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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW The Latest: Refuge occupier says they will turn themselves in ... Thieves target health club parking lots, again ... Teen in custody after fight, display of gun puts Butte Falls schools on lockdown ... The Latest: Refuge occupier says they will turn themselves in ... Thieves target health club parking lots, again ... Teen in custody after fight, display of gun puts Butte Falls schools on lockdown ... OTHER VIEWS Other Views: Plan would turn teachers into life-long learners Comment By (Salem) Statesman Journal MailTribune.com By (Salem) Statesman Journal Posted Feb. 6, 2016 at 12:01 AM By (Salem) Statesman Journal Posted Feb. 6, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News Sometimes, it makes sense to rearrange government. One such plan from Oregon Gov. Kate Brown sounds wonky, but it could yield lifelong improvements in public education. Last month, Brown announced that she was creating the Governor's Council on Educator Advancement. It is the first step toward establishing an independent organization to guide teachers' professional improvement throughout their careers. Here are six reasons why Brown's announcement matters: 1. The most important factor in students' academic success is having excellent teachers in all classrooms. 2. Teaching is a difficult profession. Many beginning teachers are inadequately prepared to lead a classroom. Students, and their families, suffer the consequences. Teaching also can be an isolated profession, because teachers work in their individual classrooms most of the day. Those obstacles contribute to the high dropout rate among starting teachers. Such turnover costs taxpayers more in the long run. School districts must recruit, hire and prepare new teachers. And as that cycle repeats, more time elapses while teachers learn on the job. 3. The Chalkboard Project, an initiative funded by private foundations in Oregon, has proved that teachers are more effective and more satisfied with their jobs when they have ongoing opportunities to improve their skills, to collaborate with their colleagues and to earn more without becoming administrators. The Salem-Keizer School District is one outstanding example. Chalkboard's CLASS Project (Creative Leadership Achieves Student Success) dissolves factions and breaks down the barriers between teachers and administrators, and labor unions and management. This should matter to parents, taxpayers and politicians because graduation rates and other measures of student success increase substantially in CLASS districts compared with school districts that have not embraced the CLASS model. That is why Chalkboard has been pushing for Oregon to create a "center for educator advancement." Brown deserves credit for embracing that concept. 4. CLASS succeeds because it is locally driven, not a statewide cookie-cutter approach, while using effective, evidence-based approaches. Local educators develop their own solutions, with Chalkboard providing guidance and resources. Chalkboard has worked with school districts as large as Portland, with nearly 46,000 students, and as small as Jewell, with 142 students. Chalkboard has shown the way. Now could be the time for a new public-private, state-sanctioned partnership to take over and expand that work to all school districts. 5. Such a public-private partnership makes more sense than leaving teacher training to the state Department of Education, which has multiple responsibilities in regulation, funding and training. The department has made great strides under the leadership of former Salem-Keizer administrator Salam Noor, who took over last summer. But as a large state bureaucracy, it never will be as quick or as agile as a smaller entity focused solely on educator improvement. 6. School reforms, such as Oregon's derided CIM and CAM created by the Legislature, do not work when designed by politicians. If you want to solve a problem, give it to the people on the front lines. In this case: teachers and administrators. The Governor's Council on Educator Advancement would largely be composed of educators. The council would design the new system that would provide ongoing training from teachers' start in the classroom until their retirement. Every beginning teacher should have two years of mentoring. Every teacher should be a lifelong learner. In fact, every Oregonian should be a lifelong learner. That begins with a highly effective, continuously improving teacher in every classroom. By (Salem) Statesman Journal MailTribune.com By (Salem) Statesman Journal Posted Feb. 6, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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