DOE Seeks Feedback for Teaching and Leadership Workshops

~ User-submitted comments and questions to help shape workshop discussions ~

TALLAHASSEE – The Florida Department of Education (DOE) today opened up the first of several online comment periods that will help facilitate informative discussions during the new “What’s Working in Effective Teaching and Leadership” workshop series. The new series of meetings, hosted by the Florida State Board of Education and DOE, are open workshops for parents, teachers, and school administrators, among others, to share ideas and concerns on important educational topics including instructional practices, leadership, professional development and teacher quality.

“Success in our classrooms begins with providing quality instruction and empowering our teachers,” said State Board of Education Chairman T. Willard Fair. “The “What’s Working” series will enable that success by allowing education policy-makers to hear directly from stakeholders about their ideas on implementing meaningful reform strategies to help all of our students.”

The first workshop will take place on Sept. 13th at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Fla., and will feature George Noell, Executive Director for Strategic Research and Analysis at the Louisiana Department of Education. Mr. Noell will provide an in-depth look at how Louisiana has used a “value added model” for assessing teacher and student performance and its role in improving information about teacher preparation programs.

In anticipation of the in-person meeting, the Department has created an online form allowing interested stakeholders the opportunity to submit their specific questions for the discussion. The form is now available at www.fldoe.org/whatworks, and will be open for feedback through Sept. 3, 2010. Questions and issues provided through the online form will be given to each session’s keynote speaker to help facilitate the group dialogue occurring at each meeting.

The remaining workshop schedule is as follows:

Sept. 28, 2010 – Florida State College at Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Fla.
Keynote Speaker: Andy Ford, President, Florida Education Association
Topic: Florida Education Association’s Vision and Strategies to Support Teachers

Oct. 6, 2010 – Hillsborough Community College, Dale Mabry Campus in Tampa, Fla.
Keynote Speaker: Speaker Dan Weisberg, Vice President of Policy, The New Teacher Project
Topic: Teacher Evaluations and Support for Effective Instruction

Oct. 7, 2010 – Urban League of Greater Miami in Miami, Fla.
Keynote Speaker: Brian Dassler, Principal, Principal, Renaissance High School, Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP)
Topic: How to Turnaround Low Performing Schools

October 2010 – Orlando, Fla.
Keynote Speaker: Jon Schnur, Co-Founder, New Leaders for New Schools
Topic: Preparing Outstanding School Leaders

Each workshop will take place from 4- 6 p.m. Additional details regarding each individual workshop, its topic, featured speaker and other information can be found by visiting www.fldoe.org/whatworks.

CONTACT: DOE PRESS OFFICE
(850) 245-0413