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as director of operations for the Department of Education in New York City and for EdisonLearning, a network of city schools operated by a for-profit. Brown’s current project partners school districts in nine states and a charter school organization with the Gates Foundation to work on ways to improve teacher effectiveness. “Research shows that the most important piece of impacting outcomes for kids is the interaction between teachers and students,” Brown says. “The data shows dramatic differences in classrooms. One teacher gets the best out of kids while another does not. We know this, but school systems have traditionally treated teachers as if they are all the same.” Instead of approaching the question of teacher performance punitively, as some efforts have given the impression of doing, Brown’s project starts with the empowering piece. He is quick to note that the system has failed teachers just as much as it has failed students. The partner schools Brown works with are testing new ways of evaluating teachers, including a more research-based approach. This approach broadens the measures of teacher performance, including student growth over time; offers more extensive feedback; and provides analysis that controls for the academic preparedness of individual students. “These tools allow us to differentiate teachers based on their performance and provide targeted tools to help them improve,” Brown explains. “Most of the debate focuses on the bottom of the bell curve but the majority 1 0 2 • T H E
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of teachers fall in the middle. Our goal is to get more teachers from the middle to the top.” Most teachers attend conferences, in what Brown refers to as the “sitting and getting” style of professional development. However, research shows that peer-to-peer and job-embedded professional development are most effective. The Gates Foundation has turned the old model on its head by identifying leadership teachers and asking them to work with teachers in their own schools and offer workshops for other teachers. Brown says, “Letting teachers drive these workshops is changing how people at the district level see teachers. Administrators are asking for teacher input on professional development, for instance. When you put teachers in the driver’s seat, it makes a difference. I think teachers will be our way out of the challenges we face.” When you look at the education reform debate, Brown points out, rarely do people talk about kids. This is not his experience when he meets with teachers across the country. Teachers know who they are working for — the kids. In the end, this is what education reform is all about, making a difference in the lives of children and their futures. “Going to Exeter afforded me amazing opportunities and opened so many professional doors for me,” Brown concludes. “‘From those to whom much is given, much is expected.’ Bill Gates is known for quoting this. It’s essentially non sibi—different words but the same concept.” E Katherine Towler, a former Bennett Fellow and frequent contributor to The Bulletin, is an author of three novels and is most recently the co-editor of A God in the House: Poets Talk About Faith. W I N T E R
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