ESEA Update
ESEA REAUTHORIZATION: HEARING HELD ON TEACHER QUALITY

The last week of July 2011, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing on “Education Reforms: Exploring Teacher Quality Initiatives.” The focus of the hearing was teacher evaluation, with many of the witnesses stressing the importance of including teachers and their representing unions in the development and implementation of evaluation systems.
 
NEA submitted the Association’s newly adopted policy statement on teacher evaluation and accountability to the Committee in advance of the hearing. The recently adopted Policy Statement – approved by a majority vote of more than 8,000 delegates to the Association’s Annual Meeting earlier in July -- puts NEA on the record, for the first time, as calling for a comprehensive overhaul of both teacher evaluation and accountability systems to advance student learning.
 
This fall, additional work is expected on ESEA reauthorization around teacher quality. NEA believes that students and teachers deserve high quality evaluation systems that provide the tools teachers need to continuously tailor instruction, enhance practice, and advance student learning.  But, the responsibility for crafting teacher evaluation and accountability systems should lie at the state and local level, not with the federal government.
 
Take Action Today: Tell Congress how teacher quality issues should and should not be addressed in an ESEA Reauthorization bill.

If you have any questions, please contact WVEA Communications and Instructional Issues Specialist Anita Maxwell at 1.800.642.8261 extension 116.

Additional Resources and Links
  • Achieve.org:  Achieve, Inc., is an independent, bipartisan, nonprofit organization that helps states raise academic standards, measure performance against those standards, establish clear accountability for results and strengthen public confidence in our education system.
  • NEA:  This site contains a plethora of information on ESEA. It includes activities in which you can participate to influence Congress to legislate changes in the current law.
  • WV Office of Assessments and Accountability:  This West Virginia Department of Education Website contains WESTEST information, testing calendar and assessment results.
  • No Child Left Behind:  This is the official U.S. Department of Education site created expressly for No Child Left Behind. This site has the federal government slant on legislation. It is specifically aimed at parents.