Secretary Duncan talks with students before commencement at Navajo Technical College. Official Department of Education photo by Paul Wood.

Endless possibility. That’s the motto of the Navajo Technical College in Crownpoint. N.M., and it’s more than just a catchy slogan: The students there are proving that with education, possibilities are endless.

Secretary Duncan visited NTC last Saturday to give the commencement address at graduation and to see the great work of NTC students. Duncan left the visit inspired to learn that NTC graduates are working in digital manufacturing, supercomputing and DNA research and are employed on contracts for NASA, Boeing and others.

While many other higher ed institutions that serve mostly minority populations often fail to graduate even half of their students, NTC graduates more than 85 percent. Prior to the graduation ceremony, Duncan visited NTC classrooms and even danced during a reception later in the day.

Visiting Native American reservations “are easily among the most rewarding and uplifting things that I have done over the past 3½ years,” Arne said at commencement. “I have walked in beauty with the Navajo people in this land, and it is an opportunity I will never forget.”

Click here to watch Secretary Duncan’s commencement speech, and watch a short summary below:

Click here for an alternate version of the video with an accessible player.

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Participate: 

Opening Session

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 – 1:00-2:15 p.m. ET

Watch LIVE here

Leaders will discuss the past year’s challenges and progress in collaborating to transform the teaching profession in the service of increasing students’ success.

Closing Session

Thursday, May 24, 2012 – 2:00-2:30 p.m. ET

Watch LIVE here

Twitter

Join the conversation and see what people at the conference are tweeting about by following hashtag #LMConf12

Click here for a list of participants in this year’s conference, and visit our Labor-Management Conference page for more information on the 2012 conference.

Read “Transforming the Teaching Profession,” a shared vision for the future of the teaching profession that was released during the opening session.

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Secretary Duncan greets participants at the Cooking Up Change event at the Department of Education. Official Department of Education photo by Joshua Hoover.

While you may not consider West African succotash, home-style tortilla apple pie or lemon pepper chicken with brown rice standard fare for a school cafeteria, a group of culinary chef students hope to re-write cafeteria menus to prove that school lunches can be both delicious and nutritious.

The students who gathered at the U.S. Department of Education on May 21 are the finalists in a national healthy lunch competition called Cooking Up Change, and sponsored by the Healthy Schools Campaign, a non-profit organization based in Chicago.

In the final round of the competition, students were allowed two and a half hours to create their recipes. Each team used ingredients commonly found in school food service in a recipe that was limited to six steps.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan greeted the high school culinary whiz students before the cook-off began, and congratulated the participants for making it to the finals.

The secretary’s wife, Karen, and Christie Vilsack, wife of Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, serve as Cooking Up Change Honorary National co-chairs and Karen served as a  judge for the event. The panel of judges also included Chief of Staff to the Secretary Joanne Weiss and Deputy Chief of Staff Eric Waldo.

For Alex Hernandez of Santa Ana, California, participating in the competition was life changing.

“I have changed my own cooking habits at home. I tend not to eat fattening foods or drink a lot of soda.” Hernandez said.  “I’ve found myself encouraging my family members, friends and teammates to eat healthy and live a better lifestyle.”

Students from Santa Ana’s Valley High, won the competition with a lemon and spinach chicken dish accompanied by a Tuscan bean salad and cinnamon poached pears.

Click here for more information on Healthy Schools from Let’s Move!

DeRell Bonner works in ED’s Office of Communications and Outreach

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The proposed competition offers nearly $400 million in grants and invites school districts to create plans for individualized classroom instruction aimed at closing achievement gaps and preparing each student for college and career.

“Race to the Top supports states that raise standards, build better data systems, evaluate and support principals and teachers, and dramatically transform their lowest-performing schools,” Duncan said during today’s announcement.  “It also supports the development of new and better assessments aligned with high standards.”

The new competition asks districts “to show us how they can personalize and individualize education for a set of students in their schools,” Duncan noted. “We need to take classroom learning beyond a one-size-fits-all model and bring it into the 21^st century.”

The proposal offers competitive preference to applicants that form partnerships with public and private organizations to sustain their work and offer services that help meet students academic, social, and emotional needs, and enhance their ability to succeed.

The 2012 competition proposal will be available for public comment until June 8, and the Department plans to release the application in July with an October submission deadline. Awards will be announced by the end of the year.

More info:

• Read more about and comment on the proposal
• Read today’s press release
• Read Secretary Duncan’s remarks

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Calling all kid chefs: The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge invites parents of kids ages 8-12 to submit an original recipe for a lunch that is nutritious and delicious. All entrants have the chance to win a trip to Washington D.C. and the opportunity to be invited to attend a Kids’ “State Dinner” at the White House in August, where a selection of the winning healthy recipes will be served.

Let’s Move! is teaming up with Epicurious, the Department of Education and USDA to find great lunch ideas that are healthy, affordable, and — of course – tasty.

“We all want to ensure that our kids are eating nutritious, delicious food at every meal, and as a mom I know that parents are always looking for new ideas to make that happen,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. “With parents and kids all across the country getting creative in the kitchen, I know we’ll find healthy meals that every family will enjoy.  And I can’t wait to try the kids’ creations myself.”

The rules are simple: All entrants are encouraged to reference the MyPlate nutritional guidelines to ensure recipes meet the primary criterion of being healthier. Entries should represent each of the food groups, either in one dish or as parts of a lunch meal, including fruit, veggies, whole grains, protein and low-fat dairy foods.

