Policy Guide Supporting Student-centered Learning

Transcription

1 Policy Guide 2016 The Colorado Education Association s commitment to quality public schools requires that we advocate for issues vital to children and public education. It is our responsibility to work with the members of the Colorado General Assembly and other elected and appointed public officials to support studentcentered learning, ensure professional excellence and make economic investments in public education. For more than 135 years, our mission has been to promote quality public education and to advocate for the professional interests of public education employees teachers, support professionals and special service providers. Our commitment is that we will work collectively with all education stakeholders to provide the best public education for every student. Supporting Student-centered Learning Only a multi-dimensional public education system will meet the diverse needs of all Colorado students and their families and communities. Advancing this system requires a student-centered environment which educates the whole child and allows for individual experiences and interest to drive students learning opportunities. To address our commitment to student-centered learning, CEA supports: working collectively with all education stakeholders to provide the best education for every student; working to ensure that the state and districts implement developmentally and age appropriate high-quality student assessments to allow educators to use data-driven decision making in classroom instruction; working with teachers to replicate evidence-based, innovative instructional practice with documented outcomes across schools and districts; working with teachers to integrate formative assessment data into classroom instruction and advocate for the effective training of teachers in the use of formative assessment data; integrating the Colorado Growth Model into a systems approach to accountability and improvement that will help educators determine if students are on track to meet academic standards and achieve college and career readiness; ensuring that educators receive training on implementing academic and postsecondary workforce readiness standards, using new state assessments, and implementing supports for student learning that engage students and ensure their success in school; creating evidence based programs that provide students and public school employees access to current technology resources and learning environments that support the skills necessary to successfully compete in a global economy; combining various types of data to create rich analyses of student learning; building an accountability system that includes multiple indicators of school quality and student success, such as graduation rates, students access to resources and supports including

2 advanced coursework, fully qualified teachers, specialized instructional personnel, libraries, modern instructional materials and facilities, health and wellness programs, high-quality early education programs, and arts and athletic programs; allowing parents to opt their children out of taking a statewide assessment without resulting in a negative score to the student, educator, school and district; increasing student instructional time and reducing the time educators spend preparing for and administering student assessments; reducing class sizes in all grades, with priority attention to grades K-5, as well as reducing the ratios of students assigned to the following school employees: counselors, nurses, social workers, psychologists, special education providers, and other public school employees who are assigned a specific case load of students; allowing educators to create a safe classroom environment conducive for all students to learn; expanding distance learning partnerships that provide students with comprehensive educational opportunities while remaining in their current schools; providing intervention specialists to augment the work of the classroom teacher for students who demonstrate a learning deficiency; expanding early childhood education programs taught by licensed teachers, and requiring and fully funding full-day kindergarten programs; deepening students learning opportunities through programs such as after-school programs, summer school, and online learning programs that complement the school day and provide enrichment that enhances student learning; increasing opportunities for students to participate in career and technical education programs; making college more affordable and reining in student lenders through stronger regulations; and strengthening a local school district s abilities to be the sole authorizer for the approval, denial and renewal of charter school contracts. ranking public schools and their employees in public documents or sources, using labels that brand schools and districts with a letter grade or as failing or unsatisfactory, and imposing other negative consequences that have been associated with student results of statewide assessments; and utilizing for-profit charter school management organizations. Professional Excellence Colorado teachers and education support professionals provide the stable, nurturing, inspiring environment that makes learning possible. We are deeply committed to recruiting, training, evaluating and supporting educators so they can meet every students needs and offer individual attention students need to succeed. To address our commitment to professional excellence, CEA supports: preparing teaching candidates in a meaningful way, including requiring every candidate to pass a rigorous, classroom-based performance assessment before being licensed to teach; ensuring quality teachers are trained to be cooperating teachers and mentors, and all teaching candidates have the clinical preparation necessary to teach; assisting local associations and districts in developing programs in which teachers mentor and evaluate their peers in order to help teachers succeed, increase teacher retention, assist teachers in improving their skills, and create career opportunities for teachers; working with higher education institutions to prepare candidates to teach in hard-to-staff schools through structured practice prior to full-time placement;

