More than 60 Attend LWV Teacher Effectiveness Forum

On March 2, more than 60 people gathered at N. Charleston City Hall to be informed by an expert panel sharing their experiences with teacher evaluation at different levels. 

• Dr. Janice Poda, former SC Dept of Education Deputy Superintendent and now Strategic Initiative Director for Education Workforce at Council of Chief State School Officers, presented an overview of teacher evaluations and their challenges.  
• Dr. Fran Welch, Dean of the College of Charleston's School of Education, Health, and Human Performance, spoke about how Colleges and Graduate Programs are preparing teachers to be effective.  
• Judy Hammett, the Executive Director of Leadership Development and a Senior Cabinet Member with the Berkeley County School District, shared Berkeley County's methodology in evaluating teachers and terminating them when necessary.
• Lucy Beckham, Principal of Wando High School and the 2010 MetLife/National Association of Secondary School Principals' National Secondary Principal of the Year, outlined how she values teachers at the classroom level.  

With their experience in the classroom and their years of addressing teacher effectiveness at the classroom and systems level, audience members - several of which were from a class on Current Trends in the Teaching Field at the College of Charleston - quickly saw that measuring teacher effectiveness is an agreed upon need with many factors to consider. 

Luckily, our LWVCA Board has agreed to keep the conversation going. Peggy Huchet, Co-Chair for Education, has created a proposal for the State League to study Teacher Effectiveness, which will be presented at the LWVSC Annual Convention (May 14-15th) in Sumter. We hope LWVSC will adopt the study so we can work together as a state to address this topic. Contact Julie Hussey if you are interested in being a part of the discussion.