Recipes can be submitted May 21 through June 17, either online at http://recipechallenge.epicurious.com or via mail. Winners will be notified on July 16. The White House Kids “State Dinner” is currently scheduled to take place in August 2012.

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Click here for an alternate version of the video with an accessible player.

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Part of that effort has focused on institutions’ “net price” and spreading awareness of net price calculators, a key tool that can assist parents and students in researching the cost of higher education. Net price calculators go beyond an institution’s “sticker price,” factoring in grants and scholarship aid to give families a better sense of how much they would actually pay to attend a specific school.

Earlier this year, the Department held a contest encouraging college and high school students to come up with creative videos that explain net price calculators and why they are a valuable resource. Today, ED is announcing that three students have each won a $1,500 prize for creating the top-scoring videos in the Department’s College Net Price Calculator Student Video Challenge. The winners are:

• Michael Kirby from the University of Richmond in Richmond, Va. (watch the video)
• David DeMesquita from Cal State Fullerton in Fullerton, Calif. (watch the video)
• Brian Schwabauer from Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo.  (watch the video)

The Department plans to use these videos to broaden awareness of net price calculators among students and will continue outreach efforts to several stakeholder groups, organizations, college counselors and student body leaders. In addition, every title IV institution is now required to have a net price calculator on their website, and the Department has proactively linked to each school’s net price calculator from its College Navigator site, which contains a wealth of consumer information. 

The challenge is part of a broader Administration effort to address the rising cost of college and the struggles families face paying for higher education. The Department hopes that by providing key consumer data like net price, families will have a better sense of what they can afford and will be empowered to make smart decisions about where to invest and enroll for college.

Sara Gast is press aide in the Office of Communications and Outreach

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From left to right Julie Weinstein, Candace Fuller, Dr. Gross, and standing is Pat Riordan, the Base Support Officer. Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy -Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

I anticipated these audiences would raise quite different questions and concerns in our gatherings, given differing nature of the institutions from which they hailed.  The participants ranged from high school students of whom approximately 50% head to college and for whom extensive travel outside their state was uncommon to military spouses who moved every 18 months within the US and abroad, often with school-aged children.  The audiences included young people navigating how to graduate from high school (let alone college) to experienced college administrators seeking to navigate sizable state-wide budget cuts while helping students complete their undergraduate education in a timely fashion. 

Despite these obvious differences, certain key recurring questions and concerns came through all the conversations, most particularly these two:  (1) How can college be made more affordable for all students? and (2) What can the federal government do to improve and influence positively the educational experiences of and outcomes for vulnerable students in the pre-K – 16 pipeline?.

Not easy questions and ones for which there are no easy answers.  That said,
I was deeply appreciative of the thoughtful and heartfelt observations raised by the almost 750 people with whom I met.  I was struck by the many concrete examples the audiences presented, many of which provided a new lens through which to see the issues of concern.   Those who spoke were open, forthright and clear.  They were concerned.  They were not shy.  But, most of all, they were not cynical.  Instead, they wanted and needed information; they wanted and needed answers; they wanted and needed a government that could help.
 
As I listened and answered, I was also struck by the disconnect between what we are doing here in Washington to address these very questions and the amount of information actually gets filtered back and heard outside the proverbial Beltway.  There are initiatives that the federal government has completed (like new federal loan repayment options) and others that are proposed (like Race to the Top and First in the World for higher education) on the very questions raised by these audiences.  We do have new tools that can assist students in selecting quality, affordable education, and we do have some efforts in place to solve problems military- children experience as they transition from one school to another.  

But, the decibel level is so high, the information so vast and the complexity so great that it is hard for the government to communicate effectively to, and reach and be heard by, the needed audiences including students and their parents, college personnel and military families.

I was and remain heartened by the voices of the many audience members at these three events – individuals who wanted to improve their lives and those of children and young adults.  I welcomed the chance to share what we are doing here in DC.  And, what I hope is that this conversation and many more like them will open the door to not only more dialogue but to thoughtful and meaningful ways to improve our educational system – for the children of today and tomorrow.

Karen Gross is a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Education

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“Safe and orderly is number one,” Sandoval recently told an audience at a U.S. Department of Education forum on School Improvement Grant (SIG) implementation. The goal of the Department’s SIG program is to support state and local efforts in turning around the lowest-performing five percent of the nation’s public schools. Arizona’s state education department put Alchesay on its list. That directed extra resources to the school on the Apache reservation in Whiteriver and lured Sandoval to the remote high school in 2010.

Principal Roy Sandoval of Arizona’s Alchesay High School speaks at the Department of Education. Official Department of Education photo by Leslie Williams.

In the year before Sandoval’s arrival, the school had seen almost 300 drug and alcohol incidents. Students were walking out between periods to buy liquor from “bootleggers” who set up just off campus, then returning to class. Open defiance, open display of gang colors, and fights were commonplace—and the first hill that the new principal and his staff began to climb.

“If you don’t have a safe and orderly environment, if you’re not formidable enough to establish that, then forget it,” Sandoval told the April 26, 2012, gathering of education association representatives and Department of Education staff. “All the innovation you have in the world, all the technology—if you don’t have administrators that are going to shake that place up and make it safe, [real school reform is] not going to happen.”

Also highlighted at the Department’s forum were the school turnaround efforts of the St. Louis (Mo.) Public Schools, where at the district level, an Office of Innovation was created to guide the turnaround work in 11 SIG-supported schools. St. Louis Superintendent Kelvin Adams credits his leader of that office, Assistant Superintendent Michael Haggen, for his constancy in tending to the needs of those schools, and in making key adjustments guided by data.

