State task force designs an education overhaul

The Educator Excellence Task Force released their findings in the education report, Greatness by Design, on Sept. 10.

The team was appointed by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in January and consists of 48 members.

“We charged them with the critical tasks of assessing the state of the teaching profession in California and addressing some difficult questions,” Torlakson wrote in his opening message in the report.

The findings of the report focused on the continued development of an educator throughout their entire career and fair evaluation. The current process by which teachers are recruited and how to keep them inspired to perform at their best even under the toughest of circumstances was also called into question.

“Teachers are expected to work hard every day to help students learn many more things than are evaluated on one test,” Torlakson wrote. “Fairness demands they be evaluated based on the sum of their efforts.”

The report also states that useful feedback and the support of parents, administrators and the state has an enormous impact on the development of teachers, which in turn reflects on the development of students.

A summation in chapter six of the report states that “to ensure broad and deep support and ownership among all stakeholders, the state must give local education agencies flexibility in how they implement these policies within the framework. To do otherwise risks ineffective implementation and jeopardizes the future of our public school system, our state and our nation.”

Greatness by Design was written with the assistance of the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.