Working conditions survey coming up

Next spring, Kentucky will undertake a comprehensive “working conditions” survey of all 44,000 certified employees in the state’s schools. State officials will use the data collected in the development of the new school accountability system, while local leaders will get school-by-school insights to use in determining resources, professional development and other decisions.

KSBA has details here.

I expect this to be an important development because I'm convinced that major change for students--the kind that raises achievement and narrows gaps--happens primarily in teams of teachers.  It happens when the educators in a school work together, looking closely at students' individual performance and hunting together for ways to adjust teaching so that every student makes steady progress.

That is, each teacher's capacity to deliver for students depends, in important ways, on that teachers' colleagues and their shared school culture.

The new TELL survey (short for "Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning") can help folks inside each school think together about how that collaboration can be made stronger.  That makes it a tool that's focused directly on supporting teaching quality, and a tool that can make an important difference for Kentucky students.