As St. Louis has moved forward, specialized professional development, human resources and accountability coordinators, staff mapping, and continuous review of student and teacher data are components that have been developed specifically to support school improvement. And as Adams and Haggen were quick to note, just improving these 11 schools, so that in a few years they trade places with the 11 schools directly above them in performance, won’t be good enough. St. Louis leadership is working to embed these principles and strategies district-wide.

Coupled with their no-nonsense attitude for improvement, what these two vastly different turnaround endeavors have in common is a genuine and apparent love for kids. For Principal Sandoval in Arizona, a “double-dose” of math and English language arts that he has incorporated has to be provided by instructors who care for their students, who talk with them and connect with them every day.

“You know in my school the job description is: You need to jump in and help on whatever is necessary,” Sandoval said. “Everybody knows that the terminal words for me are ‘it’s not in my job description.’ It’s not? Really? We do whatever it takes. That’s what it takes to turn a school around.”

For more information on the progress in St. Louis and at Alchesay High School, the forum transcript can be found here, and a video of the presentations here. Alchesay’s student media class also produced a short video in which students and teachers describe the transformation of their school.

Karen Stratman-Krusemark 

Karen is the Department’s K-12 Associations Liaison, and a former English teacher and coach.

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Rayna Aylward, far left, with Mr. Hipkins' class

But I never really understood the concept until I saw it in action at the Capital City Charter Upper School in Washington, D.C.  As part of National Teacher Appreciation Week, more than 50 ED staffers around the country went “Back to School” for a day to shadow teachers.  It was my luck to shadow Julian Hipkins III, an 11^th grade U.S. History teacher giving a lesson on the Vietnam War.

But “giving” may not be the operative verb. Class began with a rapid-fire session to define “war.” Students came up with words and phrases and Mr. Hipkins circled back with prompts and questions.  Next, the students talked in small groups about what they knew of the Vietnam War; summaries were posted on the walls, and then the students walked around and added comments to one another’s ideas.

After a short reading/reflection time, the students rotated through a fishbowl-style role play, with half the inner circle playing “French government/business leaders” and the other half “Viet Minh supporters.”  The goal was to persuade President Kennedy (played by Mr. Hipkins) to support their respective cause.  The crisscrossing dialogue went so fast that no one wanted to stop when the buzzer sounded.  The students switched between inner circle and observers, and the next round whipped by.   At the end, there were more questions than conclusions, and the air seemed electric.

For a solid 75 minutes, every student had been on task and animated.  If I had to calculate, I’d say the voice ratio was about 20/80 teacher/student.  The lesson was a constant flow of ideas and discoveries, guided by the teacher but powered by the learners.

The bell rang for the next class.  Mr. Hipkins handed out a homework assignment – a Venn diagram on the Vietnam and Iraq Wars – and the students filed out trailing word clouds of McNamara and the Gulf of Tonkin.  I myself am still buzzed, and I just filled out the diagram.

Now that’s engagement!

Rayna Aylward is a special assistant in the Office of the Secretary

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As part of Teacher Appreciation Week, Duncan made surprise phone calls several days during the week to show his gratitude for their dedication to the profession and to hear their thoughts on how we can best support teachers in the field.

On Monday, Arne called Helen McLeod, a 39-year veteran at Durham School for the Arts in Durham, N.C., who teaches 8^th grade Social Studies and Newspaper. Helen took the call in her classroom, and expecting a parent, was shocked to have a cabinet secretary on the other end. The two discussed the changes Helen had seen during her career, and she told him that the profession is the greatest in the world, “one that keeps you young.”

Tuesday morning, Arne spoke with Misla Barco, a Spanish for Native Speakers teacher at East Palo Alto Academy in Menlo Park, Calif. While Misla’s students are amongst the poorest in the state, with her support, nearly all of them pass the AP exam and over 94% go off to college each year. She spends her weekends shuttling them to college campuses for visits and interviews. Misla’s assistant principal, Jeff Camarillo, brought her into the office under the guise of a preplanned professional development conversation, only to be surprised that she was going to talk with the nation’s top education official. Near tears, Misla said, “Mr. Secretary, you make me a better teacher. I read about the things you are doing to make it better for my kids, and I am inspired.” Though touched by her kind words, Arne made clear to share that he knows its teachers like her who make things better for students.

Wednesday’s call was to Amy Piacitelli, a teacher for 17 years at Charlestown High School in Boston Public Schools.  Amy’s headmaster, Dr. Ranny Bledsoe, called her to the office while she was teaching, much to the amusement of her students. Astonished at the recognition, Amy told Arne that she was flattered, but that she was only successful because she had such strong administrators to work with. As Amy explained, “Good administrators make all of the difference.” How does a teacher return to class, and upon being questioned by a roomful of curious students explain that she just talked with the Secretary of Education? Read more.

Secretary Duncan’s calls were just one of a number of activities throughout the week to celebrate the teaching profession and to listen to teachers on how they think the teaching profession should change. The Department is seeking input from teachers across the country, and recently released a discussion document where teachers and principals can engage in conversations about future policies or program directives. View the document and share your thoughts here.

As we bring National Teacher Appreciation Week to a close, the conversation around reshaping the profession, around elevating it to the level of law and medicine, around showing our respect and gratitude for teachers must continue. Every day should be about appreciating teachers, and every day should be about listening to them as they lead the transformation of their profession.