3 recruiting and retaining a diverse teaching force for an increasingly more diverse student population, which will lead to increased graduation rates and greater postsecondary college and career readiness; using high quality evaluation systems that provide the tools educators need to tailor instruction, enhance their practice, and advance student learning; increasing the emphasis professional practice has on a teacher s evaluation; providing proven professional development, induction, and mentoring programs for public school employees; using peer assistance and review to provide more rigorous and comprehensive performance feedback; using student assessments as one of multiple measures for teacher evaluations, but only when statewide standards and assessments align; requiring all schools receiving public school finance funding, including charter schools and online programs, to hire teachers that have completed a high quality teacher preparation program; strengthening standards in education and professionalizing the education workforce by encouraging and incentivizing educators to become nationally board certified or to obtain an equivalent professional certification; and the ability of educators to obtain a master certificate from the Colorado Department of Education; creating enhanced compensation structures that relate to a school district s educational objectives, are developed collaboratively with educators at the local level, and have a sustainable funding source; and expanding the eligibility criteria for the state s teacher loan forgiveness program; and creating higher education tuition waivers for high school students entering teacher preparation programs. linking educator licensure and evaluations for the sole purpose of obtaining or renewing a teaching license; and mandating programs that negatively impact teachers time and ability to instruct students. Economic Investment in Public Education Strategies All Students must get a quality education to prosper as adults and because today s students will be tomorrow s citizens and leaders in our communities, every Coloradan shares both the problem of Colorado s low economic investment in our public schools and the challenge of achieving sustainable funding for a quality, 21 st Century public education system. To address our commitment to investing in public education, CEA supports: engaging Coloradans in conversations about the need for sustainable education funding and forging community partnerships to attain sustainable funding; working for an adequate, equitable school finance system that will provide stable and sufficient revenue for districts to meet state standards, assessment, accountability, and evaluation expectations and educate all students including English learners, students living in poverty, and special needs students; adopting a modernized state tax system that meets education s needs and supports economic development, and modifications to TABOR and other revenue growth and spending restrictions which artificially limit education s financial resources; protecting the long-term solvency of the State Education Fund and the Constitutional spending requirements for public education; providing affordable access to higher education for all Colorado high school graduates,;

4 continuing and expanding concurrent enrollment, early college, and fifth year programs that ease the transition from high school to higher education or the workforce through the opportunity to take college and post-secondary courses in high school; optimizing the income generated by the lands and properties in the School Land Trust for the benefit of current and future Colorado public school students; providing funding for public pre K-12 capital construction to meet state and federal requirements and ensure all students have access to safe, modern school facilities; increasing state funding for school districts to offer preschool programs to all eligible at-risk children; maintaining and increasing state funding for school breakfast and lunch programs and other programs that assist families in raising healthy children; requiring consistent financial transparency and accountability standards for all public schools, including charter schools and online schools; and using money on vetted researched-based programs to increase student achievement and educator quality. weakening public education funding through vouchers, private school tax credits, and privatization of any public education services; and funding essential ongoing public education programs with gifts, grants and donations. Safe Learning and Teaching Environments The Colorado Education Association believes that a safe and effective school climate is necessary for promoting educational excellence in our public schools. All students and education employees must be allowed to learn and work in an environment free of unauthorized guns and other deadly weapons. Further, ensuring a safe school environment requires a multi-level approach that includes developing and implementing routine assessments and review; maintaining communication with local first responders; training for staff on issues such as bullying and harassment prevention; ensuring availability of qualified school personnel to recognize and identity warning signs of potentially problematic or violent behavior; and observing gun safety policies. CEA supports: including suicide prevention, alertness, intervention, and postvention programs in options for educator preparation programs, licensure, and renewal as well as professional development for all employees. strengthening programs and policies that support and promote student, staff, and school safety; banning all weapons from school property, facilities, vehicles, and school activities regardless of where they are conducted, except when carried by law enforcement or trained School Resource Officers; advocating for severe penalties for criminal actions involving guns and other deadly weapons in school settings, including excluding individuals from school who bring guns or deadly weapons to school and school grounds until undergoing mandatory prescribed interventions; advocating for gun safety policies; advocating for state resources and training to assist in the development and implementation of school safety crisis prevention/awareness plans; assisting school districts in utilizing trained School Resource Officers when deemed appropriate; training for educators and school staff in bullying prevention, school safety, cultural competence, positive behavioral supports, and appropriate classroom management; expanding and implementing peer mediation programs where appropriate to minimize conflict and harmful behavior;

5 meeting the developmental needs of all students by increasing the presence of comprehensive elementary and secondary school counseling and other pupil services, including school psychologists, counselors and social workers and school-based student services; increasing availability and access to community-based mental health services that benefit students and their families; and providing students and staff with safe, warm and dry learning environments that are up to code and inspected regularly. implementing unproven and ineffective methods such as deputizing staff or volunteers. Respecting School Employees Strategies The Colorado Education Association advocates for salaries, benefits, and working conditions necessary to attract and retain high-quality public education employees. We advocate for basic rights in collective bargaining and due process for all education employees. To address our commitment to school employees, CEA supports: maintaining and improving due process for K-12 teachers and obtaining due process for all other licensed school personnel; obtaining due process for pre K-12 public education support professionals; strengthening the ability of education employees to bargain collectively including a statewide collective bargaining law with binding arbitration or other legal recourse in the courts; developing attractive compensation plans, which include adequate salary and benefits, to attract and retain well-qualified employees to deliver high quality educational services; providing adequate and affordable health insurance for teachers and education support professionals; maintaining the financial stability of school district employees retirement funds through a defined benefit retirement system such as PERA; ensuring all state and local release time officers earn their PERA benefit; and requiring school districts to honor the years of service an employee has served in another school district. restricting or eliminating employees use of payroll deduction for Association dues or political contributions; and privatizing public school jobs.