Wake Education Summit 2005

Summit VIII: “Journey to 2008:
Successful Teachers, Successful Students,” 2005

Summit 2005 - Successful Teachers, Succesful Students

Click on the following
links to download
materials from 2005:
Event Briefing
Post-Summit Newsletter

More than 400 Wake County community, business and parent leaders came together for the eighth annual Wake Education Summit, coordinated by Wake Education Partnership and hosted by more than 40 businesses and community organizations. Focused on the theme Journey to 2008: Successful Teachers, Successful Students, participants at the Summit discussed the realities of teaching in today’s classrooms and prioritized recommendations to support the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers as one strategy for achieving Goal 2008.

The 2005 Summit also served as the release of a new report from the Wake Task Force on Teaching Excellence, a citizen-led committee convened by Wake Education Partnership. The report, titled “Recruit, Retain and Respect,” includes local, state and national research on teachers and teaching, as well as recommendations about recruiting, retaining, supporting and developing quality teachers for all of Wake’s public school classrooms. See the list below for the results from the Summit participants after ranking the recommendations from the report.

1. Support teaching as a profession through career enhancement and leadership opportunities.

a. Develop a process for teachers to use critical self-analysis and shared reflection to plan their own professional development, using the “Quality Teaching Characteristics” index or other tools.
b. Make the sharing of best practices routine among teachers within and across schools.
c. Ensure that professional development includes a range of opportunities to support teachers as they grow in their careers from novice to experienced teacher.
d. Improve mentor programs to more consistently meet the needs of new teachers.
e. Create career pathways for teachers using the Teacher Enhancement and Leadership System (TELS).

2. Review and upgrade teacher salaries and benefits systematically to keep pace with competitive job markets.

3. Embed more time within the school day for all teachers to plan and reflect, to participate in professional development and to collaborate with other key personnel.

4. Ensure that principals have the understanding and capacity to create an environment that supports quality teaching and the retention of quality teachers.

5. Recruit advocates among the business community and parents to support teaching excellence.

6. More carefully plan how curricular decisions impact teachers with a coordinated, system-wide timeline for new initiatives.

7. Improve working conditions for special education teachers, including salary incentives, reduced case loads, planning time and paperwork assistance, to reduce increasing turnover rates.