Watch our collection of Thank a Teacher videos, see how people across the web thanked a teacher this week, and read about “ED Goes Back to School.” 

Greg Mullenholz is a Washington Teaching Ambassador Fellow on loan from Rockville, Md.

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Steven Hicks, special assistant for early learning, spent the day shadowing a kindergarten teacher at Oyster-Adams bilingual school in DC as part of "ED Goes Back to School."

As I entered the U.S. Department of Education building on the morning of May 9, something felt different. Many offices usually filled with buzzing conversations were empty. Many of my colleagues weren’t in the building. They were in area schools shadowing a teacher.

As part of Teacher Appreciation Week, 50 ED staff in Washington D.C. and across the country participated in “ED Goes Back to School.” Senior officials and career staff, matched with a classroom teacher, spent a full or half day experiencing the life of a teacher. Some co-taught while others observed. Some participated with small groups while others worked with students one-on-one. Regardless of the role they played in the classroom, everyone agreed that the experience was transformational.

“Everything I have done in the last five years was affirmed today,” shared music teacher Mike Matlock.

In a meeting with the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that evening, teachers and ED staff shared stories from the day and implications for their work.

Massie Ritsch, Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs and Outreach Services, spoke of dissecting a pig at Ballou Senior High School. Mike Humphreys, a National Board Certified P.E. teacher at Patrick Henry Elementary School, shared that his shadow, David Hoff, proved to be a great sport throughout the day, even when getting hit in the leg with an errant T-ball bat. Lisa Jones, a 3^rd grade teacher at Watkins Elementary School, spoke lovingly about how her shadow, Ann Whalen, Director of Policy and Program Implementation, didn’t hesitate to dance along with the “Fraction Shuffle.”

Through story after story, I sensed true appreciation for the rigorous work that teachers do every day. “Throughout the day I was amazed by teachers who understand the needs of all students,” reflected Alexa Posny, Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, who shadowed Flora Lerenman and Caitlin Kevill’s 2nd grade class at Tyler Elementary School. “I loved that when you walk into their classroom, you have no idea who is the special education teacher and who isn’t.”

There were also implications for the work we do at ED.

After spending a day in a turnaround school with Mary Balla, a Spanish teacher at Anacostia High School, Suzanne Immerman indicated that the culture of high expectations is helping to transform the school, but she also acknowledged that we need to recognize that real change takes time.

Many spoke of the strong relationships they witnessed between teachers and students and thought aloud about how we might value students’ social and emotional needs more in the Department’s programs and policies.

Audra Polk, a theater teacher at Ballou Senior High drove this point home. “Teaching is nothing at Ballou if you don’t have a relationship with your students,” she said.

Everyone agreed that ED needs to create a new tradition of going back to school, and to do so more often.  Some staff called for this to be a quarterly event; Secretary Duncan and teachers agreed.

The day that began with an eerily quiet building in the morning had become filled with excitement, conversation, and laughter by evening. Relationships were built, lessons were learned, and teachers were truly appreciated.

Geneviève DeBose is a Washington Teaching Ambassador Fellow on loan from Bronx Charter School for the Arts. She wants to give a shout-out to her father, Dr. Herman DeBose, who shadowed her for two days during her 3^rd year of teaching. That experience was the inspiration for “ED Goes Back to School.”

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Ms. King (front left) and her 9th grade English class at Washington-Lee High School.

During Teacher Appreciation Week, we’ve seen videos and read countless Tweets from students and former students thanking a teacher who made a difference for them. Over the last few days, I’ve been struck particularly by the number of excellent teachers who attribute their skill in the classroom to another teacher who reached out to them at an important time.

At a National Education Association ceremony this week that honored educators to be inducted into the National Teacher Hall of Fame, I was inspired by Glen Lid, who teaches chemistry in Illinois.

Though Lid described himself as a verbose and proud educator, his first instinct when receiving recognition was to pay tribute to the teachers who he said make his work possible. “I will own and accept my part of this honor,” he began. Quickly, however, he pivoted to lauding his school community, the cadre of incredible teachers whom he has worked with over the past 33 years. According to Lid, these educators deserve the credit for creating the conditions of collaboration and community that allowed him to thrive.

Teachers thanking teachers may have been the theme of the evening with Hall of Fame inductees. Jim Brooks, an English teacher from Millers Creek, N.C., described at least three teachers who made a difference in his life, beginning with an homage to his first-grade teacher, Mrs. Shepherd, who consoled him for the first two weeks of his school career, when he walked into class every day in tears. He ended with a beautiful poem by a university professor who later prepared him to teach well.

Both Brooks and Scott Charlesworth-Seiler, from Crystal, Minn., are National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT). The presence of so many celebrants from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards reminded me that I should thank the many teachers who helped me achieve NBCT status ten years ago. John Douglas, Kelly Crisp, and George Manning met with me weekly and—even after teaching and grading papers all day—volunteered hours to read and reread long entries, to scrutinize videos, to check my packing materials, and to offer honest feedback.

This year, another incredible teacher in Arlington, Va. willingly relinquished her time and her students to help me to renew my National Board Certification while I continued to work temporarily at the U.S. Department of Education. Caroline King, who teaches 9th and 12th grade English at Washington and Lee High School, gave up control of her classroom for many days this winter and proved what all teachers know, that when a teacher needs serious help, she always asks another teacher.

