Thursday, June 6, 2013

Glenda Ritz Speaks in Fort Wayne

Glenda Ritz, Indiana's Superintendent of Public Instruction was in Fort Wayne yesterday (June 5, 2013) and spoke to the community.

The Journal Gazette reported...
Ritz, who has been an educator since 1978, talked about topics like accountability and high-stakes testing. She also talked about how she hopes to get the department back on track supporting high quality and equity in education through a support system for schools.

Teachers must devote too much of their time teaching certain standards in a certain way to pass one test, Ritz said, referring to the state’s pass-or-fail ISTEP+ standardized exam. The test, and the accountability tied to it, she said, forces teachers to stray from the goal of educating the whole child, complementing math and reading with responsibility and tolerance.

“I believe in less assessments and more time for teaching,” Ritz said. [emphasis added]
NEIPFE members and friends were present.

Anne Duff wrote,
"Dinner with Glenda Ritz last night and listening to her talk at the Future of Education conference last night was inspiring. She is definitely not a politician. What she talked about during her campaign she is actually making a reality. She is working on eliminating high-stakes, pass-fail assessments we are currently using and working on implementing a true growth model assessment so teachers and students know how they are doing and what grade level they are working at; not just whether or not students can pass or fail a grade level test. She is coming up with an new teacher evaluation model instead of RISE that bases part of teacher evaluations on the high stakes tests. She is focusing on student centered learning instead of market-based education. So, basically, she is trying to undo everything that Tony Bennett messed up. There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel!"


Pictured L-R: Anne Duff, John Stoffel, Glenda Ritz, Donna Roof, Phyllis Bush, Kathy Candioto, Susan Stahl, and Susie Berry

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