WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), in conjunction with Hope Street Group, hosted a live online chat with educators from across Delaware today to explore the next steps in education reform. Wednesday is World Teachers’ Day, which is celebrated in more than 100 countries and commemorates the 1966 signing of the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers.
“While not a member of the Senate committee that specifically deals with amending the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, I’ve done my level best since being sworn in to be actively engaged in cosponsoring, introducing, and supporting pieces of legislation that help strengthen our teachers’ ability to properly educate our children,” Senator Coons said during the chat. “It’s imperative that our teachers have a seat at the table, are respected, and are full participants in the development of the curricular standards and testing modalities that will be used to prepare our children to succeed in a global workforce.”
In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s webinar, which was live-streamed from the Senator’s Washington office, Delaware educators were encouraged to submit and vote for questions about education reform they wanted Senator Coons to answer. Teachers could submit additional questions in real-time online during the 45-minute-long conversation. Much of the discussion was centered on reforming the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as No Child Left Behind.
“My hope is that we can work to fix the challenges No Child Left Behind has left behind for teachers to deal with every day,” Senator Coons told viewers.
Three Hope Street Group Teacher Fellows from Delaware hosted viewings of the webinar in their school lounges and submitted questions via chat from the teachers in attendance. Those teachers were:
The Hope Street Group, which facilitated today’s webinar, also developed the online workspace that hundreds of Delaware educators have been using to help the Delaware Department of Education determine appropriate growth measures for untested grades and subjects.
A longtime advocate of aggressive education reform and college completion, Senator Coons is a member of a group of moderate, reform-minded Democratic senators who have put forth an innovative vision for education that sets a high bar for all students, and attracts and supports the most talented teachers and leaders in our schools.
In March, the senators introduced a statement of principles addressing several problems in No Child Left Behind, including the lack of an accountability system that is accurate and fair in measuring student growth. The senators support the development of meaningful ways to measure teacher and principal effectiveness, while providing necessary support for educators, especially those in high-need schools. They believe aggressive action is necessary if we are to turn around persistently low-performing schools, and that the federal government should support and encourage innovative state and local efforts to improve schools through programs such as the Race to the Top.
The full text of those principles can be found here:
http://hagan.senate.gov/files/Statement_of_Principles_for_Education_Reform.pdf
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