As I addressed Mother’s Day cards this week, it occurred to me that Teacher Appreciation Week is a lot like Mother’s Day. Everyone knows that we should always appreciate the mothers and teachers who have nurtured and loved us, who have made us strong and seen in us hidden talents waiting to be unleashed. Still, it’s nice to have a day to remind us to do what we ought to do every day—appreciate them, honor them, thank them. So, thank you, Ms. King!

Laurie Calvert

Laurie Calvert is a Teacher Liaison on loan from Enka High School in Candler, N.C.

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“I was so excited I almost tripped over the table,” said veteran math teacher Evelyn Merrick. “Secretary Duncan just walked in as a regular person.”

Luke C. Moore High School is a local School Improvement Grant recipient and has adopted an accelerated academic program with a focus on building critical thinking skills and project-based learning. Read more about Luke C. Moore.

Arne isn’t the only Department official talking with teachers at local schools today. Dozens of ED staff are visiting schools throughout the D.C. area and across the country as part of “ED Goes Back to School,” an organized effort of federal staff shadowing teachers.

The shadowing visits will offer ED officials an inside look at teachers’ day-to-day work while also giving teachers the opportunity to discuss how federal policy, programs, and resources play a role in their classrooms. On Wednesday evening, teachers and Department staff participating in “ED Goes Back to School” will join Duncan for a discussion to reflect on the experience.

Liz Utrup is the Assistant Press Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education

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Click here for an alternate version of the video with an accessible player.

To see more, visit ED’s Storify page or view the story below.

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While this work is deeply rewarding, teaching is also incredibly hard—as intellectually rigorous as it is emotionally draining. Over the next five to ten years, at least one million teachers will be eligible for retirement, roughly one third of the work force. Schools are finding it increasingly difficult to draw talented folks into a profession that, in many cases offers:

• the 50-50 chance they won’t last through their first four years,
•  the likelihood of underwhelming support and development,
• a lifetime of low and moderate pay, and
• the strong likelihood that they’ll reach a point where continuing to teach poses substantial financial hardship.

On this Teacher Appreciation Week, let’s think more meaningfully about what it means to appreciate teachers so that we build a profession that retains its best teachers and recruits the next generation of great talent.

For most teachers, Teacher Appreciation Week is a time when schools bestow small demonstration gifts to staff: mugs, reusable lunch bags with the school logo, chair massages during planning time, lunch catered by the PTA, and so on. While we value these tokens of support, it is far more important for us to reflect meaningfully on the teaching profession and consider what we can do to support great teacher leadership.

True appreciation means understanding what teachers bring to the table and creating meaningful opportunities for them to contribute to the policies and practices that affect their school communities. Let’s engage teachers in policy more directly at all levels. Boston, Massachusetts leads with a strong example. Teachers who serve as Teach Plus Fellows there produced a policy paper advocating for evaluation systems that train evaluators effectively, include peer evaluators and identify high performers. At the district level, districts could create Teacher Advisory Committees where they regularly solicit teachers’ feedback on policies and programs. At the school level, principals could create hybrid roles for teachers, which would allow master teachers to direct new teacher training, perform research on best teaching practices, or design curriculum materials without being completely removed from the classroom. Let’s create a space in which teachers can truly engage in how our schools are run. That is true teacher appreciation.

For the 16 Teaching Ambassador Fellows at the U.S. Department of Education, part of our work has focused on the RESPECT Project, a national conversation we have been having with teachers all over the country about transforming our profession. The RESPECT Project seeks to elevate the teaching profession by proposing a vision that embraces better training, richer opportunities for professional advancement, time for collaboration, higher pay, sustainable hours, and a culture of shared responsibility. We want to attract the best candidates, support our colleagues as they develop, and retain those teachers who are getting it done.

The RESPECT Project and the growing movement to elevate the teaching profession is, as one educator in Rhode Island noted, our generation’s “moon landing moment.” This is the moment when we can rally the entire country around a grand vision to comprehensively remake our education system for the 21^st century.

For Teacher Appreciation week, we encourage everyone to honor our teachers by listening respectfully as teachers rethink and reshape the American education system. Let’s collaborate to find practical, community-based and student-centered ways to bring teachers to the table to weigh in on the crucial decisions that affect them and the students they serve.

Now that’s teacher appreciation.

The 2011-2012 Teaching Ambassador Fellows work with the US Department of Education to facilitate the involvement and understanding of teachers in developing and implementing policy efforts at the federal, state and local levels, to improve the likelihood of their success.

• Robert Baroz, Boston Public Schools, Boston, MA
• Kareen Borders, Key Peninsula Middle School, Lakebay, WA
• Dexter Chaney II, Martin A. Ryerson Elementary, Chicago, IL
• Juan Govea – Salinas High School, Salinas, CA
• Leah Lechleiter-Luke, Mauston High School, Mauston, WI
• Madonna Ramp, Austin Independent School District, Austin, TX
• Angela McClary-Rush, Williamsburgh County School District, Kingstree, SC
• Gamal Sherif, Science Leadership Academy, Philadelphia, PA
• Sharla Steever, Hill City Elementary, Hill City, SD
• Bruce Taterka, West Morris Mendham High School, Mendham, NJ,
• Bruce Wellman, Olathe Northwest High School, Olathe, KS
• Geneviève DeBose, Bronx Charter School for the Arts, Bronx, NY
• Claire Jellinek, South Valley Academy, Albuquerque, NM
• Gregory Mullenholz, Twinbrook Elementary School, Rockville, MD
• Shakera Walker, Young Achievers Science and Math School, Boston, MA
• Maryann Woods-Murphy, Northern Highlands Regional High School, Allendale, NJ

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Duncan noted how important it is that we ask teachers how the profession should be changed, and that the Department of Education wants to hear directly from teachers, particularly on a proposed $5 billion competitive program of the Obama administration to strengthen and elevate the teaching profession. The program is called the RESPECT Project, which stands for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching.

