Tag Archives: pioneer

Hooray for Nancy Mitchell, and so glad she is working at Ed News Colorado these days. Her latest investigation probes the value of our current teacher evaluation system at identifying effective teachers, weeding out ineffective teachers, and providing support where necessary. The results? Not very good: Education News Colorado requested teacher evaluation data from the six largest districts, all in the metro area, which serve more than 40 percent of public school students statewide. The analysis found little difference between the results of evaluations given in affluent, high-performing Douglas County and those doled out in urban Denver Public Schools, where large numbers of students perform below average on state exams. Fewer than 2 percent of teachers in either district – or in Adams Five-Star School District or in Jefferson County Public Schools – were told they needed to improve their instructional skills.

The Rocky Mountain News today has an inspirational feature on Colorado Teacher of the Year Susan Elliott: Elliott, 54, grew up in California. She has been deaf since early childhood. “When I was 5 years old, I flunked the hearing test when I tried to get into kindergarten,” Elliott said. “And I continued to keep losing my hearing. It got worse and worse every year until I was profoundly deaf in my late teens.” The cause was genetic. Elliott has been teaching since 1977. She taught in Denver Public Schools and has been with Douglas County since 1994. While she has taught at all grade levels, she currently teaches English and social studies at Highlands Ranch High School. “We have a wonderful team of interpreters,” she said of the people who enable communication between students who speak and those who sign. “I guess I could say that creativity and the opportunity to be a lifelong learner is what keeps me coming back to the classroom.” Susan Elliott seems like a remarkable teacher. She is deserving of congratulations for the tremendous honor. It’s interesting to note that she teaches in Douglas County School District, a local leader in advancing ways to […]