Gates Official Calls for Raising Bar on Educatio n Standards (TN)
June 15, 2010
Strong, consistent learning standards will ensure that students get the education they deserve, an official with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation told those attending the National PTA’s annual meeting.
Vicki Phillips, director of education for the foundation, said standards can seem "nebulous," but they’re necessary.
She spoke Sunday at the final general meeting of the 114th Annual National PTA Convention at the Memphis Cook Convention Center.
"We need you to be as passionate about standards as you are about safety, facilities and all of the other things that contribute to a constructive learning environment," she said. "They’re the only way to make certain that students are learning what they need to be learning."
Phillips’ speech focused on the problems students can face when programs vary from school to school, both for those moving from one district to another and for those advancing to institutions of higher education.
"In too many states, standards are too low, too diffuse, too confusing or all of the above, and from state to state, standards aren’t consistent," Phillips said. "This is not theoretical stuff. Sixty percent of students beginning community college need to take at least one remedial class. Odds are, if you start in a remedial class, you never get through a credit-bearing standard in that subject."
The Gates Foundation signed a deal last November with Memphis City Schools to provide $90 million for the district to improve the way teachers are hired and retained. An additional $1.9 million is funding a study videotaping teachers in their classrooms.
"There’s a group of teachers in Memphis helping us with this research so that we can understand what set of indicators, when added together, help make for an effective teacher," Phillips said in an interview.
She also said that the research would help define how best to support teachers throughout their careers, seeking both to improve compensation and retention and to increase their influence and opportunities outside of the classroom.
The grant from the Gates Foundation is part of a seven-year project that also includes significant funding from the school district and local philanthropists. Memphis City Schools must contribute $36 million over five years to the reforms it outlined last year when seeking the grant.
The project’s goals include improving teacher effectiveness by defining the qualities of a great teacher and altering methods of teacher evaluation and tenure. The program has already seen results, such as at Hamilton High, where new recruiting ideas made it possible for the school to snatch up some of the most talented new teachers for this fall.
"This is really Memphis’ plan, and our job is to provide access to people and dollars that can help them carry it out," Phillips said.