As part of Teacher Appreciation Week, a vision document for reforming the teaching profession has been posted for public comment on the Department’s website, and will be available for comment until June 19.

Secretary Duncan is also asking that you join him tomorrow, Teacher Appreciation Day, and donate your Facebook status to a teacher who has made a difference in your life, and thank a teacher on Twitter by using the hashtag #ThankaTeacher.

Throughout the week we’ll be highlighting videos of people from around the country thanking teachers for making a difference in their lives. Today we heard from Bill Nye the Science Guy, Mayim Bialik, a PhD and actor on “The Big Bang Theory, as well as Jamie Hyneman from TV’s MythBusters.

Watch our Thank a Teacher video playlist:

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Today marks the beginning of National Teacher Appreciation Week. This week is a great week to give teachers the praise they deserve every day, but it also provides an opportunity to hear from teachers on how we can make teaching not only one of America’s most important professions, but one of the country’s most valued professions as well.

The Department of Education has an array of events planned throughout the week to both celebrate teaching and listen to teachers. One of the events to celebrate teachers will take place tomorrow, Teacher Appreciation Day, as we kick off a national campaign to thank our teachers on Facebook and Twitter.

Please join me tomorrow by donating your Facebook status to a teacher who has made a difference in your life, and thank a teacher on Twitter by using the hashtag #ThankaTeacher.

It’s one small token of appreciation for those who are truly America’s nation-builders.

Arne Duncan is the U.S. Secretary of Education.

Watch a video of Secretary Duncan and Mrs. McCampbell:

Click here for an alternate version of the video with an accessible player.

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Were you aware of these government-sponsored programs that help current and future public servants fund their higher education?

• Income Based Repayment: Income-Based Repayment (IBR) is a repayment plan for the major types of federal student loans that caps your required monthly payment at an amount intended to be affordable based on your income and family size.
  Note: Income-based repayment is not just for public servants. Have federal student loans? Find out if you qualify: http://1.usa.gov/GR2V2X
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program encourages individuals to enter and continue to work full-time in public service jobs. Under this program, borrowers may qualify for forgiveness of the remaining balance due on their eligible federal student loans after they have made 120 payments on those loans under certain repayment plans while employed full-time by certain public service employers.
• TEACH Grant: The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program provides grants of up to $4,000 per year to students who intend to teach in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students from low-income families.
• Post 9/11 GI Bill: The Post-9/11 GI Bill is an education benefit program paid by the Department of Veterans Affairs to those who served in the military on or after September 10, 2001. You can receive tuition and fee payments, a monthly housing allowance, and a books and supplies stipend of up to $1000 per year. Visit www.gibill.va.gov to learn more.
• The Federal Student Loan Repayment Program: The Federal student loan repayment program authorizes agencies to set up their own student loan repayment programs to attract or retain highly qualified employees.

In an effort to help you better understand how to take advantage of these programs, on Friday, May 11th at 1pm ET, the U.S. Department of Education and our special guests, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Partnership for Public Service, will answering your questions live from the @FAFSA Twitter account.

Here’s how it works:

• Have questions about the above programs? You can start submitting your questions on Twitter today. Be sure to include the #AskFAFSA hashtag in your tweets. We’ll continue to take questions throughout the week and during the live event.
• On May 11th at 1pm ET, follow @FAFSA or the #AskFAFSA hashtag on Twitter to join the conversation. The Department of Veterans Affairs, The Partnership for Public Service and the @FAFSA team will be answering your questions live.
• Can’t make the live session? A summary of #AskFAFSA Office Hours, including the full Q&A, will be posted on Storify and the ED.gov blog following the event.

Public servants—Thank you for working diligently on our behalf. We hope you will join us on May 11th to learn about some of the programs that are available to help you fund your education.

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When I ask teachers why they teach, they almost always say that it is because they want to make a difference in the lives of children. They talk about the joys of teaching and the singular rewards of watching children learn. Often they mention former students who get in touch years after they graduate to thank them for their success.

Yet stories of lasting and life-changing teacher-student relationships contrast starkly with what teachers say when asked about their profession. In short order, they lament inadequate training, top-down reforms, teaching to the test, budget cuts and a lack of time to collaborate.

Teachers talk about the pernicious effects of poverty and family breakdown on their students and the long hours that teachers put in nights and weekends that go unrecognized and uncompensated. Most teachers still say they love teaching though they wouldn’t mind a little more respect for their challenging work and a little less blame for America’s educational shortcomings.

With half of new teachers quitting within five years, and with half of current teachers set to retire in the next ten, the need for dramatic change in the field of education is both urgent and timely. There’s much underway and much more to be done, but whatever we do to strengthen and elevate the teaching profession, we should bear in mind that reforms that fail to heed the voice of teachers are doomed.

That’s why, for the last six months, 16 active classroom teachers working temporarily for the U.S. Department of Education as Teacher Ambassador Fellows have been doing a lot of listening. They have held over 200 meetings with their colleagues across the country to help shape a proposed $5 billion competitive program of the Obama administration to strengthen and elevate the teaching profession. It is called the RESPECT Project, which stands for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching.

When we ask teachers how the profession should change, their ideas are grounded in everyday experience. Teachers say their schools of education did not adequately prepare them for the classroom. They would have welcomed more mentoring and feedback in their early years. They say that effective principals and engaged parents are essential to creating the right conditions for learning.

