RI Educator Quality Issues

Rhode Island Federation of Teachers & Health Professionals

Educator Quality Issues

The RI Board of Regents adopted the RI Professional Teaching Standards in April, 2009. Additionally, the Regents are proposing adoption of the RI Educator Evaluation System Standards and the RI Educator Code of Professional Responsibility. Each document represents very laudable goals and standards to which we believe our members aspire. However, it is important for our leaders and members to be familiar with the standards and their indicators as well as their potential use in evaluation, support, continued employment and compensation. It is also important for RIFTHP leaders and members to advocate for the conditions and supports necessary for educators to achieve these standards and act upon these beliefs.

The Standard statements are listed below. Please click on the headlines to read the full set of indicators for each document. Please also plan to attend the hearings on the proposed standards that will be held in September & October and lend your voice to the debate.

RI Professional Teaching Standards

The Rhode Island Board of Regents recently adopted a set of Professional Teaching Standards that will influence teacher evaluation across the state. The RIPTS require teachers to:

• Create learning experiences using a broad base of general knowledge that reflects an understanding of the nature of the communities and world in which we live;
• Have a deep content knowledge base sufficient to create learning experiences that reflect an understanding of central concepts, vocabulary, structures, and tools of inquiry of the disciplines/content areas they teach;
• Create instructional opportunities that reflect an understanding of how children learn and develop;
• Create instructional opportunities that reflect a respect for the diversity of learners and an understanding of how students differ in their approaches to learning;
• Create instructional opportunities to encourage all students’ development and critical thinking, problem solving, performance skills, and literacy across content areas;
• Create a supportive learning environment that encourages appropriate standards of behavior, positive social interaction, active engagement in learning and self motivation;
• Work collaboratively with all school personnel, families and the broader community to create a professional learning community and environment that supports the improvement of teaching, learning and student achievement;
• Use effective communication as the vehicle through which students explore, conjecture, discuss, and investigate new ideas;
• Use appropriate formal and informal assessment strategies with individual and groups of students to determine the impact of instruction on learning, to provide feedback, and to plan future instruction;
• Reflect on their practice and assume responsibility for their own professional development by actively seeking and participating in opportunities to learn and grow as professionals;
• Maintain professional standards guided by legal and ethical principles.

RI Educator Evaluation System Standards

The Regents have also proposed a set of Educator Evaluation System Standards to “assure educator quality through a comprehensive district educator evaluation system”. The standards require districts to:

• Establish a common vision of educator quality within a district through clearly communicated evaluation processes that build upon professional standards, emphasize professional practice, impact on student learning, demonstration of professional responsibilities, and content knowledge, and support district initiatives;
• Emphasize the professional growth and continuous improvement of individual educators’ professional practice to enhance student performance;
• Create an organizational approach to the collective professional growth and continuous improvement of groups of educators (e.g., departments, teams, programs, schools) professional practice to enhance student performance;
• Provide quality assurance of all district educators and differentiate evaluation processes based upon level of experience, job assignment, and information from prior evaluations;
• Assure fair, accurate, and consistent assessment of educator performance.

RI Educator Code of Professional Responsibility

The Regents have also proposed an Educator Code of Professional Responsibility, a set of commitments which the BOR expects all educators to honor and practice. The RI ECPR requires educators to commit to:

• Responsibility to Students: Ensuring that all students achieve at the high levels needed to lead fulfilling and productive lives, to succeed in academic and employment settings, and to contribute to society;
• Responsibility to Self: Establishing high professional standards for their practice and striving to meet these standards through their individual performance; Responsibility to Colleagues and the Profession: Working with school and district colleagues and as members of professional communities to establish and implement initiatives that will further student learning;
• Responsibility to Parents, Families and the Community: Collaborating with parents, families, and communities to offer a quality education to all students;
• Responsibility to the RI Board of Regents: Committing to the RIDE standards for educator quality through certification and support for implementation of state initiatives within their districts.