Teachers' Tools

Teachers Need Better Tools

If we are to raise expectations, then we must simultaneously give students, families and educators the resources and tools they need to be successful. If we are to get more students to graduate—and not just with a diploma, but with a diploma that means they are ready for college and careers—the state needs to invest in smart, strong supports for educators and families.

Too many of our teachers lack the curriculum and materials they need to teach our children to state standards. As one California educator recently explained, “Teachers should not be expected to be the composers of the music, as well as the conductors of the orchestra.”39 Yet, that is exactly what we ask most teachers to be. Then we fill their classrooms with scores of children, many of whom don’t have even close to grade-level skills.

The state needs to give teachers much better materials and resources—such as curriculum materials and assessments that align with improved standards, professional development to use real-time formative assessment as part of daily teaching practice and more time to collaborate with peers.

Policy Action: Give Teachers the Tools to be Effective

Make high quality curricula and assessments available for voluntary use. When it comes to curriculum, Illinois education leaders would do well to partner with teachers, with other states, with subject-matter organizations and/or with national initiatives that provide model curriculum, lesson plans, assignments, scoring rubrics, and other tangible tools for teachers. The Internet offers unprecedented opportunities for the state to help teachers “point and click” to access materials that bring state standards to life, and the state is in

an ideal position to develop a one-stop virtual library.

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