The Urgent Needs of Oregon’s Tribal Students
In January, we released preliminary findings of the condition of education for members of Oregon’s Indian tribes. Today, we are pleased to release the final report that probes deeper into the...
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Tim Nesbitt: A back-to-the-future strategy for education reform
Tim Nesbitt writes on public affairs, has served as an adviser to Govs. Ted Kulongoski and John Kitzhaber, and is past president of the Oregon AFL-CIO. He writes an opinion column for The Oregonian on...
View ArticleWhat Are the Underlying Causes of Student Absenteeism?
The Oregonian recently concluded a series, “Empty Desks,” which chronicled the distressing rate of student absenteeism in Oregon schools. I appreciated their investigation, because I know that even a...
View ArticleA seagull inspires a philosophy of teaching
Last week I attended a luncheon that celebrated many fine leaders in Oregon’s teaching community. Each one of these educators showed courage, modeled leadership, and worked tirelessly to build a...
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Student Access to Science for All
Ford Morishita is a member of the Chalkboard Project Advisory Council. After teaching science, and coaching for 33 years at the middle and high school levels, he retired in 2011. His interests include...
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Sir Ken Robinson would be proud
Kelly Hicks is a 4th grade teacher at Sage Elementary in Redmond, Oregon. Kelly has been an educator for 21 years and has worked with students in grades 2-8 in both private and public schools....
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Transforming teacher preparation programs is like peeling back the layers of...
Mary Cadez is the project director for Chalkboard’s TeachOregon Project. Formerly, she was the assistant superintendent of the Salem-Keizer School District, the second largest school district in...
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An alternative approach to teacher compensation: An interview with Dan Jones...
Dan Jones has spent a thirty-seven year career in the field of education, primarily as a classroom instructor, and for the last two years with a split assignment in the classroom and as Coordinator of...
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Elephant tamers
Sue McGrory teaches 7th and 8th grade Social Studies at Calapooia Middle School in Albany, Oregon. Sue has been an educator for 15 years—her second career. A native Oregonian, she previously worked as...
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Attracting and supporting culturally diverse students onto a career runway...
Mary Cadez is the project director for Chalkboard’s TeachOregon Project. Formerly, she was the assistant superintendent of the Salem-Keizer School District, the second largest school district in...
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Increasing Oregon’s numbers of diverse teachers will take everyone to support...
Tara Cooper is Portland State University’s Coordinator of the Teacher Pathways Program. She is a first-generation college graduate who has worked in diverse student recruitment/retention at colleges...
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Oregon’s Educator Workforce Diversity: Still Falling Short
The gap between student and educator demographics in Oregon continues to widen. Although Oregon’s students of color made up more than one-third of the K-12 population in 2013, less than 9 percent of...
View ArticleEducation Equity and Teacher Effectiveness
Recent events have once again raised the question of equal access to quality education, and how far we must still go as a nation to close the achievement and opportunity gaps for all our students. In...
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Why do we keep talking about equity?
We’ve been talking a lot about equity recently. Whether it’s about student achievement and opportunity gaps or about ensuring our teacher workforce is culturally and ethnically diverse, the truth is...
View ArticleIs our lockstep salary structure a major deterrent in attracting talented...
My great nephew recently announced to his parents his intent to finish college and get his teaching license to teach science at the high school level and coach soccer. His father, a business major,...
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Comparing high school graduation rates: When is a diploma really a diploma?
Introduction The U.S. Department of Education, using four year adjusted cohort rates, reported Oregon was forty-ninth in high school graduation rankings for the 2011-2012 year. While alarming, the...
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What do we talk about when we talk about Common Core?
It seems like the topic of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is central to many of my recent conversations. We all seem to share the same objective–to figure out what is best for our kids and...
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Distinguished Educators Council seeks teachers to “inform, advocate, and lead”
In the spring of 2012, I worked with Chalkboard Project to form the Distinguished Educators Council (DEC). Chalkboard’s idea was to convene a team of educators recognized for their teaching excellence....
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Public-private partnerships: A driving force behind innovation and change
I am not a great traveler. I love to do it, but I’m not great at it, whether it’s for work or for play. First, I never know what to pack. Second, I can’t imagine how my husband and three girls will...
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Why do effective teachers leave some schools, and not others?
This past summer I received a phone call from a student at a Portland Metro Area high school who was a reporter for her school newspaper and was on assignment to seek out “expert” opinion why teachers...
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