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Memphis teacher testifies before U.S. Senate Committee about reauthorization of federal education law

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, November 8, 2011                         

Contact:
Tamala Boyd
Executive Director, Teach Plus Memphis
tboyd@teachplus.org
901-359-6392

Memphis teacher testifies before U.S. Senate Committee
about reauthorization of federal education law

Charles Seaton Jr., a Teach Plus Teaching Policy Fellow, testified today
about reauthorization of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act

WASHINGTON, DC – A middle school teacher from the Memphis City Schools testified today before a U.S. Senate Committee about reauthorization of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the leading national law governing public education, currently known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Charles Seaton Jr. testified about his experience teaching special education at Sherwood Middle School in Memphis.

Mr. Seaton is a Teaching Policy Fellow with Teach Plus, a national non-profit organization that improves outcomes for urban children by ensuring that a greater proportion of students have access to effective, experienced teachers. Retention of effective teachers remains a key education reform issue across the country, particularly in city schools, with research showing that nearly half of teachers leave urban schools within their first three years in the classroom.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) invited Mr. Seaton to offer a teacher’s perspective on bipartisan legislation to revamp the law.  Mr. Seaton testified along with other teachers, principals, Superintendents, and education reform advocates at today’s Senate hearing.  He described his “calling to teaching” after 15 years of working in the fields of mental health and juvenile justice, which inspired him to intervene earlier in the lives of youth with special needs.

Mr. Seaton commented on the effects of the current law on urban classrooms, teachers, and students, particularly its emphasis on Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and other accountability measures.

“All schools need to be included in accountability systems, as do all groups of students, especially students with disabilities who, historically, have all too often been shortchanged,” he said.  “I come from a family of educators, and I have seen how NCLB has changed things for students with disabilities.  The focus on the achievement of all students and breaking down data by subsets of students has brought needed attention to them.  It has changed the culture in schools, as has requiring all students to be tested so you no longer get a pass on accountability for some students.  Schools can no longer isolate special education students without it having a negative impact on the whole school.  I hope we won’t lose the culture that AYP has created with respect to using data to drive achievement for all groups of students.” 

Mr. Seaton also testified about the role of Teach Plus Teaching Policy Fellows in the design of Memphis City Schools’ new Teacher Effectiveness Measurement (TEM) system.

He said, “Memphis City Schools are setting a precedent for the nation in measuring teacher effectiveness.  The state and city have made giant steps that have, at times, made teachers uncomfortable and unions upset – but they have made the tough decisions to push achievement for young people forward, and they have done this with teachers being involved, every step of the way.  Our state has demonstrated leadership through these crucial conversations and confrontations.  I am excited to be working in an evolving system.”

“Teachers want to know their impact on student learning,” said Mr. Seaton. “We want to see data, aligned to our curriculum, about the progress our students are making. We want good information that leads to opportunities to improve our practice. In polling that Teach Plus has done in three cities, 84% of teachers agree with the statement, ‘Growth in student learning should be a part of a teacher’s evaluation.’”

Teach Plus is a national non-profit based in Boston whose mission is to improve outcomes for urban children by ensuring that a greater proportion of students have access to effective, experienced teachers. Teach Plus runs three programs designed to place teacher leaders at the center of reform: Teaching Policy Fellows, the T+ Network, and T3: Turnaround Teacher Teams. The programs focus on demonstrably effective teachers who want to continue classroom teaching while also expanding their impact as leaders in their schools and in national, state, and district policy. Teach Plus began with 16 founding teachers from urban district and charter schools in Greater Boston. Since its inception as a non-profit in August 2009, Teach Plus has grown to a network of more than 3,500 reform-minded teachers in six major cities across the country.  www.teachplus.org  

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