Yorkville CUSD 115 and Education Association Make Changes to

May 2012
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CHICAGO SUPPORT
Chicago Public Schools
Debbie Glowacki, NBCT
773.534.0740 (office)
[email protected]
Chicago Teachers’ Union
Lynn Cherkasky-Davis
[email protected]
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your submission.
Yorkville CUSD 115 and Education Association Make
Changes to Improve Teacher Effectiveness
By: Martha Venetucci
Yorkville Education Association President and 4th Grade
Teacher
“The times, they are a’changin”.
People outside school walls- “reformers”,
legislators and the like, impose many changes
that directly impact teachers. It’s left to those
of us responsible for educating students to find
ways to move forward, despite these changes.
This is not always an easy endeavor.
In Yorkville we firmly believe it takes “both
sides”, union and district, to navigate through
the changes, embrace the challenges and
opportunities, all while continuing to provide
the best possible education for our students.
Yorkville Education Association and Yorkville
CUSD 115 District Board and Administration
have been committed to working together in
these times of change. These trials and
tribulations that we are put through cannot be
overcome with dignity unless we put forth the
effort and understanding for counter
perspectives.
In his second year at Yorkville, our district’s
superintendent, Dr. Scott Wakeley, continues
to be very supportive of our teachers as the
professionals they are. While our community
continues to change and grow, the population
of students is changing and growing with it.
Working to find ways to advocate for our
members, our association is continuously
pursuing opportunities to improve teaching and
learning in our district.
Taking significant steps, while consistently
valuing professional development and
improving teacher effectiveness, we have
worked hard to negotiate a contract that
values all parties, supports educators and
benefits students.
Superintendent
Wakeley and
Venetucci
Always looking for ways to offer incentives
and provide compensation to reward teachers
for continuing their own advanced education,
we provide partial reimbursement for the costs
of that continuing education. While this was
an important part of the system, it was only
one step. Both parties recognize that
advanced
education
and
continued
coursework don’t necessarily increase teacher
effectiveness or student achievement. As part
of our most recent contract, we agreed to
provide incentives for teachers who
successfully complete National Board
Certification through the National Board for
Professional Teaching Standards.
We recognize this intensive, reflective process
is research-based and leads directly to
improved teacher effectiveness and student
achievement. Not only is it appealing that the
district is providing support, but the teachers
are embracing the opportunity to advance
their best teaching practices. While times are
changing, we have chosen to work together to
move forward and improve, even amidst all of
the challenges that come with it.
CANDIDATE FEE SUBSIDY APPLICATION EXTENDED
UNTIL JUNE 15
Applications continue to be processed for the
Illinois NBPTS Candidate Fee Subsidy that is
currently available to 750 first-time Illinois
candidates. The approved list of these
candidates is continually increasing. For
instructions and the fee subsidy application, go
to the NBRC website.
You continue to be the most
powerful recruiters for
National Board Certification.
Share the impact of your
experience with your school
community.
NBPTS and ILLINOIS CERTIFICATION UPDATES
NBPTS and the Illinois Teaching
Certificate Renewal Process
NBCTs may complete 40 CPDUs or another
uniquely qualifying option such as renewal
of National Board Certification. Renewing
your NBPTS Certification fulfills the
requirements for your Illinois Master
Certificate. For more information about the
certification renewal requirements, go to
ISBE Certificate Renewal homepage and
find the summary of the Certificate Renewal
process for Standard certificate holders in
Illinois.
Lapsed Certificate Information
Public Act 97-0682
Instructions for Reinstating Lapsed
Certificates - Until September 1, 2012
Now that Senate Bill 3393 is signed into law
(Public Act 97-0682), individuals who
currently have lapsed certificates have the
following options for reinstating their
certificates until September 1, 2012. Forms
have been provided for this purpose and
modifications have been made to ECS to
allow registration of those certificates that
lapsed solely due to failure to pay
registration fees. NBCTs are responsible
for monitoring their REGISTRATION status
on the ISBE ECS system.
Evanston NBCT Unites Best Practice, Collaboration
and Standards-Based Curricula
When Rich Clark
earned National
Board Certification
in
2009,
he
breathed
breathed a sigh of
relief. “Becoming
an NBCT was
rewarding
because it made me examine my
teaching approach in a new light.”
Clark insists that going through the
program with two close colleagues
was instrumental to his success.
“I continually asked myself tough
questions. Does what I’m doing
accurately reflect the standards
and promote best practice?”
Working closely with NBCTs Cori
White and Kate Glass (to whom
Clark is married) demonstrated to
him the power of collaboration.
Because of this, Clark and Glass
saw an opportunity when they first
caught wind of the forthcoming
Common Core Standards. “Now
the door was open for a national
dialogue between teachers. The
question became, how do we
establish
a
platform
that
promotes collaboration around
this initiative?”
Clark called on a number of
educational experts, including Dr.
Bobb
Darnell
and
Harvey
“Smokey” Daniels, and partnered
with award-winning documentary
filmmaker Dean Bushala to
solidify
the
concept.
In
December they launched the
platform corestand.com with the
slogan
“Teachers,
Not
Textbooks.”
CoreStand’s website is a place
for educators to learn about the
Core Standards with video
tutorials, e-books, and other
resources. Educators can then
self-publish
instructional
materials
aligned
to
the
Standards. Clark envisions that
NBCTs will lead the charge in
shaping how the Standards are
implemented nationwide. “The
response has been tremendous.
Through word-of-mouth alone,
tens of thousands of teachers
Unique Opportunity!
Illinois State University offers the
opportunity for teachers and
counselors to complete the NBPTS
process while earning six hours of
credits. Balance your personal and
professional commitments while
participating in classes on the
Illinois State University Campus or
via an online course. For more
information, click here.
have been on our site.”
While joining corestand.com is free
to
individual
teachers,
the
company’s parallel platform, the
School Share network, offers
schooland
district-wide
subscriptions that provide solutions
leveraging collaborative tools to
increase differentiation and vertical
alignment.
To read the rest of this story or more
information
about
CoreStand’s
School Share network, please visit
http://corestand.com/schoolshare/