Over the last 14 years, The BERC Group has studied educational reform both nationally and right here in Washington. The Avoiding Reform Fatigue Workshop is an opportunity for your school teams to learn how current educational initiatives fit together so all staff can begin the school year with a clear vision, personal inspiration, and a readiness to implement change.

In the coming months we will be providing workshops at host schools throughout the state for anyone who wants to learn more about the current Washington educational landscape and how to avoid reform fatigue. We believe it will be a refreshing lens through which to view the many different initiatives currently underway. By keeping the costs low, and the workshops to a single day, we hope to have as many people as possible attend. This promises to be a GREAT way to start your school year.

Dr. Duane Baker recently spoke at the WERA Conference in Seattle, WA. The title of his talk was: "How Likely are Teachers to Exhibit Effective Instructional Practices Under the New Teacher Evaluation System?" He discussed how the STAR Framework aligns with all three Professional Practices Frameworks, and predicted Washington State's readiness for Teacher Evaluation based on 25,000 classroom observations.

The STAR Protocol and Process is transformational professional development that aligns with and directly supports all three of the Washington State Professional Practices Frameworks that are options in the Teacher Evaluation System. As such, we've developed crosswalk documents for each framework that specifically call out how STAR supports each and a packet that combines and compares all of them.

Clicking an image will take you to the document's page.

Dr. Duane Baker gives a presentation on Powerful Teaching and Learning at the Seattle Art Museum. Duane was invited by the Seattle Art Museum to join a panel of presenters at their "Building a Community of Thinkers" seminar. The focus of the seminar was "to address the potential role of the arts in teacher growth and development" and they were interested in hearing The BERC Group's perspective, as an outside research and consulting firm, on effective teaching and learning. Enjoy!