Seattle Schools Community Forum

I attended the School Board meeting last week and the PESB (WA State Professional Educators Standards Board) meeting and, at both, testified about Teach For America.  (The PESB is the agency that " establishes policies and requirements for the preparation and certification of education professionals. "  This includes teacher certification testing and routes as well as alternative certifications.)   I said pretty much the same thing at both meetings.  Namely: TFA has never closed the achievement gap at any school or district where their teachers are placed. While it is a noble goal (and the goal of EVERY school), they haven't done it.  

A couple of key actions have to happen this week for Teach for America to come to Seattle Schools. One is at the Board meeting on Wednesday night.  There is a state entity called the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) that grants educational entities the right to create conditional certificate programs.  They require  School Board approval has to happen prior to " applying for a conditional certficiate for a teacher candidate.  Therefore, Board action is required to hire any TFA candidate if any are selected for hire by a school-based hiring team." The second action that needs to happen is on Thursday, at the PESB meeting where the UW's College of Education will present their proposal for their teaching certificate program for TFA recruits (and only TFA recruits; no one else can apply to this program).  If you would like to let the PESB know what you think of the plan, e-mail them at pesb@k12.wa.us before Thursday. When I first read the item...