Issue Brief: Students Speak
A cornerstone of today’s education reform movement is the generation, analysis, and use of data to improve instruction and decision-making at all levels— the classroom, school, and district. This Issue Brief focuses on efforts in Lee County, FL to embrace student input to instructional goal setting and practices.
These strategies are an outgrowth of collaboration among the School District of Lee County, the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools, and the Teachers Association of Lee
Reclaiming the Profession
President & CEO
The NEA Foundation
Not surprisingly, over the last several months there has been a surge of educators who are pushing back more forcefully on recently mandated and implemented systems of teacher evaluation. I believe they are justified.
Most of these systems fly in the
Huffington Post Blog: Our Schools Need More Strange Bedfellows
"Our Schools Need More Strange Bedfellows"
By Harriet Sanford
President & CEO, The NEA Foundation
“Getting communities more involved with their public schools can lead to strange bedfellows, like the group of motorcyclists that descended
Huffington Post Blog: A Real Recipe for Improving Schools
"A Real Recipe for Improving Schools"
By Harriet Sanford
President & CEO, The NEA Foundation
"To get one idea of how to improve teaching in our nation's schools, drop
by the local hospital. Chances are you'll see a group of doctors and
medical
Huffington Post Blog: Addressing the Other Side of Teacher Evaluation
"Addressing the Other Side of Teacher Evaluation"
Powerful improvements in instruction occur when teachers are observed, supported, and assessed by their peers. Want to know more? Read my blog on the Huffington Post.
Questions? Thoughts? Please let
Issue Brief: Peer Assistance & Review
Most professions have mechanisms in place to ensure that their practitioners know and carry out the highest standards of practice. Teacher peer assistance and review programs (PAR) are just such a mechanism in public education: teachers observe,
Closing Collaboration Gaps to Provide Meaningful Opportunities to Learn
I am heartened by the urgent call to action articulated by John H. Jackson to all of us in his recent Huffington Post blog, "A New Take on 'No Excuses' -- Tackling Poverty to Provide Meaningful Opportunity."
More than 800 national leaders in education, philanthropy, and business, gathered at the National Building Museum in the nation’s capital on February 8, 2013 to celebrate the best in public education. Through dance, music, and readings, student performers from Lee County, FL— an NEA Foundation funded site— brought to life the essays, poems, and short stories written by their peers and inspired by their teachers.
In addition to the 38 educators honored with the California Casualty Awards for Teaching Excellence, the following top honors were presented.
Kevin Eubanks, former music director of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” son of a music teacher, and proponent of music in the classroom, hosted the evening's event. Eubanks shared the stage with Lee County students to perform the evening’s finale.
View our photo gallery of all the evening's events and purchase your favorite snapshot.
Pennsylvania Educator Leslie Nicholas receives the NEA Member Benefits Award for Teaching Excellence
Leslie Nicholas, a language arts teacher at Wyoming Valley West Middle School in Kingston, PA and member of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, received the evening's top honor: The NEA Member Benefits Award for Teaching Excellence and $25,000. Nicholas’ students have already benefited from his award. They received digital arts training from the Pearson Foundation to produce a video profiling their teacher, which premiered at the Gala.
(L to R: Gary Phoebus, President & CEO of NEA Member Benefits; Leslie Nicholas, NEA Member Benefits Award for Teaching Excellence recipient; Dennis Van Roekel, President of the National Education Association; Harriet Sanford, President & CEO of The NEA Foundation; Mike Crossey, President of the Pennsylvania State Education Association; Mark Chichester, Board Chair of The NEA Foundation Board of Directors)
Leslie Nicholas, widely known as “Mr. Nick,” wants students to know that understanding poetry is a lifelong skill. So, he picks two great poets of the 20 century—John Lennon and Paul McCartney—about whom students have learned in their history books. “Lyrics,” he says, “are poetry set to music.”
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night…Take these broken wings and learn to fly…"
Nicholas asks what the poem is about. It was written in 1968; what was going on then? There were protests—against the Vietnam War and for civil rights and women’s rights, he notes. What does the word “broken” imply? “Beaten,” a student answers. Nicholas continues to probe and asks if the students know any terminology from that era. Groovy or chick, perhaps? In the United Kingdom, he says, “bird” was slang for a young woman. But why a blackbird? Who could that be? And then it slowly dawns on the class that the song is about Rosa Parks. Who knew?
Nicholas was the Pennsylvania Journalism Teacher of the Year in 2002 and the Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year in 2004. In 2003, he was a Teacher Ambassador for the Radio and Televisions News Directors Foundation. In 2004, he participated in a national, roundtable policy discussion on "No Child Left Behind." He has been an executive board member for the Pennsylvania School Press Association and is a lifelong member of PSEA and NEA.
First Book receives the Security Benefit Corporation Award for Outstanding Service to Public Education
The NEA Foundation presented the 2013 award to First Book, accepted by Kyle Zimmer, President of First Book. A recognized leader in social enterprise, First Book has pioneered groundbreaking channels to provide new books and educational resources at deeply reduced prices—and for free—to schools and programs serving children in need. Ninety-seven percent of First Book's revenue goes directly to providing new books to kids in need. To date, First Book has distributed 100 million books to children in thousands of schools throughout the US and Canada.
In partnership with Lee County Public Schools and the NEA Foundation, First Book will donate 20,000 new books in honor of the six student authors whose work was selected to be presented at the NEA Foundation’s annual Gala.
(L to R: Michael P. Kiley, CEO of Security Benefit Corporation; Kyle Zimmer, President of First Book; Harriet Sanford, President & CEO of The NEA Foundation; Mark Chichester, Board Chair of The NEA Foundation Board of Directors)
This award recognizes individuals and organizations for their lifelong commitment to advancing public education and is typically presented to those who work outside the field. Awardees have included former President Bill Clinton, Title IX advocate Billie Jean King, and Sesame Workshop.
Daniel Leeds of Alliance for Excellent Education receives the NEA Foundation Award for Philanthropy in Public Education
The NEA Foundation presented the 2013 award to Daniel Leeds, Cofounder and Board Chair of the Alliance for Excellent Education and founder of the Education Funder Strategy Group for his extraordinary commitment to informing and transforming public education policy at the national level.
Daniel Leeds has demonstrated leadership in the development and implementation of a federal public education policy agenda that supports effective high school reforms. Since he helped found the Alliance for Excellent Education in 2001, he has been at the forefront of their work to make quality public education for all students a national priority. In addition to the Alliance and the Education Funders Strategy Group, Leeds and his extended family, the Leeds and Jobin-Leeds, have launched, funded, and advocated on behalf of the Schott Foundation for Public Education and the Institute for Student Achievement and other organizations with similar goals.
Leeds also serves as President of Fulcrum Investments LLC, a private investment firm. Until the sale of CMP Media in 1999, he was President of International Publishing and a member of the Office of the President. CMP, a leading media company, published titles such as Information Week, Computer Reseller News and Electronic Engineering Times. The company was cited as “One of the Best Companies to Work for” by Fortune and Working Women magazines.
(L to R: Harriet Sanford, President & CEO of The NEA Foundation; Daniel Leeds, Cofounder and Board Chair of the Alliance for Excellent Education; Dennis Van Roekel, President of the National Education Association)
The NEA Foundation presents this award to individuals, foundations, and corporations of stature in recognition of their significant and demonstrated financial commitment to improving public education or supporting public schools, students, and educators.
Save the date for next year’s NEA Foundation Salute to Excellence in Education on February 7, 2014.
The National Building Museum
401 F St NW
Washington, DC 20001