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Governor Steve Beshear's Communications Office
Kentucky Groups Promote Educator Survey
FRANKFORT, Ky.– Today, at the Capitol Rotunda, a Coalition of Partners formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning (TELL) Kentucky survey.
Set to launch in March 2011, the TELL Kentucky survey is designed to document and analyze how teachers and other educators view their teaching and learning conditions, so that educators, stakeholders and policy-makers can make evidence-based decisions on policies and practices that will improve student achievement.
The Coalition of Partners has committed to support the TELL Kentucky survey statewide and communicate the importance of hearing from every educator in the state by helping inform teachers and administrators during the coming months.
More details about the survey are available at http://www.tellkentucky.org.
“Our teachers know what is working in the classroom,” said Gov. Steve Beshear. “Their firsthand experiences help us differentiate between the theoretical and the practical, and they can tell us whether we are truly headed in the right direction. The TELL Kentucky survey gives our teachers a loud, undeniable voice in that process.”
“This survey is a powerful tool and part of our comprehensive and collaborative plan for improving public education in our state,” said Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday. “Understanding and improving the working conditions in our schools will help us realize our vision of every child, proficient and prepared for success -- that is, college- and career-ready when they graduate.”
Beshear and Holliday joined others in the Coalition of Partners today as the group’s members signed the MOU. The coalition includes:
- Office of the Governor, Kentucky
- Kentucky Board of Education
- Kentucky Department of Education
- Education Professional Standards Board
- Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education
- Kentucky Education Association
- Kentucky Association of School Councils
- Kentucky Association of School Administrators
- Kentucky PTA
- Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
- Kentucky School Boards Association
- Kentucky Association of School Superintendents
- Jefferson County Teachers Association
Other partners include the Legislative Research Commission, Office of Education Accountability, Partnership for Successful Schools, Spalding University, legislators, teachers, principals and superintendents.
In March 2011, the TELL survey will be administered to all Kentucky certified educators employed in the state’s 174 school districts. There will be questions about facilities and resources; instructional and planning time; decision-making; school leadership; community support; and more.
The survey will be administered by the nonprofit New Teacher Center (NTC), a national organization dedicated to supporting the development of a high-quality teaching force. NTC has conducted similar surveys in other states and provides induction and professional development for teachers and principals across the country.
The TELL Kentucky survey will be administered online, and all responses will remain anonymous. Results from the teacher responses will be aggregated and reported by NTC no later than June 2011. These reports will be a compilation of educator responses to all questions and presented as bar charts for the school (if at least 50 percent of educators respond), district and state.
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