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Three Santa Barbara County teachers, Sandra Bravo of the Guadalupe
School District, Chris Mullin of the Santa Ynez High School District,
and Quinn Plante of the Santa Maria High School District, joined 50
other teacher leaders from throughout the nation at a week-long summit
of the Teachers Network Policy Institute (TNPI) on Bainbridge Island,
WA.
The TNPI institute is grounded in the idea that education policy continues
to be made without the voice of the teacher, even though study after
study shows that teacher expertise is one of the most important factors
in student achievement.
At the institute, teachers and policymakers came together to help bridge
that gap. The goal was for TNPI MetLife Fellows, all full-time classroom
teachers, to ensure that the teacher’s voice was included in
the development of federal, state, and local education policies. During
the institute, teachers met with high-level policymakers and served
as spokespeople for the profession.
The teachers shared information about the action research they conducted
in their classrooms all last year.
Bravo had compared two adult English as a Second Language classrooms
to determine practices that most contributed to increased learning
of English. Based on her findings, Bravo’s policy recommendations
included promoting student interactions in the learning process; encouraging
teachers to get to know their adult students and their language and
literacy needs; and fostering a safe, accepting, adult learning environment
to encourage greater participation.
Mullins’ research focused on the recruitment and retention of
teachers to the profession. Based on an analysis of data and literature,
his policy recommendations included the support for multi-age teaching
groups at school sites, empowering the professional voice of educators,
reinventing public perception of the teaching profession, and increasing
teacher salaries.
Plante participated in the institute as one of the facilitators.
Further information is available from Carol Gregor, director of teacher
programs at the Santa Barbara County Education Office, 964-4711, ext.
5281.
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