By Larry Grau, DFER Indiana State Director
Colorado Sen. Johnston was recently a special guest speaker in our Educate Indiana informational series. Sen. Johnston spoke at the Central Library in Indianapolis to an audience of over 100 people, focusing his comments on the importance of accountability and specifically teacher evaluations in the reform movement.
He also appeared on a panel to discuss how recent conversations around teacher evaluations have prompted tremendous changes in our education system with Mindy Schlegel, one of the architects of Indiana’s teacher evaluation policy; Dave Dresslar of the University of Indianapolis’ Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning, and Sandi Cole of the Indiana University’s Center on Education and Lifelong Learning. (Dr. Dresslar and Dr. Cole are experts on teacher evaluation and were instrumental in shaping Indiana’s laws in that area.)
During his presentation the Senator maked some great points, saying in spite of what some people who oppose reforms want you to believe, there are good teachers that do support evaluations and are already using data to improve their instruction.
It is a presentation worth watching. If you missed the speech, you can watch it here.