Teachers embrace accountability, but say the current generation of tests is stifling teacher creativity and student engagement. Most of the ones we have spoken with are not against testing per se, but, they hope that new tests, now in development, will better measure critical thinking and student learning.

Teachers support evaluations based on multiple measures: student growth, classroom observation, and feedback from peers and parents. They neither want evaluations that are overly reliant on basic fill-in-the bubble tests, nor do they want evaluations that ignore the impact of teachers on student learning.

Compensation is rarely the first thing teachers complain about but, with starting pay averaging around $39,000 and top pay averaging around $67,000, teachers are underpaid compared to other professions. Many top college students do not consider teaching because the pay is too low. Others leave because they can’t support a family.

On performance pay, many teachers reject outright the idea of competing with their colleagues for bonuses, yet many also believe that great teaching-especially in low-income schools–should be financially rewarded. In Chicago, where I served as school CEO, a group of star teachers designed a performance pay program that rewarded all adults in the school, not just the teachers, for student gains.

Many teachers we have spoken with are open to changing rules around tenure. They think the bar for tenure should be higher. Many say it shouldn’t be guaranteed for life. But they are equally adamant that without due process, teachers are at risk of being fired for reasons unrelated to performance.

Teachers are most excited by the idea of career pathways with differentiated roles that offer the opportunity to earn more money without having to leave the classroom and the job they love. For example, student teachers and recent graduates could apprentice with mentor teachers. As they prove their effectiveness, they could advance to new roles–professional teachers, master teachers, and teacher leaders with increasing responsibility for running their schools and shaping curriculum.

What teachers say they want more than anything is time–time to collaborate, plan lessons, improve their practice, and work one-on-one or in small groups with their students. Unfortunately, we shoehorn schooling into a too-short school day and year.

Nothing is more important than preparing our children to compete and succeed in the global economy. That means we need to make teaching not only one of America’s most important professions but also one of America’s most valued profession.

America’s teachers are hungry for comprehensive reform to their profession and they are ready to lead the change. Indeed, they are the only ones who can.

Arne Duncan is the U.S. Secretary of Education

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Initially, he began working towards a degree to become a social worker. During one class project, he volunteered in a local school and found himself in a classroom with young students.  There, Grimaldo realized how much he enjoyed working with children and applied for a position as a teacher assistant in a special education program. He worked in this capacity for several years until he began to yearn for his own classroom.

Grimaldo soon decided to abandon his plans to become a social worker, and he enrolled at Illinois State University to study for a bachelor’s degree in education. However, much to Grimaldo’s dismay, he soon learned that most of the education courses were offered only during the day, which posed a problem since Grimaldo was working full-time and could only attend classes at night. Not one to give up easily, he discovered the Bilingual Paraprofessionals in Transition (BPT) program at Illinois State University and quickly enrolled.

José Grimaldo teaches bilingual special education at Foreman High School in Chicago

The BPT program follows a grow-your-own model that recruits individuals already working in high-need schools as paraprofessionals or teacher assistants and enables them to take on-site course work and supervision leading to certification and/or endorsements in bilingual/English as a second language (ESL) education. The BPT program is funded by a National Professional Development (NPD) grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA). NPD is the only federal grant program that targets professional development exclusively for education personnel who serve English learners.

NPD-funded projects provide participants with tuition assistance and a network of support while completing their program of study. To date, the NPD program has achieved tremendous outcomes with 6,828 pre-service teachers having completed programs that led to teaching credentials; 6,239 in-service teachers having completed programs that led to bilingual or ESL certification; 8,412 in-service teachers having completed professional programs that did not lead to bilingual or ESL certification; and 115 bilingual paraprofessionals having completed associates degree programs.

Since Illinois State’s first NPD grant in 2007, the university’s BPT program has graduated 57 paraprofessionals and all of them have gotten jobs as teachers. More will graduate in May.

The impact of the BPT program on the lives of students and teachers alike has been exceedingly positive, as Grimaldo can attest. Despite working long days as a teacher assistant and then staying after work to take classes, Grimaldo never once complained, said George Torres, director of the BPT program.

Grimaldo graduated cum laude in the spring of 2011 and now teaches bilingual special education at Foreman High School in Chicago. He credits his own struggle as an English learner (EL) with his ability to understand the challenges that ELs face in the classroom as well as in their community.

He said he feels that his choice to live within the same community where he teaches is important. He often sees his students while out doing errands, and his students see that his commitment to them extends beyond the classroom.

Grimaldo’s accomplishment is important, not only because he has found an important and rewarding profession, but because he is helping to solve one of our country’s biggest educational challenges: recruiting teachers who look and sound like our students. According to a 2008 study by the National Center for Educational Statistics, more than 22 percent of our nation’s students are Hispanic, while just over 7 percent of our teachers are.

Asked how his experience in the BPT program has affected him and his family’s life, Grimaldo said, “I feel that I am setting a good example for my children – Joanna (20), Joseph (18), and Jonathan (11). My wife, Ana, is also working toward a degree in this program. She will graduate this spring. Our children state that they feel proud of what we have and will continue to accomplish, and that we inspired them to continue their education.”

Earlier this week, ED announced the award of nearly $24.4 million for 73 grants to improve instruction for English learners. Click here to learn more.

