In last week’s major speech about the future of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Secretary Arne Duncan urged stakeholders to “build a law that respects the honored, noble status of educators – who should be valued as skilled professionals — rather than mere practitioners, and compensated accordingly.”
To help advance that discussion, Arne will engage teachers across the country in a national town hall in a special edition of the department’s television program, Education News Parents Can Use, on October 20 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Live from Public Broadcasting System station WETA, he will take comments and questions from teachers in the studio audience and via telephone, email, and video.
Throughout the hour-long program, teachers will have a chance to offer the secretary their suggestions and their hopes about reforming education. The conversation will cover ways to improve the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; better methods for recruiting, preparing, and rewarding teachers; ideas for elevating the teaching profession; and much more.
Details about the special town hall for teachers on Education News, including directions for viewing the webcast of the program live, online, are at www.ed.gov/edtv.
Teachers can contribute to the conversation right now by submitting a question or posting answers to one or more of the questions below. We’ll feature as many responses as we can on the October 20 live broadcast. You may also call the show during the live broadcast at 1-888-493-9382, between 8:00 – 9:00 PM Eastern. Or submit original video comments and questions by Wednesday, October 14, 2009. (To learn how you can submit an original video, visit: www.dropio.com/ENPCU.)
Here are the questions:
- How can we recruit, support and retain excellent teachers in all our schools?
- What are the best ways to measure and reward excellence in teaching?
- How can we ensure that our most challenged schools have the most effective teachers?
- In what ways does No Child Left Behind need to change in order to support effective teaching?
ED Staff