APS Joins National Cohort of Union and District Leaders to Improve Student Learning

NEWS RELEASE #15
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2014

 

APS Joins National Cohort of Union and District Leaders to Improve Student Learning

Outstanding records of achievement qualify four teams for the NEA Foundation Institute for Innovation in Teaching and Learning

(WASHINGTON, October 27, 2014) – The NEA Foundation has selected an Aurora team led by the educator union president and superintendent to join the NEA Foundation Institute for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, a national effort to build teacher-led instructional effectiveness.

The Aurora Public Schools union-district team was selected because of their joint labor-management commitment and working collaboratively to take on tough issues like the use of time and new evaluation processes. Over the next year, they will jointly focus on designing comprehensive, job-embedded and strategically individualized professional development, which will complement the new state evaluation system required by SB 10-191. 

 “Our district and association have collaborated on a number of important concepts: Pilot schools that allow staff autonomy to make the best decisions for their students and teachers, and waivers to allow individual building staff to repurpose the way in which time is used,” said Amy Nichols, President of the Aurora Education Association. “We fully understand that to increase student achievement, we must purposefully rethink what we do and why we do it.  The opportunity provided by the NEA Foundation will help us enhance our administrators’ and teachers’ focus on effective teaching behaviors through a systematic analysis of each element in our state model evaluation rubric.  Calibration of each element will ensure teachers and administrators know what proficient and accomplished teaching looks like, and it will allow us to strategically support all teachers with the individualized resources they need to provide quality instruction to students.”

"Aurora Public Schools is honored to participate in the National Cohort of Union-District Leaders to Improve Student Learning, said D. Rico Munn, Aurora Public Schools Superintendent.  We have a long-standing positive relationship with our teachers’ association that supports accelerating learning for every Aurora Public Schools student, every day.  We look forward to collaborating with Institute colleagues to ensure that the Colorado quality teaching standards and evaluation system are useful tools for our teachers and students.”

The new teams hail from: Aurora, CO, Cedar Rapids, IA, Fall River, MA, and Berkshire Hills, MA. They will participate in a two-year program that is designed to lead to significant changes in teaching and learning, becoming part of a network of collaborative teams tackling some of the most pressing issues in public education.

“We welcome these teams and feel confident in their capacity and joint commitment to develop strategies that will strengthen their work in support of improving student outcomes,” said NEA Foundation President & CEO Harriet Sanford. “The Institute will provide opportunities for them to engage in a partnership to change teaching and learning in their communities, and ultimately, improve the opportunities of their students.”

Teams were competitively selected based on applications co-authored by teacher union presidents and superintendents demonstrating their ability to address difficult issues of systems change and collaborative reform, with a sense of urgency and focus. Sanford said the Foundation also sought to develop a cohort whose action plans would reflect a diverse set of issues, increasing what it will learn from these sites’ experiences and share within the field.

The NEA Foundation
The NEA Foundation is a public charity supported by contributions from educators' dues, corporate sponsors, and others who support public education initiatives. We support student success by helping public school educators work with key partners to build strong systems of shared responsibility. Visit www.neafoundation.org for more information. Find us on Facebook and Twitter, and visit our blog 

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Interested media may contact APS News Media Specialist
Patti Moon at 303-326-2755 for more information