Anthony Sepúlveda is an education program specialist in the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA)

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Building on President Obama’s inspirational statement that “There is no program and no policy that can substitute for a parent who is involved in their child’s education from day one,” parents from diverse backgrounds came to learn how they can partner with their child’s teacher and school and what school, district, state and federal resources are available.

During a workshop, family members discuss ways to support their children’s education.

As part of the day’s activities, parents and other family members attended a series of workshops on such topics as: special education rights; what every parent needs to know about parent involvement in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; financial aid; responding to bullying; and protecting students from civil rights violations.

Secretary Duncan visited Detroit on his 2011 back-to-school bus tour and noted, “I couldn’t be more hopeful about Detroit.” He told parents and community leaders, “There’s an alignment of leadership and an alignment of commitment and courage here. My challenge to Detroit is to become the fastest improving district in the country.” The recent family engagement forum was one of many steps taken in collaboration with ED to meet that goal.

At the recent event, some of the tips for family engagement given to the parents included:

• Make sure your child attends school every day.
• Limit times for watching television and playing video games.
• Read with your child 30 minutes every night.
• Assist with homework.
• Volunteer in the school.
• Communicate with your child’s teacher throughout the school year.

With a revitalized purpose, Detroit Public Schools (DPS) is working to make parents and families partners in student academic success.  Linda Blanton, DPS’s Executive Director of the Department of State and Federal Programs, reinforced the need for family engagement by pointing out the importance of having the event at Central High.

One parent commented: “What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday! The workshops were great, [and] what stood out most was that presenters were attentive and compassionate with the parents,” she said. “They listened and valued our comments and concerns. I was grateful to walk away feeling respected.”

Shirley Jones is the family engagement liaison in ED’s Chicago Regional Office

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Secretary Duncan speaks to the 2012 Mom Congress delegates. Official Department of Education photo by Leslie Williams.

What is the proper role of the federal government in education? Secretary Arne Duncan answered this question Monday at Parenting‘s annual Mom Congress in Washington. “Under President Obama’s leadership, our role here in Washington is to support you,” Duncan said. There’s a transformation underway in public education at the state and local level, he said, that is raising expectations for students and educators.

At the Department of Education, our first three years were really about building a foundation for this transformation. We have challenged the status quo wherever it is needed and championed bold reform wherever it is happening along the educational pipeline from cradle to career.

Secretary Duncan explained how the Obama Administration has supported reforms by:

Strengthening K-12 Education

The Administration is investing in courageous leadership at the state and local level, taking to scale practices that close achievement gaps and raise the bar for all students. Investments include:

• Flexibility to states through No Child Left Behind waivers
• Race to the Top
• Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund
• Promise Neighborhoods initiative
• School Improvement Grants for low-performing schools

Investing in Early Learning

The Obama Administration has made an unprecedented investment in high-quality early childhood education with the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge.

Keeping Teachers on the Job

Under the Recovery Act and emergency jobs funding, more than 325,000 teachers were kept in classrooms during the height of the recession.

Investing in Higher Education

The Obama Administration has made the largest investment in higher education since the G.I. Bill.

• Three million more students are going to college with Pell Grants, thanks to an increase in Pell funding by $40 billion. Rather than adding to the deficit, the Administration paid for the increase by cutting overly generous federal subsidies to big banks that make student loans.
• Invested $2.5 billion to support adults attending community colleges.
• Simplifying the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has resulted in 50 percent more applications since President Obama took office.

“The bottom line today is: We can’t stop,” Secretary Duncan said. “The costs of educational stagnation and mediocrity are too high. President Obama has put us on a path to reach our goal of being the best-educated country in the world by 2020, and we have to keep going.”

Arne encouraged the education advocates in the audience—moms from all 50 states and D.C.—to continue working in their communities on behalf of their own children and all children. Parents need to be good partners with their children’s teachers, he told them, but “also need to be partners in bigger, systemic issues.”

Read the entire speech here.

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It began as ten small-group discussions about the new RESPECT Project to elevate the teaching profession. But it grew into a passionate plea by the teacher leaders for total transformation, as representatives from each of the small groups addressed the room at large. “Our key concern is making sure this project is moving along at a faster pace,” the first teacher reported to officials at the U.S. Department of Education.  “As a nation we need to elevate the status of the profession and change the culture of teaching.”

Teachers of the Year at ED. Official Department of Education photo by Leslie Johnson

As the two-hour session continued, teachers called on one another to lead the change of the profession.  “If we want to see radical change, we need radical reform,” said Alvin Davis, the State Teacher of the Year from Florida.

Alana Margeson (Maine) urged both the Department and teachers to put systems in place to implement changes, arguing that without practical solutions, the vision would go nowhere. “Any idea without legs will never walk you very far,” she urged.

When asked to describe how they lead their profession from the classroom, one by one, the teachers described their strategies and pressed one another to be agents of real transformation:

• “I teach because I want to change the script.” Elena Garcia-Velasco (Oregon)
• “Anything worthy of your passion is worthy of your preparation.” Tyronna Hooker (North Carolina)
• “I believe we can always do things better.” Mark Ray (Washington)
•  “The duty of every revolutionary is to make the revolution.” Chad Miller (Hawaii)

Because of their passion and courage, I left the meeting with these teachers with ideas about how to improve the RESPECT Project.  Mostly I felt encouraged about my profession and the future of teaching because of their inspiration.  Viva la revolution!

Laurie Calvert

Laurie Calvert is the Teacher Liaison at the U.S. Department of Education, an English teacher on loan temporarily from her school in Buncombe County, N.C

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Check out the entire Q&A below:

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