President Obama on BTR

11.10.09 By Jesse Solomon

Last week, President Obama gave a speech at a middle school in Madison, Wisconsin.  We were thrilled that President Obama talked about BTR in his speech – highlighting the program as a model for recruiting and preparing effective teachers.  The President has made the expansion of the residency model a national priority and a key part of his strategy to provide a quality education for every child.  This acknowledgement reflects the hard work of BTR Residents, graduates, instructors, mentors, site directors, coaches and BTR central staff who contribute daily to this essential work in our schools – and to the vision of the BPS in starting and supporting this work.

I also want to draw your attention to a letter to the editor in The Boston Globe written by a BTR graduate, Caitlin Hollister, who is in her fifth year of teaching.  Caitlin was writing in response to an article that appeared last week called “Grade the Teachers”.
Caitlin’s letter was short and to the point – and a brave contribution to the conversation.  She wrote:

“In my five years of public-school teaching, I’ve never received a formal evaluation. The state’s new data tracking system will likely provide me with information on my students’ academic progress in my third-grade classroom. What it can’t tell me, however, is how to increase their performance. I do not fear a negative evaluation. Rather, I fear for the future of the two or three students who leave my classroom each year unprepared for fourth grade. I don’t need more test data to tell me they are failing. Instead, I need feedback on how to effectively help these struggling students to thrive.”

This letter shows, in just a few short sentences, an exemplary professional who is not satisfied with her performance, but wants to get better.  She is not afraid to name a problem publicly with the hope that fixing that problem will make instruction better in her classroom and in classrooms and schools across the country.  [I taught for math for ten years, and while I did have a few evaluations in that time, I never had one by someone with math content].  Her bottom line is the performance of her students, not the rating on her evaluation form.  We are proud that Caitlin is a BTR grad and that her sentiment represents so many other teachers who crave the same kind of improvement.