that benefits teachers and students is possible. Chalkboard is committed to seeing Oregon have one of the best education systems in the country and we look forward to collaborating with educators and helping educators collaborate with each other to make that vision a reality. – Sue Hildick is president of the Chalkboard Project and Foundations for a Better Oregon, seeking to make Oregon’s schools among the best in the nation. www.chalkboardproject.org Crossing the Finish Line – Aligning Our Community to Support Kids from Cradle to Career by: Dan Ryan Feature Story In Portland and Multnomah County nearly half of our youth are failing to graduate from high school – a statistic that becomes even more shocking when broken down by race, ethnicity, and income. Furthermore, many of those who do make it to graduation are ill prepared to face the rigor of college or a career. This challenge is only one of the many indicators showing us that far too many of the youth in our community, from birth through career, are not achieving their full potential. As I ruminate on the opportunities we are addressing for our kids, I reflect on how challenging my own life would have been had I not finished school, an achievement made possible thanks to the support of individuals beyond my parents. Countless mentors, teachers, coaches, and employers provided me with the functional adult structure I needed to achieve my potential – a web of support that all kids need and deserve. We are lucky in this community – we have schools, teachers, administrators, counselors, non-profits, social services, and many others all delivering academic and social supports to the children and youth most in need. Too often, however, there is not a bridge between all of these supports to connect and entwine them in a way Summer 2012 15
Page 1 and 2: Concordia Connection P O R T L A N
Page 3 and 4: From the Editor: The spark for this
Page 5 and 6: “Our gratitude overflows for the
Page 7 and 8: Concordia Professor Dr. Terrill Rel
Page 9 and 10: MARCH 3, 2012 The honorary first pi
Page 11 and 12: Education unlocks the door to oppor
Page 13 and 14: In short, in order to truly reform
Page 15: In the course of our Oregon K-12 co
Page 19 and 20: Helping students from a young age -
Page 21 and 22: His vision - and the mounting resul
Page 23 and 24: They may have looked like street to
Page 25 and 26: 1 2 ALL CLASS REUNION - SEpt. 29 SE
Page 27 and 28: Jon Muhly and his wife, Julie, were
Page 29 and 30: Marielle Lopes was married to Loic
Page 31 and 32: Junia Limage, Mid-Distance Runner A
Page 33 and 34: BASEBALL The Cavaliers captured the
Page 35 and 36: Through a collaboration of Concordi
Page 37 and 38: Whereas before there was only one m
Page 39 and 40: Nailed to the Door Nailed to the Do

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