Teachers play a key role in influencing the future not only of students, but of the country and world as a whole. What contributes to teacher effectiveness? In this panel discussion, teachers and teacher educator experts discuss what they are doing to support and nurture the professionals who instruct our children. They consider what students need from teachers, the role of assessment in teaching, and the most effective investments to promote professional development. The panel was part of the Global Education Conference, held in partnership with Goldman Sachs and the Stanford School of Education.
Barbara Dreyer is president and CEO of Connections Academy and has been leading the company since January of 2002. She has served in the senior management of a variety of technology companies and was a partner with New Enterprise Associates, one of the nation's premier venture capital firms. In 2010, she was honored for “Outstanding Leadership by an Individual in the field of Distance Learning” by the United States Distance Learning Association, and in 2011 she received the accrediting body, AdvancED's, Excellence in Education Award.
Andrew Fitzmaurice joined Nord Anglia Education as CEO in 2003 from EasyCar.com, where he spent three years as CEO. Prior to that, he spent thirteen years at TNT Express UK, as divisional managing director. An economics graduate from the University of Wales, he has extensive experience of general management and profit responsibility. Since joining Nord Anglia Education, Fitzmaurice has guided the organization through a period of significant change, including shaping the company into a premium schools and learning services business, which has gone from largely UK to internationally focused.
Kelly Kovacic is a history teacher and social studies department chair at the Preuss School UCSD, a public charter school on the UC San Diego campus serving low-income students who will be the first in their families to graduate from college. She was California's 2010 Teacher of the Year and selected as one of four national finalists for National Teacher of the Year. Kovacic received her BA in history from UC San Diego, where she also minored in literature. In 2002, she graduated from Stanford University’s STEP program with a Masters of Education and a California Professional Clear Credential, and then began her teaching career at Preuss.
Lee S. Shulman is president emeritus of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He was the eighth president of The Carnegie Foundation from 1997 to 2008, and was the first Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education and Professor (by courtesy) of Psychology at Stanford University. He was previously professor of educational psychology and medical education at Michigan State University, serving as a member of that faculty from 1963 to 1982. In 2006, Shulman received the Grawemeyer Prize in education for his collected writings on teaching and teacher education, published as The Wisdom of Practice by Jossey-Bass.
Jeannette LaFors is the director of equity initiatives at Education Trust-West, working with schools and districts in California to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of reform strategies intended to reduce and eliminate achievement and opportunity gaps for students of color and students in poverty. Most recently, she was senior director of professional services at Teachscape, Inc., and prior to that was vice president of instruction for Envision Schools. LaFors taught high school social studies and AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) for six years at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California. She holds a PhD in education, an MA in teaching, and a BA in American studies from Stanford University.
Resources
Photos: Baltimore Sun / Milken Institute / SDMetro / Penn State
This free podcast is from our Global Education series.
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