Behind the Headline: From Harlem to Capitol Hill, A Lesson in Producing Better Teachers

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From Harlem to Capitol Hill, A Lesson in Producing Better Teachers
6/3/15 | Washington Post

Behind the Headline
What Explains Success at Success Academy
Summer 2015 | Education Next

“Eva Moskowitz, the founder of New York City’s largest chain of public charter schools, imported a Harlem classroom to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to demonstrate how she trains and coaches teachers at Success Academy schools,” writes Lyndsey Layton in this morning’s Washington Post.

The classroom included 10 fifth-graders, the principal, and a math teacher from Success Academy’s Harlem North Central Middle School. The math teacher taught a lesson in front of an audience of Hill staffers and policymakers, and afterward, the teacher, her principal, and a math curriculum director discussed what worked and what didn’t. They also discussed how the teacher would normally prepare for a lesson.

As Layton reports, Success Academy offers teachers four weeks of training in the summer plus regular training each week in the school year. Principals in Success Academy schools say they spend most of their time coaching teachers. They meet weekly with most of the teachers to look at student data and to discuss lesson plans.

Lyndsey Layton notes

The demonstration comes as the Obama administration is preparing to issue new regulations governing how the country prepares teachers. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has said that too many new K-12 educators are not ready for the classroom and training programs must improve.

A feature story in the Summer 2015 issue of Education Next takes a longer look at Success Academy. Please read “What Explains Success at Success Academy: Charter network focuses on what is being taught, and how.”

—Education Next

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